by garyd | Mar 14, 2019 | Food, WTF
HaveMore Farm is my own waste transformation demonstration farm.
It’s located on a 900 square metre (just under a quarter acre) residential block on Macleay Island in Queensland’s Southern Moreton Bay. As such, the climate is sub-tropical.
Currently, we have:
- 360 square feet (about 33 square metres) of wicking beds
- Moringa and neem trees – and various types of bamboo
- Fruit trees
- Chickens and Japanese quail
- Aquaponics and hydroponics systems
- Black soldier fly larvae and redworms
- Duckweed and kangkong
- Native bees
- Biochar production
I describe what we do as Microponics – it’s waste transformation farming at the backyard and small-to-medium enterprise level.
Microponics Origins
The challenge when designing small integrated food production systems is to see every output as a resource…even waste body heat and expired carbon dioxide.
When I first set out to describe a concept of small-scale integrated food production, over a decade ago, I called it integrated backyard food production (IBFP).
Integrated Backyard Food Production became too much of a mouthful and so, in 2008, it became Microponics. The name suggests its own origins – the combination of micro-farming, micro-livestock and aquaponics.
Some years later, I made the acquaintance of Dr Paul Olivier – a waste transformation expert. To my delight, his waste transformation model accommodated (and complimented) Microponics. He provided me with fresh insights into the integration of organic waste and I showed him how to integrate aquaponics/iAVs into his model. He persuaded me that using organic waste to make biogas was wasteful and polluting…and he designed the gasifiers that I now use as the alternative to biogas digesters. Suffice to say, I value his friendship and knowledge…and our collaboration is ongoing.
Applied Microponics/WTF
The best way to get a sense of how waste transformation works on our micro-farm is to accompany me on my morning routine.
The day begins with a quick trip around our various food production systems to confirm that fate has been kind to us overnight. Don’t laugh, we’ve encountered a carpet python (full of quail) in our quail pen and equipment failure has killed a tankful of freshwater fish.
At the same time, I feed any fish that we may be growing, collect any eggs from our chickens and quail and gather ripe fruit and vegetables from my various wicking beds or aquaponics and hydroponics systems. I also harvest moringa, perennial peanut and duckweed.
I check my BioPod and gather any black soldier fly larvae that have self-harvested overnight. BSF larvae are the favourite food of chickens and they disappear within seconds of them hitting the floor of the chicken pen.
I fill our small gasifier with wood pellets and flash it up. A few minutes later, I have boiling water for a cup of tea which I drink as I sort through the fruit and vegetables that I’ve just harvested.
I take the best of this bounty to the kitchen. I gather any kitchen scraps that may have accumulated in the preceding 24 hours and add some organic chicken feed and the remaining boiled water, to create a warm hot mash. This, and some duckweed and perennial peanut foliage, is also fed out.
By this time, the gasifier has burned out and the wood pellets that were used as fuel have now become biochar. Our biochar production is an excellent example of where you take something of low value (the wood pellets), add value to it (the gasifier) and end up with high grade heat (to boil the water) and biochar for our gardens (and other uses). In this example, we’ve got the hot water at no cost and the biochar is worth much more than the cost of the wood pellets from which it originated. Where wastes, like rice hulls and nut shells, can be obtained for nothing, the biochar is free.
Smaller quantities of mash, duckweed, and peanut are also fed to our quail.
We’re gradually transitioning our birds from the expensive organic ration that we feed them to homegrown feed…so that the birds continue to lay at capacity while the change happens. Sudden shifts in the feeding regime will often be reflected in reduced egg production.
Any manure that has accumulated in the chicken and quail pens is removed and fed to the BSF larvae. Counterintuitively, the manure quickly ceases to have any odour once the larvae get hold of it. For every kilogram of manure and food scraps that are fed to them, we get 200g of larvae in return.
Even though we continue to use the purchased ration, the supplementary feeding has reduced the amount of the bought stuff that they consume – so our overall cost of feed has reduced. When the transition to a home-grown ration is complete, we’ll be feeding our birds for no outlay save our labour.
Once our chickens have had breakfast, we let them out into a fenced space that we use as a soil pit. It provides them with shade, protection from predators and space to run around.
It’s also where I throw all of the garden residues, grass clippings and bamboo trash. The chickens break this material down…spreading their manure…to create an excellent growing mix for use in our wicking beds and other soil-based gardens.
Other periodic farming tasks include:
- transfer of BSF waste to the worm farm – ‘larvicast’ retains 50% of its original protein levels and is excellent worm bedding
- processing fish, ducks, quail and chickens
- harvesting and drying moringa leaves to make powder – for human and animal consumption
- gathering bamboo trash to make garden mulch and mesophilic bedding
- harvesting bamboo for trellising poles and fuel
- planting out seedlings and propagating plants
All of this activity produces a series of waste transformation “cascades and loops” (as Paul Olivier calls them) that result in reduced inputs and increased outputs…more food for less money.
- The fish provide nutrients for plants (including duckweed) and the plants clean the water for the fish.
- Plant residues and fish processing wastes are fed to Black Soldier fly larvae. The larvae are fed to fish, chickens and quail.
- The chicken and quail meat and eggs go to the kitchen and the viscera (guts) are fed to the BSF larvae. The feathers are composted.
The castings from the larvae (which retain up to 50% of their original protein level) and kitchen scraps are fed to worms.
- The worm castings are mixed with compost and used as a soil conditioner for trees, vegetables and fodder plants; while the worms are fed to fish, chickens and quail.
- Chickens fertilise the trees and eat weeds. They also eat spoiled fruit and the fruit fly larvae that it contains.
- Other chickens and quail eat the fodder plants and provide manure (and eventually feathers and other processing wastes) for worms, black soldier fly larvae and composting systems.
- Bamboo gives us poles for trellising and light construction. The leaves and twigs become fuel and mulch.
- Low value crop residues (like rice hulls, nut shells) produce high-grade heat for cooking and yield biochar.
- The biochar is infused with beneficial micro-organisms and mixed with our homemade garden soil. We’re even adding it to our livestock rations.
The development of HaveMore Farm is a journey rather than a destination. Just when the end is in sight, new prospective integrations reveal themselves.
Our project list includes:
- Hybrid energy production
- Wastewater treatment
- The integrated aqua-vegeculture system (iAVs)
- Organic hydroponics
- Fruit and nut trees
- Aquatic plants – azolla, Chinese water chestnuts
- Fodder plants and trees – pigeon pea, amaranth, comfrey, chou moellier, tagasaste and moringa
- More live animal protein – feeder roaches and mealworms
- Snails
- Guinea pigs
- Mushrooms and fungi
If we weren’t constrained by zoning laws, we’d also keep meat rabbits, pigs, goats and even miniature cattle like Dexters.
As it is, HaveMore WTF yields fish, quail/chicken/duck meat and eggs, worm castings/tea, duckweed, free livestock feed, vegetables, herbs, flowers and honey. We also get pollination, pest control, cultivation and weed removal as an added bonus.
The integration of fish, plants and micro-livestock leverages the volume and quality of the clean fresh food that we grow – and it makes for a healthier and more resilient food production environment. Income that would otherwise be used to buy food becomes available for other sustainability projects.
In short, HaveMore Farm allows us to have more for less.
-o0o-
In the next (and final) article in this series, I’ll offer some insights into how Waste Transformation Farming might work from a business perspective.
If waste transformation farming interests you, and you’d like to talk about it with other like-minded people, feel free to take up membership of my Have More For Less forum.
by garyd | Mar 5, 2019 | Food, WTF
Industrial farming has wrought incalculable damage on our planet. As such, it is unsustainable. We need alternative ways to for us to derive our nutrition without devastating our place…Mother Earth!
Waste Transformation Farming is that method.
It also means more income, better health and greater food security for those who embrace it.
WTF is productive, resilient and sustainable.
Productivity is the rate of output that is created for a unit of input. It’s used to measure how much you get out of an hour worked – or a dollar of investment. It follows, therefore, if you don’t have to pay (or pay less) for livestock feed and fertilisers, you are more productive. WTF offers unparalleled productivity.
Resilienceis the ability for a system, entity or individual to endure stress. It’s how well you take a hit…and how well you bounce back. If you’re not in debt to feed and fertiliser suppliers, and you have a diverse range of products, you’re in a better position to cope with market downturns and adverse weather events…while still putting food on your table (literally). WTF is the most risk-averse way to farm.
Sustainability, in a WTF context, means deriving your nutrition and livelihood without harming the planet. No chemical pesticides or herbicides. No chemical fertilisers. No production systems that produce toxins. No discharge of effluent to groundwater. WTF is arguably the most planet-friendly act that you could undertake.
The availability of fresh water is one of the more pressing limits to world agriculture. WTF embraces integrated aquaculture strategies that mean that you will use much less water (than conventional farming) …or it will provide you with unparalleled productivity for the water that you currently use.
WTF provides for biological and financial leverage.
Leverage is your ability to influence the outcome of your efforts – without a corresponding increase in the consumption of resources. It occurs when we integrate two or more food production systems. Integrated systems are always more than the sum of the parts. They’re the agricultural equivalent of 2+2=5 (or more).
When we gather the manure from chickens and feed it to black soldier fly larvae and worms we get not only eggs but also live animal protein for chickens and fish, excellent soil amendments…for no added cost.
WTF is infinitely scalable.
You can practise waste transformation farming in your backyard. You can set up a social enterprise to empower impoverished villagers. You can expand a backyard micro-farm to become a commercial enterprise.
To summarise…WTF will provide more food – of better quality – in a shorter time – at lower cost. It will give you more for less!
And our planet will love you for it.
-o0o-
The next article will look at WTF from a practical perspective. We’ll walk you through HaveMore Farm…our very own waste transformation farm.
If waste transformation farming interests you, and you’d like to talk about it with other like-minded people, feel free to take up membership of my Have More For Less forum.
by garyd | Mar 3, 2019 | Food, WTF
To understand how waste transformation farming works, we can do no better than to take a look at the work of Dr Paul Olivier. This disarmingly humble man – lives in Vietnam – and devotes his life to empowering the poor through waste transformation.
He’s developed a transformation model for biodegradable (organic) solid wastes.
Waste Transformation is a 4-step process: Wastes are identified…then they are categorised…and we add value to them…before putting them to their highest use.
4 Steps to Waste Transformation
- Sourcing
- Categorisation
- Value Adding
- Application
Sourcing
Waste is available from many sources – often just for the taking.
There are many different types of biodegradable waste. The following list is not exhaustive, but it will provide some insight in the scope of organic waste opportunities waiting to be exploited.
- Spent brewer’s grains
- Bones
- Cardboard and paper
- Eggs shells
- Grain husks and hulls
- Plate scrapings
- Meat and fish scraps and offal
- Nut shells
- Plant residues
- Spoiled hay
- Straw
- Stale bread and pastry goods
- Sawdust/wood shavings
- Urine – animal and human
- Manure – animal and human
- Seaweed
- Windfall wood., twigs and leaves
- Coffee pulp
- Coffee grounds
- Effluent
- Weeds and grass
- Waste heat and expired CO2.
….and many others.
Of course, you don’t have to generate these wastes yourself. All you have to do is find them in your area…and then do the person who owns them a favour by taking care of their waste problem by taking them back to your place.
Is rice grown (rice hulls)? What about nuts (like almonds, macadamias, walnuts)?
Are there any shearing sheds in your area (the farmers will often allow the removal of sheep manure from under the sheds)…or is someone keeping horses (horse manure)?
Are your neighbours mowing grass that they might like to deposit in a heap at your fenceline?
Do tree loppers clear trees from around powerlines and then mulch the waste? Some morning tea or a light lunch may score you a truckload of mulched tree waste.
Is there windfall wood on the roadsides that you can harvest?
Do you live near food processing operations, restaurants/cafes, hotels or anywhere that has food wastes?
Once you identify prospective waste sources, think about the logistics of collecting and storing the waste.
What quantities of the waste are available? Is your requirement for this type of waste continuous, intermittent or regular? Do you have space to store the waste?
Do you have to pay for it? How much? What is the cost of recovery and transportation? Even if you do not place a financial cost on your time, do you have to use a vehicle to recover the waste…or are they being delivered to you…at a cost?
Can you ensure that the waste that you collect will not create a nuisance (like odours, flies, vermin) for your neighbours? Anxious neighbours are a clear and imminent threat for micro-farmers so you should not give them cause for concern.
Categorisation
To categorise available wastes:
Those wastes are divided into those which are putrescent…and those which are non-putrescent.
putrescent…. undergoing the process of decay; rotting
Further, split these categories into high grade or low grade.
And then rank the wastes in order of nutrient content.
Type 1 waste (e.g. fresh food and spent brewery grain) contains a lot of nutrients. Ideally this waste should be used for feed for higher animals. Lactic acid fermentation is the preferred way to transform Type 1 waste into feed. Another simple and effective way to ensure that food wastes are pathogen-free is to flash fry them.
Type 2 waste is food that is unfit for consumption by animals. Arguably the best example is livestock manure. Generally, there’s no better nor quicker way to transform this type of waste than through the combined action of larvae and worms.
Type 3 waste (e.g. leaves and coarse plant residues) is easily broken down by composting microbes into soil conditioners and amendments.
Type 4 waste (e.g. bamboo prunings, macadamia shells, wood shavings, twigs, rice hulls, etc) is the stuff that won’t quickly break down in the compost heap and is often carted to the tip – or just discarded. Type 4 waste, however, is ideal for the production of syngas and bio-char.
Value Adding
When we obtain:
- grain husks and hulls – or wood shavings or sawdust – and add animal urine to them to mesophilically compost them
- plant processing wastes and ferment them so that they become pig and poultry feed.
- fish wastes and mineralise them to become plant nutrients
- nut shells and burn them in a top loading updraft gasifier to get biochar and high-grade heat
- animal manure – or coffee pulp – and feed it to black soldier fly larvae to produce high quality animal protein
- food processing and aquaculture effluent and vigorously aerate it to produce plant nutrients
- kitchen wastes and flash fry them to become pig and poultry feed
…we are adding value to them.
Organic waste sources abound and the opportunities to add value to them are limited only by our imagination.
Application
Another key WTF principle is that waste should always be put to its highest use.
High-grade putrescent waste (Type 1) should not be composted or fed to larvae and worms, unless it has spoiled to the point where it can no longer be preserved as feed for higher animals.
We only burn Type 4 wastes in a device that will give us biochar in addition to the high-grade. The effort involved making a top loading updraft gasifier (or the investment in buying one) is worthwhile in any situation where the waste is of uniform size…like nutshells, rice hulls and wood pellets.
Low-grade putrescent (Type 2) waste that can be fed to larvae and worms should not be composted. Larvae, worms and worm castings are far more valuable than compost.
That’s essentially how waste transformation farming works. It’s about identifying waste streams…adding value to it where necessary…and ensuring that we put all so-called ‘waste’ to its highest use…to achieve the greatest value from each waste type.
By treating waste in this way, we produce valuable farming inputs (feed, biochar, compost/fertilizer/plant nutrients at little to no cost.
-o0o-
The next article will look at the benefits of WTF.
If waste transformation farming interests you, and you’d like to talk about it with other like-minded people, feel free to take up membership of my Have More For Less forum.
by garyd | Feb 28, 2019 | Food, WTF
Waste Transformation Farming (WTF) is a productive, resilient and sustainable food production system.
It’s about identifying and categorising organic waste streams – and adding value to them – before using them to produce clean, fresh organic food– while reducing the need to purchase feedstuffs, fertilisers and soil amendments.
The secret to WTF is integration. Integration, in a farming context, is where food production systems are linked to each other to enable the waste from one organism to become the feedstock for other organisms.
Aquaponics/iAVs is an example of integration in which aquaculture and horticulture are combined. The fish are fed and produce waste that is converted to plant nutrients. The plants take up the nutrients and, in so doing, clean the water for the fish.
Integrated systems are always more than the sum of their parts. They’re the combination of leveraging elements that are the functional equivalent of 2+2=5 (or more).
In the aquaponics example, we get fish and vegetables for the same amount of fish feed that it would take to just grow the fish. We also get two crops for the same amount of water – and a cost-saving…and a huge environmental benefit.
Of course, WTF is not limited to aquaponics.
It’s an infinitely scalable food production system which embraces many ‘organisms’ including:
- Vegetables and herbs
- Freshwater fish and crayfish
- Japanese Quail
- Chickens
- Fruit and nut trees
- Ducks and other waterfowl
- Bees
- Aquatic plants – duckweed, azolla, water spinach, Chinese water chestnuts
- Fodder plants and trees – pigeon pea, amaranth, comfrey, Chou Moellier, tagasaste and moringa
- Live animal protein – Black Soldier Fly larvae, feeder roaches, mealworms, worms
- Farmed rabbits
- Snails
- Fungi
- Pigs
- Sheep and goats
- Cattle
The thing that all of these organisms have in common with each other is that they generate some type of waste that eventually presents as a problem. WTF turns problems into opportunities.
The next article will address how waste transformation farming works at a practical level.
If waste transformation farming interests you, and you’d like to talk about it with other like-minded people, feel free to take up membership of Aquaponics Nation forum.
-o0o-
by garyd | May 30, 2009 | WTF
Duckweed – a must have for Microponicists
Duckweed is one of the best-kept secrets of Urban Farming.
It is a high quality feedstuff that can be produced in useful quantities at little cost and with little effort. Of equal interest (particularly in an Aquaponics context) is its ability to remove nutrients from water.
We began growing duckweed in 2004. Initially, we used it to supplement the pelletised rations that we fed to our Japanese quail. In more recent times, it has become an important part of the diet that we provide to our Jade Perch.
In the right conditions, this tiny plant can double its mass every 24 – 48 hours. Close control of the production parameters for duckweed is relatively easy in the small ponds and tanks favoured by backyard food producers.
Its explosive growth rate enables you to harvest and feed fresh duckweed on a daily basis.
At 35% to 40%, it has a higher protein level than Soya beans and higher concentrations of the essential amino acids, lysine and methionine than most plant proteins.
The other great news is that growing duckweed is easy.
You can purchase your initial stocks from most aquarium supply shops…or from vendors on Ebay.
You can use any open tank, large tub or in-ground pond. Place smaller containers in semi-shade or somewhere that you are able to shelter them from the worst of the summer heat.
While it is not essential, recirculating water from your fish tank is desirable. Aside from saving you the effort of bucketing water from your fish tank, recirculating the water will ensure that the nutrient levels in your duckweed pond remain at a consistent level.
You should aim for complete and dense cover of duckweed (within the range 0.6kg/m2 – 1.2kg/m2) for backyard farming purposes. Much below this and algal blooms will be an issue and much above it will cause it to self-mulch. Wind or fast-flowing water will also cause diminished production due to self-mulching.
While a variety of organic materials can be used to supply nutrients for duckweed, the logical source for Aquaponicists is their fish tanks. Of particular importance to aquaponicists, is the plant’s nutritional preference for nitrogen in the form of ammonia.
Duckweed is capable of rapid growth in water containing trace elements of nutrients. Interestingly, we almost killed off a batch of duckweed through overdosing it with poultry manure.
Temperature and sunlight are more important growth parameters than nutrient concentrations.
Duckweed grows across a wide temperature range – between 6oC and 33oC – but we’ve determined that it grows best in a range of 18oC to 24oC. We know that growth slows progressively up to 30oC and the plant begins to die off quickly at around 33oC.
While it will live in pH 5 to 9, the optimum pH for growing duckweed is in the range of pH 6.5 to 7.5 – also the preferred range for aquaponics systems.
Feeding out duckweed is as simple as dragging a kitchen sieve through the duckweed tank and placing it into your fish tank.
To avoid the duckweed from being pumped out of the fish tank, we made up an inexpensive duckweed feeder from a bucket with the bottom removed. The bucket is suspended in the water and the duckweed is placed into the bucket. This arrangement allows the fish to access the duckweed without distributing it throughout the tank.
Jade perch waiting for duckweed.
Surplus duckweed can easily be dried and stored for later use. When drying small quantities, we allow the duckweed to drain in a kitchen sieve and then spread it thinly over several thicknesses of newspaper or kitchen towel. Turn it over several times each day for two or three days. Store it in an airtight plastic container.
Freezing is actually our preferred duckweed storage method. We simply gather up the tiny plants in a small kitchen sieve and squeeze the excess water out of them before arranging the mass in a shallow plastic container.
After freezing, we turn it out of the plastic mould and place the duckweed biscuit into a large storage container. Whenever we need duckweed for one of our fish, we select what we need from the storage container in the freezer and float it on the surface of the fish tank.
Frozen duckweed – fast food for fish.
To summarise, duckweed is a high quality source of plant protein that grows quickly, costs virtually nothing to produce and requires little labour. It offers the added benefit of being able to remove nutrients from water.
Our first challenge was to learn how to grow duckweed in consistent, predictable quantities.
Our current focus is on the full integration of the plant into an aquaponics system. We want to be able to grow duckweed to remove nutrients, feed fish and other small livestock and to conserve water through reduced evaporation.
Duckweed is a must have for Microponicists.
-o0o-
This article was first published in May 2009 and reviewed in October 2017.
by garyd | May 30, 2009 | WTF
How would you like to be able to produce large quantities of live animal protein….out of thin air?
Well, you can!
The Soldier Fly is arguably one of the best kept secrets of sustainable farming.
The larva of the Soldier Fly can be used to convert large quantities of organic wastes (including fruit and vegetable residues, offal and manure), into high quality animal protein that can then be fed directly to chickens and fish.
The good news doesn’t end there. This remarkable creature is genetically programmed to harvest itself. When it reaches maturity, it will climb out of its food source, crawl up a ramp (cleaning itself as it goes) and drop into a container ready for collection.
SF adults do not go into houses or eating places. They do not have functional mouth parts so they do not eat waste and nor can they regurgitate on human food.
They do not bite or sting and they are not associated in any way with the transmission of disease. Not only do they not behave like the irritating flies that afflict humans, Soldier flies actually reduce housefly numbers by 95% – 100%…..by denying the flies access to food.
Soldier Fly larvae are dry to the touch and have no odour.
The only real issue with Soldier Fly larvae is the poor image that attaches to flies in general and larvae in particular.
The mere thought of associating with worms and flies (much less fly larvae) usually fills most people with a sense of revulsion and the notion of close contact with bacteria raises thoughts of pestilence and plague.
The truth is that, not only are there bacteria and flies that are harmless to humans, life as we know it would not be able to exist without bacteria and flies.
The pet industry has overcome the image issue by marketing SF larvae, as live food, to owners of fish, birds, frogs and reptiles, under the more innocuous name of Phoenix Worms.
In the quest for home-grown livestock rations, more robust smallholders have long experimented with earthworms and various types of larvae.
Producing consistent quantities of earthworms requires some skill and takes at least 90 days to produce your first harvest.
Producing consistent quantities of Housefly or Blowfly larvae will happen much faster but harvesting them will put you in direct contact with some of nature’s less endearing disease couriers.
If you want to produce consistent quantities of animal protein with little effort and without getting too hands on, then Soldier Fly larvae are for you.
Waste Conversion
They have attracted the attention of researchers because of their capacity to consume large quantities of organic waste including pig and poultry manure. So voracious are the larvae, and such are their numbers, that they will sometimes displace worms.
Like worms, they will retreat from light. Unlike worms, however, they can tolerate very hot conditions.
When fed fresh manure, SF larvae convert protein and other nutrients in the manure into insect biomass. Aside from reducing manure volume by 50%, the larvae may reduce nutrient levels by 50% – 70%.
Soldier Flies do not limit their interest to livestock manure. They will happily lay their eggs in compost bins. Quite often, the owner of the bin will be oblivious to the fact that it is Soldier Fly larvae (rather than worms) that are consuming their kitchen scraps with such vigour.
SF larvae also handle offal and dairy wastes very effectively. This is a very handy attribute because, when you process a fish, chicken or rabbit for food, about half of the live weight is going to comprise viscera (guts), skin, feathers, scales or other inedible waste that will require disposal.
Soldier Fly larvae will convert this waste to live protein leaving you with compost that has an earthy odour and the texture of ground coffee. Soldier Fly larvae manure is a very useful soil conditioner and it makes excellent worm bedding.
Life Cycle
Adults mature and mate in the wild. Soldier fly adults congregate in small numbers near a secluded bush or tree in order to find and select a mate. After mating, the female searches for a suitable place to lay her eggs. She produces about 900 eggs in her short life of 5 to 8 days.
The male Soldier flies do not make contact with organic waste. To optimise their chances of survival, the females prefer to lay their eggs close to the waste rather than in it. About 100 hours later, the larvae hatch then crawl into the waste, which they begin to consume.
They start out white and gradually change to grey. They have the appearance of large segmented maggots and are often flat on the underside. One end is round and the other end tapers to a point.
Under ideal conditions, the larvae reach maturity in about two weeks In the absence of sufficient food, or in cooler weather, it may take up to six months for them to grow to the pre-pupae stage. SF larvae pass through 5 stages. Upon reaching maturity, pre-pupal larvae are about 25mm long, 6mm in diameter, and they weigh about 0.2 grams.
Pre-pupal SF empty their gut during their last moult and cannot feed thereafter. At this stage, the larva has everything that it needs to sustain it as it changes from pupae to adult fly.
The ability of the Soldier Fly larva to extend its life cycle under conditions of stress is a very important factor in its management for managing wastes and as a food source for poultry pigs and fish.
When the larvae are ready to become adult flies, they clear out their gut and start to look for a safe and private place in which to pupate. Famous for their ability to climb a 45° ramp, the larvae will crawl out of their food source and make their way to a collection point having effectively sorted themselves by size (only those ready to pupate will make this journey) and having cleaned themselves on the way.
The SF larvae’s capacity for self-selection makes them a better choice for small livestock diets than earthworms which still have to be separated from their bedding and sorted by size using manual or mechanical means.
Use of Larvae in Livestock Rations
Producing your own small livestock rations isn’t just a matter of economics; it’s a cornerstone of any attempt to produce clean, fresh food.
Commercial rations may contain preservatives, antibiotics and a host of questionable ingredients. The only way you can be sure that you know what’s in your livestock rations is to mix them yourself.
Dried SF pre-pupae contain up to 42% protein and 35% fat and feature an amino acid and mineral profile which leaves them well suited for use as livestock food.
Feeding studies have identified that SF larvae are suitable for use in poultry, pig and fish rations. Some researchers suggest that SF larvae are the nutritional equivalent of (and a suitable replacement for) fishmeal. This has important implications as wild catch fish stocks continue to dwindle.
Arguably, the biggest issue in using these remarkable creatures for livestock rations is overcoming the negative image that attaches to flies and insects. The simple fact, however, is that left to their own devices, small livestock will eat worms, larvae and insects – very often to the exclusion of expensive commercial rations.
Week old ducks, chickens or quail will hunt and eat flies and most species of fish will (in the wild) eat anything they can get their mouth around.
Sustainability
Any attempt to create sustainability that fails to acknowledge the role of bacteria and insects is doomed from the outset.
Worms, larvae and bacteria transform materials like manure, plant residues and animal processing by-products into more worms and larvae and soil conditioner. The worms and larvae can be combined with other ingredients (like duckweed) to produce rations for quail, chickens, ducks, rabbits and fish and the soil conditioner can be used to enrich your gardens.
Soldier Flies and backyard farming are good for each other, no matter how you cut it.
-o0o-
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