Harvesting worms

[Spotte]

Gidday folks
I've got a pile of cow **** , currently about a metre cube , full of worms. At present I harvest a couple of hundred by hosing a bucket full of "****e" through some coarse filter mesh...its messy but quick .....anybody got a more sensible approach......thanks a bundle
PS anybody have any idea of the FCR for worms fed to Silver Perch ??

[sillyoldfart]

Aren't worms about 80% water?

[Murray]

Hi Spottie,
It sounds like a great way to harvest worms.....very practical.
Silver Perch love garden worms and I imagine they are very good ...high protien content.
I get very few worms from my little worm farm, but when I throw a couple in to the Silvers, there is no doubt that they think they are top fare.
I suppose they (worms) are very high in water content SOF but they would still have loads of protien.
The human body is 80% water (or there abouts) and I am sure the human body would be an excellent source of protien down at the local Lion enclosure.

[GaryD]

Hi Spotte,

Worms are generally harvested in one of two ways:

1. Light - worms are light sensitive....so you tip a bucketful of castings onto a bench and, a bit at a time, brush away the top layer of casting. The worms constantly bury themselves further into the heap of castings to avoid the light....to the point where you have this writhing mass of pure worms on the bench and a bucketful of wormless castings. This is worm harvesting at the small end.
2. Mechanical - where the casting containing the worms is loaded into one end of a purpose-built harvester. See http://www.impactworm.com.au/harvest.htm This is what is used at the larger, commercial end of worm production.

What your method lacks in technical elegance, it makes up for in sheer practicality......except that all of the very small worms would wash through the mesh......and you'd have cow poop everywhere.

I don't know what the feed value of worms is, but mixed with duckweed I'd think they'd be close to an ideal diet for omnivores like Silver perch.

Gary

[Spotte]

Gidday Gary , Murray and SOF

Gary , thanks for the info ...bloomin good stuff. Got any ideas how to combine the worms with the duckweed ...or do SP simply eat the duckweed off the surface , no dramas ??



Murray and SOF, You are probably right about the water content of worms .....does that mean an FCR off the scale ??? Has any work ever been done on it.... must have, I would have thought.

The spot

[sillyoldfart]

Yep I'm sure the remaining 20% of the worm is probably all protein Murray.

Establishing the percentage of water content was important in order to try and work out the FCR, n'est pas?

[Spotte]

I noticed the commercial fish food I'm currently using is 45% protein.......so if you go on say 20% in worms , maybe the FCR , with the help of a bit of duck weed thrown in for the essential fatty acids , might not be so bad after all ?? Has Grafton done any studies on this with regards to Silvers ???

[GaryD]

Hi,

According to the following site, dried worms are 76% protein and earthworms are 28% protein. See http://www.lionsgrip.com/protein.html

Gary

[Spotte]

Thanks Gary ...great web site

Spot

[Murray]

There are other alternatives to worms that are possibly easier to raise than worms.
There is a whole chapter in Gary's new book on "Growing Your Own Fish Food"
and some very interesting info on "Soldier Fly Lave".
The next issue of "Practical Aquaponics for Everyone" will have a short article on "Soldier Fly Lave"