Product 5: FEATHER MEAL Details: Hydrolyzed poultry feathers or
feather meal is produced by hydrolyzing clean, undecomposed
feathers from slaughtered poultry. The most important factor
affecting the quality of hydrolyzed poultry feathers is the extent
of hydrolyzation. If less than *5 percent of the crude protein
content is digestible by the pepsin digestibility method, then
hydrolyzation was incomplete and protein quality is reduced. The
protein in feather meal is degraded slowly in the rumen compared to
most other protein sources. In research at Purdue University, a
combination of feather meal and urea produced average daily gains
in growing beef cattle similar to that achieved with soybean meal.
There is very little experience with feather meal in dairy cattle
rations. It is not very palatable and should be introduced into the
ration gradually. It may be fed to milking cows at an average rate
of up to 1 ½ pounds (0.7 kg) per cow per day. Typical Analysis Dry
matter *2 % Crude Protein *5.0% Fat *3.0 % Crude fiber *3.0 %
Neutral Detergent Fiber **- % Acid Detergent Fiber *6.2 % Calcium
0.*5 % Phosphorus 0.*1 % Total Digestible Nutrients *3.0 % Net
energy—Lactation *4.0 Mcal/**0 lbs
