THE FEEDS 343 



Meat (Fresh). — Fresh meat is undouliteilly tlie most palat- 

 able feed of animal origin excejjt that furnished in nature 

 in the form of insects and worms. It may be ground fine 

 and mixed with a wet mash or it may be fed separately. An 

 idea of its feeding value may be gathered from the discussion 

 of meat scrap. 



Kionka, as reported by Brown/ found that an exclusi\e 

 diet of meat increased the uric acid output of chickens 550 

 per cent, as compared with an exclusive diet of barley. 

 Each fowl receiving large quantities of beef (150 grams daily) 

 developed symptoms similar to gout in man, and autopsies 

 revealed uric acid in certain of the joints and tissues. This 

 same result would probably prevail in the case of overfeeding 

 meat scraps and possibly any protein of animal origin. 



Meat Scrap. — Meat scrap, quite commonly called beef 

 scrap, is composed of the meat trimmings, including some 

 bone, from various animals slaughtered at the packing-houses. 

 These are cooked to extract some of the fat or tallow, and 

 then ground to varying degrees of fineness and sacked. Being 

 cooked dry and fairly free from fat, it will keej) for a long 

 period if stored in a dry i)lace. 



Meat scrap "should not contain any appreciable C[uantit}' 

 of hoof, horn, or hair, as these materials ha\'e practically 

 no food value for the growing chick or laying hen. A pre- 

 liminary examination of such food preparations may be made 

 by placing a small sample on a piece of white paper and noting 

 carefully the particles which have more or less the appearance 

 of a 'dark-brown glass.' These represent the hoof and liorn, 

 are ^ery rich in nitrogen, but not of the form that is adapted 

 to tiie nutrition of fowls. Another method of testing beef 

 scrap is to treat a small quantity with boiling water. If 

 there is a putrid odor, indicating decomposition, the scraps 

 shoidd not be used."^ 



In the buying of this feed, attention should also be paid to 

 the guaranteed analysis, as it varies widely, sometimes run- 

 ning as low as 20 per cent protein, and as high as 80 per 

 cent. 



' Bureau of Animal Industry, Bulletin No. 56. 



' Jaffa, California Bulletin No. 164. ' West Virginia Bulletin No. 83, 



