Freezer Burn

Is Freezer Burn or Frostbite on meat bad for animals to eat?
Please note that this is from the viewpoint of feeding it to animals in a rehabilitation situation.

As far I can tell NO. Although there are a few things that happen to meat that has been frozen especially without the proper packaging.
1. Meat that is frozen does loose a certain amount of its nutrients but even then it is fine to feed it to animals.
2. Frostbite on meat tends to dry the meat out causing the pigment to discolor due to a chemical reaction.
3. In feeding frozen meat to animals it is important to add a supplement to their diet; such as Predator powder which is what we use at the Wildlife Center.
4. The frostbite meat tends to smell really bad and can result in the animal not eating it for just that reason.

Meal Worms

Today I was cleaning and sorting the meal worms at the wildlife Center. And believe me this is no easy feat. To start off with...they have not been cleaned and sorted in a while. A long while.

The meal worm goes through 4 stages much like that of a butterfly, egg turns into worm which turns into pupae which in turn becomes a beetle. The beetles lay egg and the whole cycle is started again.

Meal worms are reared as a protein rich source of food for monkeys, lesser bush babies and birds. In some cases they are also used for fishing and as a food source for pet fish.

Although meal worms may be purchased at most pet shops it is an intriguing project to do yourself. Which is why we ended up doing just that. Part of our Second year curriculum is learning the ability to cultivate various food sources with the aim at sustainability.

There is lots of facets to this beetle that makes for intresting study;
The female beetle may lay up to 500 eggs in one go. It takes about 10 days for all the eggs to hatch after which the larva or worm will grow continuasly for about 40 days, while it sheds its exoskeleton 12-19 times. The worm feeds off vegetables, dead insects, oatmeal and bran to gain moisture and nutrients. The larva then curls up forming a pupae which stays that way for 20 days thereafter becoming a beetle. The adult beetle survives for about 80 days.

The beetle of the meal worm is considered a pest in South Africa.

Bullrushes

Kingdom: Plantae

Phylum: Angiosperms
Class: Monocots

Class: Commelinids

Order: Poales

Family: Typhaceae

Genus: Typha

Species: latifolia

This is a plant that is very common in South Africa and on Sondela Specifically. They are in just about every watering hole and every dam over here. They are pretty and are good for quite a few things like:
Birds use them for nesting
they are cover for fish
they are cover for fish and frog eggs
And mush more

The problem is that (as is with most things in life) too much can be a problem. And that is exactly what happened. They grow really fast and can cover a dam completely this causes several things but the worst of it is the depletion of oxygen in the water. It is not that they use so much oxygen during the night it is more that they take up lots of space and so in a way "suffocates" the water.

With less oxygen the fish can no longer breath and then die. Much of the bird life on Sondela eat fish, frogs and toads. So if these are no longer able to breed or live for that matter we would be removing a ling in the ecological chain. The dams also became so clogged with the bulrushes that the other animals like the buck could not get to the water to drink. That is why we needed to remove a large amount of these from every dam. As I mentioned before they also have lots of uses so removing them compleatly will also have negative repercussions.

This is where our role as conservationists came in. We have to know how much we must remove for the animals using the water to be able to survive and at the same time we need to know how much we must leave for the animals that utilize the plant to survive.

Origin:

It is indigenous to South Africa as well as many American and Canadian areas.

Uses:

Typha has a wide variety of parts that are edible to humans. The rhizomes, underground lateral stems, are a pleasant nutritious and energy-rich food source that when processed into flour contains 266 kcal per 100 g. Typha has also recently been suggested as a source of oil.

Typha can be dipped in wax or fat and then lit as a candle, the stem serving as a wick. It can also be lit without the use of wax or fat, and it will smolder slowly, somewhat like incense, and may repel insects. The leaves have been mixed with oil and used as a poultice on sores. It is used internally in the treatment of kidney stones, haemorrhage, painful menstruation, abnormal uterine bleeding, postpartum pains, abscesses and cancer of the lymphatic system. The young flower heads are eaten as a treatment for diarrhea.

Typha control and management:

The optimal control technique for a given site will depend on the hydro-logic state of the site, the size of the area to be managed, and if the manager is able to manipulate water levels. Removing dead leaves and submerging the shoots in early spring will strain the plant and eventually kill it. Starch reserves in the rhizomes are at their minimum in late spring when the pistillate spike of the cattail is lime green and the staminate spike is dark green. This is the best time to employ cutting, crushing, shearing, and/or deciding to eliminate cattail colonies because all these methods impede starch storage during the growing season. The methods of control work best if employed during a three-week time window beginning one week before and ending one week after the staminate spike has emerged. Grazing by cows, geese, muskrats, and other animals can be an effective method of cattail management. Spring and early summer treatments generally created favorable seedbeds for cattail that required a fall crushing to control seedlings. Crushing

involved pulling a 55 gallon water filled drum behind a tractor. Deeper water areas showed

highest control (up to 100 percent) while re-growth occurred in shallow areas.

Common names: broad leaf cattail, common cattail, soft-flag

We controlled the bulrushes by spraying it with Roundup(a herbecide) and giving it time to die. when they had died we had to physically remove the dead leaves from the dams. These will be used for composting.

Parent Day

Ouch is all i can say! I have started working at the academy and to put it lightly i was dumped in the deep end. Today was stressful! Just one of the many things i have learnt here at Sondela is how to handle stress! It turned out to be an amazing day, showing of to the parents what their children have been doing for the last six months and seeing the surprise on their faces. Well we did tell them we work hard!

There were eight slide shows presented by the students from the seven different departments that they work through in the first year course.

• Site Guide
• Resource Guardianship
• Species Care
• Reception
• Accommodation
• food and beverage and
• Professional cookery

The slide shows were each special in there own way and it is a good feeling to know that i had an impact on the students.

This whole week was spent planning for this event and i came to realize exactly how much work goes into what seems like a small function.
We had to receive confirmation from the parents weather they were coming or not. With this we added the students and staff that would be attending and sent an email through to Chef Errol to make sure that there is enough muffins for the tea and food for lunch.
The tea and coffee had to be arranged with food and beverage we also sent an email to confirm this. Emails are a good way to prove that you asked someone something.
Tables and seating were also arranged with F&B.
Then I had to print out 100 programs for the day. These were on yellow paper and had to be designed on Microsoft publisher because it gives you more control over what the end product would look like.
We had to brief the managers about the processes so that they can speak to the parents if they were asked. The training managers were also there because they are so closely involved in the actual training process.
All in all it was lots of work but I think it was a success!

E.M

Effective Microorganisms

Anyone that have heard of this substance knows how useful it is in organic, bio dynamic and sustainable farming. On Sondela specifically we use it for three different things:
1. Helping certain plants to grow.
2. Controlling the fly population on the farm especially because of the horses.
3. And last but not least giving the septic tank systems we use on the farm a boosted amount of microorganisms to digest the contents.

Considering the price of E.M this is am amazing feat.
We dose the different components as follows.

1. Toilets 500ml each.
2. Basins, urinals and showers 250ml each.
3. Cattle drinking cribs 1l each. This serves two purposes. First of all it is to keep things like mosquitoes from breeding in the water when it stands still for too long. And second it is good for the digestive system of the animals.
   
4. The dam in the sheep kraal 5l. This is for the same purpose as for the cattle cribs.
   
5. Hedges are sprayed lightly with a dilution of 1l E.M for every 19l of water. E.M is know to make things grow a little bit faster because of the microorganisms that help the roots take up nutrients from the ground.
   
6. The Stables are also sprayed with a dilution of 1l em to 19 l of water but instead of a light spray we soak the floor and outer building completely. We are careful of spraying the inside of the stable because the hay they use as bedding starts to get mold if is it wet, especially in the summer time when it can get quite hot and humid in the stables. The E.M causes the larvae of the fly to develop at a faster rater then it would normally. This in turn causes the layer that is outside of the pupa is thicker making it more difficult for the fly to get out. When the fly had broken through the thick layer, its wings- that by this time should have been open already-have already started to dry causing well...walks;flies that can not fly or for that matter mate and reproduce. As such breaking a chain.
   
7. The floor in the kitchen part of the wildlife center is also sprayed because it helps prevent it from smelling due to working with meat and messing on the floor in general. It also removes 'bad' bacteria such as salmonella. Spraying in the kitchen also reduces the fly population.

EM^® is an acronym for Effective Microorganisms^®. It is a brand name referring to a line of microbial-based products using a technology developed by Japanese scientist Dr. Teruo Higa. EM•1^®is a liquid bacterial product made of three groups of bacteria: Yeast, Photosythetic Bacteria, and Lactic Acid Bacteria. EM•1^®works together with beneficial microbes in the area to which it is added, creating a synergy among microorganisms and larger forms of life including insects and worms, pets and livestock, and people. All products using EM Technology^®contain EM•1^®in some part of their manufacturing process: EM•1^®, PRO EM•1^®, Dr. Don's^®, EM^®Ceramics, EM•1^®Bokashi, etc.

http://www.teraganix.com/Effective-Microorganisms-History-and-Availability-s/194.htm