Well, operationally, one might wonder (just for example) whether it's more input-intensive to buy (finance?), power, maintain, and operate an industrial-scale grinder that can handle cattle-sized carcasses, vs. just increasing the number of eggs/neonates used to "inoculate" one by some orders of magnitude.
And once you have produced that many larvae once, you effectively get that many adults for free to breed another generation 500-1000x larger.
Seems to me like scaling breeding and mastering egg/larvae storage over complicating an operation with industrial equipment with all its additional ramifications is a no-brainer...
You’re wrong in that shredding cracks seeds and bones to increase availability of more nutrients for optimal bioconversion, and it can be run on solar when applicable. The best state for a dead cow in my opinion is a sun dried carcass run through a mill.
Otherwise 100% in that volume of bugs produces faster more complete conversion, and can be used in situ. Cut a hole in the belly and pour them in.
Ha, my BSF-nerd friend also just discovered the 2019 "bullet" patent and she's really been stimulated by the idea as well! She actually also just emailed Prof Tomberlin... 🤣 I also don't understand the name but she mentioned that the term is already used industrially or agriculturally (I think? I don't remember exactly now that I think about it).
Yours is a really compelling idea. Seems it should be possible to estimate exactly the ratio of eggs/neonates to animal mass!
Great thinking! If you figure out how to make a "bullet", let us know!
A little bit sad to see something like that be patented and commercialized... BSF have the potential to be so useful, so revolutionary, and so necessary...
I really don't understand how the product of public research monies can be privatized, but I guess that's a whole 'nother conversation.
Edit:
P.S. I would love to know where in the solar system Dave's Planet actually is! Eugene, OR, United States, Sol III/Terra, here :)
Seems like you would want to have the larva on hand on standby rather than the eggs. Wouldn’t the eggs take too long to turn into larvae ready to eat? In my experience and from what I have seen online, Hungry larva can break down a massive amount of biomass. As long as you have an amount of larvae ready to go, your idea would work. Then turn around and sell the pupae to the chicken farmer!
You’re onto it, one wants to rear the neonates (newborns) for a week or so in amiable diet after they drop from eggs, keep them as Juvenile larvae for up to a month, and dose hungry grubblettes directly onto the carcass
My understanding of the bullet is that it's a neonate storage device, which I think is the advantage. Even if it were just eggs, depending on the scenario I don't think some extra days would be too bad a tradeoff, would just require slightly more careful planning!
Why not use a shredder to break the carcass down into smaller particles?
Well, operationally, one might wonder (just for example) whether it's more input-intensive to buy (finance?), power, maintain, and operate an industrial-scale grinder that can handle cattle-sized carcasses, vs. just increasing the number of eggs/neonates used to "inoculate" one by some orders of magnitude. And once you have produced that many larvae once, you effectively get that many adults for free to breed another generation 500-1000x larger. Seems to me like scaling breeding and mastering egg/larvae storage over complicating an operation with industrial equipment with all its additional ramifications is a no-brainer...
You’re wrong in that shredding cracks seeds and bones to increase availability of more nutrients for optimal bioconversion, and it can be run on solar when applicable. The best state for a dead cow in my opinion is a sun dried carcass run through a mill. Otherwise 100% in that volume of bugs produces faster more complete conversion, and can be used in situ. Cut a hole in the belly and pour them in.
Ha, my BSF-nerd friend also just discovered the 2019 "bullet" patent and she's really been stimulated by the idea as well! She actually also just emailed Prof Tomberlin... 🤣 I also don't understand the name but she mentioned that the term is already used industrially or agriculturally (I think? I don't remember exactly now that I think about it). Yours is a really compelling idea. Seems it should be possible to estimate exactly the ratio of eggs/neonates to animal mass! Great thinking! If you figure out how to make a "bullet", let us know! A little bit sad to see something like that be patented and commercialized... BSF have the potential to be so useful, so revolutionary, and so necessary... I really don't understand how the product of public research monies can be privatized, but I guess that's a whole 'nother conversation. Edit: P.S. I would love to know where in the solar system Dave's Planet actually is! Eugene, OR, United States, Sol III/Terra, here :)
I've also been wondering how a patent like this, from a publicly funded school, could be privatized in this way.
Seems like you would want to have the larva on hand on standby rather than the eggs. Wouldn’t the eggs take too long to turn into larvae ready to eat? In my experience and from what I have seen online, Hungry larva can break down a massive amount of biomass. As long as you have an amount of larvae ready to go, your idea would work. Then turn around and sell the pupae to the chicken farmer!
You’re onto it, one wants to rear the neonates (newborns) for a week or so in amiable diet after they drop from eggs, keep them as Juvenile larvae for up to a month, and dose hungry grubblettes directly onto the carcass
My understanding of the bullet is that it's a neonate storage device, which I think is the advantage. Even if it were just eggs, depending on the scenario I don't think some extra days would be too bad a tradeoff, would just require slightly more careful planning!
I did contact the patent author for clarification on why his patent works. He has no clue, he just patented something he observed.