FISH MEAL, IN ANIMAL FEEDING 383 



no case of abortion during the same period, while previous to that time cases 

 had occurred. 



About the time that these observations were made the Bureau of Fisheries, 

 United States Department of Commerce, published Document 967, entitled, 

 "The Iodine Content of Seafood." In this document were published the results 

 of analysis of most of our common foods, giving the amount of iodine present, 

 Among the conclusions drawn from :i study of these analyses one finds the fol- 

 lowing : "As a matter of comparison it has been shown that oysters, claras, 

 and lobsters contain two hundred times as much iodine as milk, eggs, or beef- 

 steak. Shrimp contains one hundred times as much, while crabs and most 

 ocean fishes contain fifty times as much." The document further shows that 

 milk contains 5 parts of iodine per billion, which is vei-y small. Butter made 

 from milk contains 105 parts per billion. Apparently the iodine of milk is 

 contained in the milk fat. 



An analysis of the fish meal was made to see whether it might not be supply- 

 ing the elements in iodine which are necessary for the proper function of the 

 thyroid gland. The result showed the fish meal to contain about 2,000 parts 

 of iodine per billion. The dried matter of blue fish, cod, haddock, and mackerel 

 contains about 1,500 parts of iodine per billion. 



The fish meal is, therefore, relatively high in iodine and its use seems to 

 have a beneficial effect not only on the health of the animals receiving it, but 

 also on the vigor of their offspring. The milk produced by these animals was 

 next examined to see whether its iodine content had been increased. Some 

 milk was obtained from the herd which had been receiving this ration for over 

 one and one-half years. This milk was found to contain from ten to fifteen 

 times as much iodine as the amount stated in the Bureau of Fisheries Docu- 

 ment 967, i. e., 50 to 75 parts of iodine per billion. 



Doctor McClendon, of the University of IMinnesota, has shown that there are 

 four distinct zones in the United States with reference to high and low iodine 

 content of water and, consequently, a low and high prevalence of goiter among 

 the people. The first zone is the one in which there is less than one part 

 of iodine per billion of water in that zone, notably around the Great Lakes, 

 the number of goiter cases runs from 15 to 30 per thousand of population ; 

 whereas in the zones where the content runs from zero to one iier thousand, 

 the number of cases is in direct proportion to the amount of iodine. 



I should like to say just one word on behalf of the iodine going in as food 

 and without discouraging the use of iodine in drinking water or any other 

 soluble form. If we stop to think, in that part of the country where the water 

 has an extremely low iodine content, the soil itself must have a very low 

 content because the water represents tlie drainage from the soil. If we 

 have a water where the iodine content is high, we must not interpret the low 

 number of goiter cases to the iodine which we get in the water alone, but add 

 to that the iodine which you get in the food that is grown on a soil draining 

 water from which has iodine. 



While I have not the exact statistics to prove it, I am inclined to think 

 that in the sections where the prevalence is small the major portion comes 

 through the food and not through the drinking water and it was for that 

 reason that I was trying to urge consideration of the value of iodine in a 

 natural food product, rather than in intermittent doses of a soluble form. 



This evidence is submitted to the Association of Certified Milk Producers 

 for their consideration as one means of economically feeding cows to produce 

 young stock of increased strength and health and to increase the resistance of 

 the milk-producing animals to disease. 



It is submitted also to the Association of Medical Milk Commissions as a 

 possible means of contributing toward the solution of the goiter problem in those 

 parts of the country, especially around the Great Lakes, where that trouble 

 is prevalent. 



POULTKY 



According to Kaupp and Dearstyne (1926), growth studies with 

 chicks showed that fish meal as a feed concentrate gave the lowest 

 cost per pound of gain, followed by dried buttermilk, meat meal, 

 and condensed milk in the order named. 



The results of experiments at the Xew Hampshire station, (Stuart, 

 1928) indicated that 5 per cent of fish meal in the ration contains 



