Application of bone meal in animal husbandry

Bone meal is a by-product of the slaughter of cattle. Usually bones are removed from the meat during processing. This bone can then be converted to bone meal using different methods.

Bone meal can be used to provide calcium, phosphorus and other minerals in animal feeds. It can be used to replace dicalcium phosphate (DCP), One of the methods of producing bone meal is to treat them with a caustic agent and then with HCl and then precipitate with lime and dry, in addition Other methods can also be used to harness calcium and phosphorus. There are no restrictions on the use of bone meal to replace other dietary sources of calcium and phosphorus. Care should be taken when preparing diets to ensure that calcium and phosphorus ratios don’t exceed acceptable ranges. Bones as well as other animal by-products must be adequately heat treated to ensure that pathogens do not spread.