The Republican journal., 1917-11-08
Fish Waste.
A Valuable Maine Product for Feeding
Swine and Poultry.

With increased population food ma
terials that were entirely wasted a few
years ago are now in great demand.
Thirty years ago the chief use of dried
blood and meat scraps were in making
fertilizers. These, unless of very inferior
quality, are now used for food of farm
animals With the increased demand
the prices have advanced as the supply is
limited. This has led to a search for
other materials to supplement OF replace
these as food Fish waste or fish of any
kind has always been known to be highly
relished by flesh feeding animals and
gives excellent results in growth and in
egg production. The great objection to
its use in large quantities is the tendency
to give the flesh or eggs fishy flavor.
Recent investigations have shown that
the fishy flavor is due largely to the fish
oil and that when that is quite complete
ly removed as is now the case with the
fish meals that are put upon the market,
the material can be used in much larger
quantities without imparting disagree
able flavor to the product.
Fish wastes have been used in Europe
for number of years for feeding and re-
cent experiments by the United States
Department of Agriculture show that it
can be fed freely to poultry without i'm
parting disagreeable tishy flavor to the
eggs. These experiments have shown
that fish scrap is desirable supplement-
airy animal food for farm animals, es-
pecially for pigs and poultry.
Large quantities of fish waste are pro-
duced along the Maine coast every year
and have, for the most part, been sold to
fertilizer companies in crude condition.
Much of this material, if properly handl-
ed would be valuable food for animals
and valuable substitute for beef scrap.
A number of materials of this kind have
recently been sent to the Maine Agricult-
ural Experiment Station for examination.
The results of the analysis warrant the
following statements about their nutri-
tive value:
The materials differ chiefly in their
water contents. The protein and fats
are in good digestible form. The ash is
largely phosphate of lime and is useful
mineral food.
The fresh waste material from sardine
factories carries about 10 per cent of
water, 16 per cent of protein and per
cent of fat and about 6 per cent of ash.
The ash in fish is practically all phos-
phate of lime.
The dried fish refuse prepared for food
purposes carries about 10 per cent of wa
ter, per cent of protein, 20 per cent of
fat and II per cent of ash. This of course
would prove to be valuable food for
supplementing the food for swine and
poultry.
There is another product intermedia-
tory between the fish that comes from
the packers tables and the materials last
described, sometimes called herring po-
mace. This is the fish refuse steamed
and pressed to extract the oil and with
out further drying. 1t carries about 48
per cent of water, SO per cent of protein,
per cent of fat and II per cent of ash.
It is not in nearly as good mechanical
condition as the drier material and would
not keep as well. 1t is, however, more
cheaply prepared and, for nearby situa-
lions, would be satisfactory food fol
swine or poultry.-Chas. D. Woods, Di-
rector, Maine Experiment Station.