GB2105564A - Animal feedstuff - Google Patents

Abstract

A feedstuff giving significant daily weight gain in cattle is produced by anaerobic fermentation of a mix of poultry litter with ground barley, tapioca or other sources of starch preferably having a moisture content of around 45% by weight.

Description

SPECIFICATION Cattle feedstuff This invention relates to animal feedstuff.

The use of treated poultry litter, with or without the inclusion of additives and supplement is known. Typical additives and supplements are vitamins, proteins, cereals and roughage.

It is also known that certain mixtures of litter and other materials such as barley and malt can be fermented under anaerobic conditions to produce a useful feedstuff for cattle.

Although the use of litter and admixtures thereof with other materials has been investigated and reported in a general sense, optimum manufacturing conditions which will produce consistent commercially acceptable quality have not hitherto been defined.

An object of the present invention is to provide a feedstuff and a commercial process for manufacturing same.

According to the present invention, there is provided an animal feedstuff comprising the product of the anaerobic fermentation of an intimate and uniform admixture of poultry litter and ground barley, tapioca or other sources of starch.

The present invention also provides a method of producing an animal feedstuff comprising preparing a moist intimate and uniform admixture of poultry litter and ground barley, tapioca or other sources of starch and fermenting the admixture under anaerobic conditions.

The preferred dry weight ratio of litter to barley, tapioca or other sources of starch is from 7 :3 to 3:7, preferably 1 and the preferred moisture content is from 40 to 50% by weight, preferably 45%.

In a particularly preferred embodiment of the invention the admixture contains a 1:1 dry weight ratio of litter to ground barley, tapioca or other sources of starch and a moisture content of 40 to 50% by weight, preferably 45%.

To obtain optium fermentation conditions the pH of the admixture should be maintained at from 4.0 to 5.0, preferably 4.2 to 4.7.

The production process may be carried out by communiting wood shavings, straw or paper based poultry litter and intimately admixing the comminuted material with the ground barley, tapioca or other sources of starch (hereinafter referred to simply as "barley") conveniently by passing the admixture a second time through the comminutor to ensure thorough mixing. From an analysis of the moisture content of the litter and the barley, tapioca or other sources of starch the additional amount of water required to give a content in the preferred range may be calculated. The additional water is added to the mixture, and again conveniently, the moist mix is passed through the comminutor to promote uniformity of moistening of the litter/barley mixture. The natural pH of poultry litter is 7.0 to 8.0 and but this reduces to around 4.5 as fermentation process proceeds.The fermentation process may be accelerated by acidifying the initial mix and this can conveniently be done by adding sulphuric acid to the moistering water. However, in practical terms, any time advantage obtained would probably be outweighed by the inconvenience and potential safety hazards associated with the handling of the corrosive acid. Other non-toxic acids may be used instead of sulphuric acid.

The invention will now be described, by way of illustration, in the following example.

EXAMPLE Broiler poultry litter (straw based) was comminuted by passage through a mechanical mixer. The comminuted litter was admixed with an equal weight of ground barley and the mix passed again through the mixer to ensure intimate and uniform mixing.

The dry matter content of the barley was, fairly consistently, around 85% by weight whereas that of the litter varied between 55 and 75% by weight from batch to batch. From the known figures a volume of water required to bring the final water content of the mix to 45% by weight was calculated. The moist mixture was loaded into a silo lined with polyethylene sheet. The top was levelled and covered with polyethylene sheet which was weighted down.

The silo was closed and fermentation was allowed to proceed for a minimum period of 5 weeks and then removed for use as a cattle feed.

The product was fed to cattle on feed programmed basis in amounts which could be eaten by the cattle in the interval between feeds. In addition, since the amount of straw in the litter is low (about 1 5% dry weight) it was deemed necessary to supplement the animals intake of roughage to maintain normal function of the rumen. To this end each animal received one kilogram of straw per day. Also, to supply supplement mineral and vitamin levels to normally accepted levels, each animal was also fed one kilogram per day of fortified rolled barley, or alternative source of energy.

A record of weight gain of each animal under test was maintained over a period of 82 days.

The results are summarised below: No. of Average Final average Average DLWG Test animals initial/live live weight weight (Ibs/ Group in group weight (cwt) (cwt) gain (cwt) day) a 19 5.52 7.31 1.79 2.44 b 19 5.00 6.84 1.84 2.51 c 20 4.27 6.25 1.98 2.70 d 18 4.38 6.55 2.17 2.96 N DLWG means daily live weight gain.

Average DLWG over test period = 2.65 Ibs/day Feed consumed over Test period: Barley + minerals and vitamins = 6.64 tonnes Average fed/head/day = 1.78libs Barley + Minerals and Vitamins left in stock = 0.6 tonnes Total Barley meal fed with silage = 31.00 tonnes Barley fed in silage/head/day = 8.33 libs Total barley fed/head/day =10.11 Ibs At DLWG of 2.65 Ibs/day food converions = 3.8:1

Claims (7)

1. An animal feedstuff comprising the product of the anaerobic fermentation of an intimate and uniform admixture of poultry litter and ground barley, tapioca or other sources of starch.

2. A feedstuff as claimed in Claim 1 in which the starch source is ground barley.

3. A feedstuff as claimed in Claim 1 or 2 in which the ratio of starch source to litter is from 7 :3 to 3:7.

4. A feedstuff as claimed in Claim 3 in which the ratio is 1:1.

5. A feedstuff as claimed in any preceding claim in which the moisture content of the admixture is from 40 to 50 per cent by weight.

6. A feedstuff as claimed in Claim 5 in which the moisture content of the admixture is 45 per cent by weight.

7. An animal feedstuff according to Claim 1 substantially as hereinbefore described.