6 BULLETIN 378, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTUEE. 



The comparative value of meat meal and fish meal as supplementary foods 

 for swine was studied by A. Kleeraan,^ who conducted his experiments on 3 

 groups of 8 hogs each, using two grades of fish meal (one containing 2.10 per 

 cent of fat and 48.90 per cent of protein ; the other 4.80 per cent of fat and 

 51.50 per cent of protein) and a higher-grade meat meal, containing 80 per 

 cent of protein. The ration, in addition to the high protein-bearing foods 

 used, was composed of corn, steamed potatoes, potato chips, and potato flakes. 

 Starch was used in addition to balance the ration composed of the fish meal low 

 in fat. The deficiency of meat meal in phosphate of lime was made up by 

 adding precipitated lime phosphate to this ration. 



The pigs fed on meat meal were off their feed during the latter part of the 

 experiment, while the lots fed the fish meal appeared to have sharpened 

 appetites and ate the ration well throughout. 



There was no difference in the Reichert-Meissl numbers of the fat of the hogs 

 fed on meat meal and those fed on fish meal, but the iodin number of the fat 

 was found to be slightly higher in the case of the hogs fed on fish meal. The 

 quality of the meat and fat as regards taste, odor, and flavor was not affected by 

 feeding fish meal. The author states that meat meal and fish meal are good 

 fattening feeds for swine, and concludes, from his experiment, that, as food for 

 hogs, meat meal and fish meal gave practically similar increases in weight, but 

 that meat meal on account of the higher percentage of protein was from 60 to 

 80 per cent cheaper than fish meal. 



This conclusion is based on the fact that in this experiment the fish meal 

 cost a little more than meat meal. 



Honcamp, Gschwender, and Engberding ^ report the results of experiments 

 on sheep which were fed herring meal and whale-flesh meal, as supplementary 

 feeds to clover hay. The herring meal used by them contained 58.30 per cent 

 of crude protein, 56.28 per cent of " pure " protein, 8.98 per cent of nitrogen 

 free extract, 13.57 per cent fat, and 23.65 per cent of ash. Digestion experi- 

 ments conducted on sheep with this meal showed a utilization of 93.7 per cent 

 of the organic substances, 87.7 per cent of the crude protein, 49.2 per cent of 

 the nitrogen free extract, and 97.4 per cent of the fat. 



It was noted in these tests that the animals digested the organic material of 

 the ration as well as the crude fiber of the basal ration (clover hay) to better 

 advantage during the period in which fish meal was fed than in the period 

 in which no fish meal was given, a fact which has been observed before under 

 conditions where high protein rations have been used. 



In a report' (on Fish Guano and Its Use as Food) by Consul General Robert 

 P. Skinner, Hamburg, Germany, it is stated that this material is used with 

 great success in Germany as a supplementary stock food. Large quantities of 

 it are exported to the United States, but it is all utilized for fertilizer pur- 

 poses. In Norway codling and herring are the chief varieties of fish from 

 which this material is made, while in England and Scotland the waste from 

 all varieties of fish is used. 



Herring meal, when made from fresh fish, has a protein content of from 60 

 to 70 per cent and a fat content of from 10 to 12 per cent, but when made from 

 salt herring, the protein content is only about 50 per cent and the fat content 



7 or 8 per cent. 



The English fish meal is pressed while being kept hot with steam and haa 

 a fat content of only 3.6 per cent. Hogs are said to eat this fish meal eagerly, 



iLandw. Vers. Stat, 1910, 73 (1 & 3) 187-219. 

 « Landw. Vers. Stat., 1911, 75, 161-184. 



* Daily Trade and Consular Report, 1911-14, No. 103, p. 512. See also American Fer- 

 tilizer, May 6, 1911, p. 32 H. 



