SHEEP FED ON CRAYFISH

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 896, 13 February 1930, Page 7

SHEEP FED ON CRAYFISH

EXPERIMENT IN SOUTH-WEST AFRICA

SUCCESS DURING DROUGHT Slieep breeders will be keenly mtei esied in some feeding experiments which have been carried out in South--s Vest Africa with sheep under drought conditions, says “The Cape Times.” Professor Th. Classen, who is in close touch with the subject, says that the feeding was carried out with Luderitz crayfish meal, manufactured by the Angra Fishmeal Company at Luderitz, whose factory is claimed to be the first of its kind in South Africa. Professor Classen writes as follows: “The meal is manufactured from fresh offal from the canning factories. It should be remembered that only the pure flesh of the tail of the crayfish is canned. This part forms..only about 20 per cent, of the total weight of the animal, the other SO per cent, consisting of the body, legs and shell, usually being discarded as offal and dumped into the sea. But this ‘offal’ contains the most valuable parts of the animal’s body—flesh, inner organs, shell. “At Luderitz, this offal is converted into a highly efficient feeding meal, for stock and poultry, by an entirely new process. It is crushed, quickly dried in a partial vacuum at low temperatures, and ground into meal. The meal thus contains all the valuable constituents of the body of the crayfish in a perfectly digestible form. “As any overheating during the drying process is avoided, the resulting meal is light in colour, flaky and perfectly digestible. The feeding experiments prove that it is greedily taken by the animals and easily absorbed by them, and as the meal contains very little oil, it does not taint. “It is especially interesting from an economical point of view that this new product is manufactured in Southwest Africa from a raw material, which until recently has been regarded as offal. It is now turned into a product -which may prove an exceptional asset to farmers.

“The experiment in feeding sheep was carried out by Mi-. Hoffman, a farmer at Otjihase, South-west Africa. He experimented with a flock of 40 valuable and healthy Karakul ewes, during the driest months of the year, August-September. when the grazing was very poor, and the sheep suffered from lack of pasture. This flock of 40 ewes, which were at the beginning of the experiments all in the Same condition, was divided into two groups of 20 each. The experiments -were discontinued alter two months, when the rains started, and the grazing became good. “The 20 animals used for the experiments in feeding each received every night, after their return from the pasture, 100 gr. (approx. .3Joz) of crayfish meal, which they took eagerly. After the first month their combined weight had increased by 34 lb. The weight of the control animals had decreased by 271 b, a difference of Glib in favour of the meal-fed animals. “After two months the meal-fed animals had further increased by 21b, but the control animals had lost SSlb more, owing to the poor grazing. "This left a net gain in weight in favour of the experimental ewes of

901 b, or about 43Jlb a head. Thus, in two months, the 20 animals, receiving an additional ration of meal —all other conditions being the same—had gained if compared with the control animals 1511 b, or more than 7Jib a head. This result must be considered remarkably good. “Tbis means that a ration of SJoz of meal a day a head is sufficient to keep ewes in good condition, even during the worst drought. It is especially remarkable that not only did the animals keep their weight, hut even slightly increased it during the experiment. “In respect to costs, a ton (1,000 kgs.) of this meal costs approximately £l3. This quantity is sufficient lor feeding 100 sheep during 100 days of drought, working out at a cost of 3d a head a day. “The quantity of meal fed to 20 sheep during 60 days was 120kgs. (265 lb), costing £1 11s 2d. The result was an increase in weight of 1511 b, or lib meat for every l§lb crayfish meal. It must be remembered that the experimental animals were grown-up ewes, not young growing animals. In the latter case the results would have been more favourable.”