Can I feed my Broad Breasted Bronze Fish?

[gracie7773]

My husband and brother are going fishing for shad tomorrow. Not a fish I'm fond of eating, can I feed it to the turkeys and CornishX?

If so - cooked and deboned or the whole fish? (What about the bones?)

Thanks,
Becky

(first time turkey raiser - who would secretly like to get a few heritage birds and let them breed next year!)

 

[retlaw]

Years ago on the old farm stead my dad bought a truck load of fish and he wanted to feed them to the cows.
It was the middle of winter and very cold in that area. So everything was frozen solid.
He chopped a couple up with and axe and gave it to them to see what they will do.
They smelt it and that was it.
I don't know how he expected them to eat chucks of frozen fish.
So one day we took the grain mill and made chop.
We added the whole frozen fish in the machine as we were adding the grain.
The machine labored a bit grinding up large frozen sucker fish but it did it.
The cows were hesitant at first and then they ate it.
Once they had a taste of it they loved it.
More then any other grain or chop we fed them.
But remember this was frozen raw fish and it was well below freezing temperature.
Couldn't do that in the summer.

 

[Arielle]

That is a story to cherish!!!

FIsh can be fed at about 10% of the ration -- if fed at a higher rate for the duration of the grow out period the meat tastes fishy.

If you can pressure cook the meat first that will soften up the bones and everything will be edible.

If not, the meat will be easier to eat if it is at least cooked until tender.

Years ago I had the opportunity to get small shark that were left over from a licensed project and rather than waste the meat ( dumped back into t he ocean) I asked if I could have it. I had a few pigs, and figured they would love the meat. I tossed acouple 3 foot carcasses in, they smelled it and tried to bite it. NOthing. I cooked those in a boiling pot of water outside on a tiny hibachi grill as my mother would NOT let me cook them in the house. After cooling, I took the meat to the pigs and they gobbled up every bit.

 

[gracie7773]

lol My dad is a cattle farmer so I can just imagine how the cows must've looked at him like, "what do you want us to do with this?" hahaha

 

[gracie7773]

FIsh can be fed at about 10% of the ration -- if fed at a higher rate for the duration of the grow out period the meat tastes fishy.

Oh!! I hadn't thought about that - THANK YOU! ugh, that would not be a thanksgiving dinner I'd like to serve!

 

[Arielle]

 

[retlaw]

FIsh can be fed at about 10% of the ration -- if fed at a higher rate for the duration of the grow out period the meat tastes fishy.

Yes it would.
Have you ever tried eating water fowl that has a main diet of fish?
Stinky meat.