Atlanta Tri Weekly Journal

Discretion Should be Used in Feeding Tankage

H. G., Lexington, Ga., writes: Will you please advise me if tankage from an abattoir is all right for feeding to hogs and chickens, and how should it be fed?

We have had considerable trouble from the use of tankage with our chickens, and we have about discontinued feeding this material to any considerable extent. This applies not only to any product which might be made locally, but to the materials furnished by the larger manufacturers as well. Apparently, this material contains too much oil and fat to make it as desirable a food for chickens as ordinary meat scraps will furnish. It is true that chickens need some protein food, and, theoretically, digester tankage should furnish this element as effectively as anything else; but we have not found it as satisfactory as we had hoped, and we think the reason for this is contained in the explanation already offered. In feeding any sort of digester tankage to hogs or poultry or any other class of live stock, I would proceed with a good deal of caution. Feed only a small quantity and then discontinue its use. It is important that digester tankage be made carefully and put up so as to prevent its deterioration before it is used. In other words, it is not a product which will keep for any considerable length of time under our peculiar climatic conditions. Where digester tankage is used for hogs, not over five to ten pounds should be mixed with each 100 pounds of corn meal. Use the smaller amount to begin with. Hogs, of course, are much more ravenous than chickens, and have much larger and stronger assimilative systems, and, therefore, they can use coarser, heavier foods than chickens with satisfaction.