From: Jim McNelly <compost@CLOUDNET.COM>
Jacky Foo <foo@swipnet.se> wrote:
>David Beckham <dbeckham@BECTEC.COM> wrote:
>>I'm in the beginning
>>phase of putting together an integrated system of tank raising tilapia and
>>hydroponic vegetable growing.........
>
>most of organic kitchen wastes (peelings and leftovers) and hydroponic
>vegetable wastes could go to earthworms.
>
>I am interested to identify people who have experience in growing
>earthworms indoors in trays and I hope that you will be able to share your
>experience with the group. Pls send your contribution to:
>et-w1@segate.sunet.se or visit http://segate.sunet.se/archives/et-w1.html
Greetings Jacky, David, and the rest of the group:
I have experience raising the redworm eisenia fetida in stacked boxes that
were approximately 30 centimeters deep by 60 centimeters wide and long.
They were slid into racks allowing about 10 centimeters space between the
boxes. The boxes were made with 3/4inch outdoor plywood with approximately
ten 8mm holes drilled into the bottom to allow for drainage. On two sides,
handles were made by drilling two 12mm holes approximately 15cm appart
approximately 2cm from the top. Into these holes, a 30cm rope was placed
through the holes and knotted on the inside of the box, creating a rope
handle.
Into the box would be placed approximately 1 kilo of worms with bedding
approximately 4cm deep. Twice a week, approximately 2 cm of feed would be
placed on top. The feed would reduce in volume up to 70%, but would
gradually fill up the box until it was full, typically within 60 days. The
boxes have to be slid out each time in order to receive the new periodic
layer of feed.
After the box is full, the box would be slid out of the rack, which is made
with 2x4" lumber and 2x2" slider rails. A person can only lift these boxes
so high, as they weigh 30 or more kilos when full. Four or five boxes
stacked is typical. The box is then dumped into a worm harvester, a
cylindrical screen that produces worm castings and worms. The worms can
also be concentrated in small piles by hand on a table under light or out
in the sun, removing layers of castings as the worms move away from the
light.
2kg of worms are then placed back in the box with fresh bedding and the
surplus, approximately 2 kg, is then a product available for use as feed
for some form of livestock. If you want 2kg per day of worms, then you
would need approximately 60 boxes, keeping track of the first batch and so
forth. Using this technique, I raised 80 laying chickens for two years in
the early 1980s feeding them a diet of live worms, zuccinis, and cracked
corn.
It is my understanding that poultry feeds contain approximately 3-5% animal
meal, typically beef meal or occasionally fish meal in their diet. Fish
feeds have higher animal meal percentages, running close to 30% fish meal.
These feeds have to be supplemented with amino acids that these meals are
deficient in. Worm meal is not deficient in these amino acids, and the
section on the use of Earthworms as animal feed in Edwards and Neuhauser's
book "Earthworms in Waste and Environmental Management" 1988 SPB Academic
Publishing suggest that substituting worm meal for beef or fish meal could
reduce total feed requirements to achieve comparable yield by 10%. Worm
meal is approximately 65% protein, significantly higher than beef or fish
meal.
Coupled with the elimination of supplemental amino acids, the value of worm
meal (my estimate) is twice that of fish meal or three times that of beef
meal, or approximately $800 per USton dry weight. This translates to
approximately $.40 per pound. Given that worms are approximately 85%
moisture, I estimate wet worms to be worth approximately $.08 per lb wet
weight. This is a far cry from their current inflated market price in the
US of $5.00 to $10.00 per lb. There are also concerns regarding getting
worms cleaned and processed to use in conventional feeds. I have
personally come to the conclusion that worms as livestock feed are only
practical for local range-feeding systems where the worms are fed to the
animals live.
This is a response to the question concerning earthworms in trays. I also
have experience with the Rothampstead top-feeding system, beds using old
pallets, and side to side feeding systems.
Jim~ McNelly
compost@cloudnet.com
Http://www.composter.com
check out a organic growers web page
http://www.rain.org/~sals/my.html
-----Original Message-----
From: Kelly, Debi <KellyD@umsystem.edu>
To: 'sanet-mg@ces.ncsu.edu' <sanet-mg@shasta.ces.ncsu.edu>
Date: Tuesday, September 08, 1998 5:44 AM
Subject: worms as chicken feed
>I've had a question from a client and am hoping some of you could lend me
>some leads. He is a small chicken farmer and is interested in knowing any
>work that may have been done on growing worms to feed to chickens to help
>supplement their diet during the winter. I've contacted our poultry
>specialist on campus and he said there was some interest in this about 10
>years ago but nothing ever came from it. Any help is appreciated.
>
>Thanks,
>
>Debi Kelly, Project Manager
>Missouri Alternatives Center
>531 Clark Hall
>Columbia, MO 65211
>573-882-1905
>kellyd@umsystem.edu
>www.ext.missouri.edu/agebb/mac
>
>To Unsubscribe: Email majordomo@ces.ncsu.edu with "unsubscribe sanet-mg".
>To Subscribe to Digest: Email majordomo@ces.ncsu.edu with the command
>"subscribe sanet-mg-digest".
To Unsubscribe: Email majordomo@ces.ncsu.edu with "unsubscribe sanet-mg".
To Subscribe to Digest: Email majordomo@ces.ncsu.edu with the command
"subscribe sanet-mg-digest".