Black Flies To Feed Livestock

Black Flies To Feed Livestock MISCELLANEOUS EQUIPMENT Miscellaneous Instead of irritating cattle in feedlots or on pasture it looks like black flies might someday provide high quality protein feed A few issues ago we told you about a South African company called AgriProtein Technologies that has set up a pilot fly-breeding farm that produces 2 tons per week of protein from flies feeding on waste from meat processing plants Vol 36 No 6 Now a large-scale research project in England is going to test the viability of using black flies to convert ag wastes including manure to protein Flies lay eggs in the waste products which hatch into larva “We are looking at harvesting larva after they’ve eaten just before pupation when they have optimal protein and fat ” says Elaine Fitches at the UK-funded Food & Environment Research Agency FERA near York England The goal of the $5 million project is to work out how to mechanize large scale production and developing micro-scale systems for small farmers elane fitches@fera gsi gov uk There’s already a lot of information floating around about setting up your own small-scale fly-breeding system for feeding larva to chickens Check out the BioPod from Robert Olivier in Texas www thebiopod com; ph 214 509-6000 There are also plenty of do-it-yourself simple designs for building your own “maggot generators” online Just do a search at Google or check out the “black fly” video at www farmshow com

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