Earthworms are high-quality protein feed
Earthworms are high-quality protein feed provided by Jindi Agricultural Earthworm Breeding Base.
Earthworms can be processed into feed to feed livestock, poultry, and aquatic animals. There are usually two processing methods. The first method is to select individuals of appropriate size, healthy and active, then place them in a basket after removing mud, and rinse them clean in a clear water pool. Afterwards, put the cleaned earthworms into a drying furnace or an infrared furnace, dry at 60°C to remove moisture. The dried earthworms are then placed into a grinder or a mill to be crushed and ground into powder. This kind of earthworm powder can be directly fed to livestock, poultry, and aquatic animals, or it can be mixed with other feeds to make compound granular feed.
The second method involves grinding the cleaned earthworms into a paste, mixing in a certain proportion of fine feed, and then freezing at low temperature to make granular feed for fish, turtles, and softshell turtles, or as fish bait. This kind of granular feed needs to be stored in a refrigerator.
Using earthworms as fish bait has a better essential amino acid index compared to bait made from other animals. The fat content of earthworms is also higher than that of other animal-based baits. Below are several methods of using earthworms in livestock, poultry, and aquaculture:
1. Raising earthworms to feed pigs is effective. Earthworms are easy to breed, reproduce quickly, and have high protein content, making them excellent protein feed. Pig manure fermented afterwards is also good feed for earthworms, which positively impacts their growth and development. Raising earthworms can eliminate garbage, reduce environmental pollution, improve soil, and is a good model for three-dimensional farming for specialized farmers.
2. In egg-laying chicken feeding, adding 15% earthworms to the mixed feed and feeding egg-laying chickens for 10 days increases egg production by 175 grams, with each egg increasing in weight by an average of 1.7 grams and saving 1.4 grams of feed. When feeding egg-laying chickens with earthworms, the amount added should not be blindly increased, as excessive amounts can cause waste and affect the appetite of the chickens.
3. For broiler chickens:
Method one: For broilers aged 20-30 days, feed each bird 21 grams (about 30 worms) of earthworms per day; for those aged 30 days, feed each bird 28 grams (about 40 worms) per day, mixed with feed. After 40 days, the experimental group's broilers gain an average of 163 grams more than the control group, with an increase rate of 15.9%.
Method two: Add 12% cooked earthworms to the mixed feed and feed broilers for 60 days, with 60 broilers per group. The experimental group gains 39.1% more weight than the control group, while the feed-to-meat ratio decreases by 1.07 (2.92:1), and the mortality rate of broilers decreases by 5%, with an increase of 24.39% in weight gain compared to the fishmeal group and a decrease of 0.35 in the feed-to-meat ratio.
4. Feeding ducks with earthworms can be done raw, with the feed amount accounting for 60%-70% of fine feed, i.e., about 100-150 grams per duck per day. Egg production can increase by 50%, and each egg can weigh 15 grams more. Long-term feeding of ducks with earthworms results in strong and healthy ducks with shiny feathers and extended egg-laying periods. Feeding meat ducks with 10% earthworm powder for 45 days shows that the experimental group gains an average of 10 grams more per day than the control group.
5. Feeding fish with earthworms: It is reported that earthworms are ideal bait for artificially farmed eels during the white fry stage, with good palatability and high feed efficiency. Directly feeding fish with earthworms and worm castings saves a lot of labor and conserves fine feed, achieving dual benefits.
6. Feeding turtles, softshell turtles, loaches, and mudfish with earthworms: Due to the wide availability of earthworms and their low breeding costs, developing earthworm farming has broad application prospects. Additionally, utilizing the ability of earthworms to accumulate trace elements can help treat and prevent diseases in turtles and softshell turtles.
7. Feeding shrimp with earthworms: Shrimp farming typically uses mussel meat and frozen white shrimp as bait, which is very costly. However, experiments show that each shrimp can be fed 5 grams of earthworms. Earthworms release yellow slurry and mucus within about 2 seconds of entering water and move and crawl in seawater. The shrimp capture and eat the earthworms with their walking legs, generally finishing all within an hour. Within 1-3 hours, purple shrimp feces digested from earthworms are excreted. Observations show normal shrimp digestion, rapid ovarian development, and subsequent egg-laying ranging from 105,000 to 507,000 eggs within a few days, whereas ovaries of shrimp fed mussel meat only begin to develop during the same period. Mussel meat and frozen white shrimp spoil quickly in seawater, often affecting water quality and causing mass shrimp deaths, with survival rates at only 25%. Since earthworms can survive at least 12-30 minutes in seawater and the protective liquid secreted by their bodies does not spoil even 3 hours after death, they do not easily pollute water quality, raising shrimp survival rates to 55%.
8. For mother rabbits postpartum, earthworms can cleverly stimulate milk production. If a mother rabbit lacks milk after giving birth, you can dig out 5-10 fresh earthworms, wash them with clean water, scald them to death with boiling water, cut them into small pieces about 3 centimeters long, and mix them with a small amount of feed to feed the mother rabbit. Soon, the mother rabbit will start lactating. If the lactation volume is insufficient, you can feed another dose. This method is not suitable for mother rabbits with strong lactation abilities.
Jindi Agriculture offers wholesale earthworm seeds and commercial earthworms, and provides free earthworm breeding techniques when purchasing earthworm seeds.
For more details, please visit the Jindi Agriculture Company website: www.jindinongye.com