In the heart of beef country, the Hofpar family business smells a bit fishy.

Rob Hofpar and his family are raising shrimp on their Valparaiso and Ulysses farms with the help of University of Nebraska-Lincoln experts.

The Hofpars drained a pond Saturday on a family farm, netting about 1,300 freshwater prawns they began raising in June.

The Hofpar farms are the first commercial outdoor freshwater prawn production facilities in Nebraska, said Jim Rosowski, a marine biologist with UNL's School of Biological Sciences.

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