animal protein vs plant, calling the experts!

[briteday]

I emailed Nutrena for copies of the ingredients lists for their poultry feeds. Nothing has fish meal or bone meal in it. They could be using bone meal as a calcium source and listing it that way, but not directly listed on any feed as bone meal.

The only animal product I see in any poultry product they sell is in the form of "animal fat" listed in the Layer Complete 16%, Gamebird Pellets 25% (not advised for layers unless cut 50/50 with scratch since selenium would be too high if fed straight), and Meatbird Gro / Fin Complete 21% (also not suitable for layers).

I incorporate a bit of fish in my hens' diets once per week. My dogs get fish and don't eat the whole can so I give the leftovers (canned mackerel) to the girls. I would like to see more fish meal in my birds' diets. But living in the desert is a bit of a stretch. We're lucky if we find decent human-grade fish around here! So I'm going to start looking for a source of fish meal 1) to increase the protein in their diets (diluted by the free ranging of many plants and too few bugs) and 2) as a source of animal protein.

 

[amartinlb]

By the way everyone wikipedia has a large section on the subject of soy health risks and it contains lots of sources (appears to be very accurate): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soy#Health_risks

 

[Lazy J Farms Feed & Hay]

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Let's not cloud this discussion with the arguments against soy in humans. Can we stick to the original question by the OP?

Jim

 

[jnjross]

Lazy J Farms Feed & Hay :

Quote:
Is that Meat and Bone Meal or just bone meal? I would be very surprised if a feed mill actually had any Ruminant Meat and Bone Meal in it these days due its status as a Specific Risk Material.

Good luck with your feeding venture.

Jim

hmmm i looked back and that info was a few years old, so they could have changed.

i wasn't saying fish was a bad thing, just a stinky thing​

 

[amartinlb]

Lazy J Farms Feed & Hay :

Quote:
Let's not cloud this discussion with the arguments against soy in humans. Can we stick to the original question by the OP?

Jim

I agree, but actually according to the info on wikipedia it appears that Soy actually poses very little risks to humans, and actually promotes health and fertility in humans. That's just according to that article though... And from what I hear there is no link between Soy and cancer, since the tests they did on rats was with concentrated phytoestrogens, several hundred to a thousand times more than what is present in soy beans I think.​

 

[jamieneenah]

Lazy J Farms Feed & Hay :

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Since you are in Mississippi your Animal Protein is probably Commodity Menhaden Fish Meal or poulty meat and bone meal or poultry meat meal. They are cheaper since they are produced locally. That is not the case in the midwest where Soybean Meal is cheaper per unit of amino acids.

I prefer like animal proteins, but one must look at the entire feed. For example, our Fast Grow All-Natural Broiler feed contains no animal proteins but has out performed many feeds. This is not entirely due to the nutrient profile but to the specialty ingredients we choose to use to help improve performance of the birds. The local feed mills can throw together a cheaper feed, but birds fed our feed grow better and require less feed per lb of gain than the cheap feeds.

Why not try a preference trial with both types of feeds in your ccop and let your chickens decide which feed they want to consume?

Jim

Hi Jim;

I am in the midwest, wisconsin, they don't seem to have fish meal here. Any idea on what kind of non-soy protein source I may be able to find?

Thanks
Jamie
Neenah, wi​