07 Jul 2007
Feeding distiller's grains vital to future of livestock operation success

It seems to be we have a few things backwards here, starting with an entity known as the "cattle feeding industry". Do we have a "cattle birthing" industry? Or a "cattle scratching" industry? Why is one aspect of a cow's existence relegated to a specialized industry? Don't all of these things fall under the heading of "ranching" or "cattle raising"?

But secondly, and more importantly, we seem to be saying "we have a lot of material X, therefore we should make cattle eat it" as opposed to "cattle naturally eat material Y, therefore we should make more of it".

If the supply of tin cans exceeded the supply of soda, would these "researchers" advocate the Coca-Cola Company figuring out a way to make people eat the cans and forego the pop?

There's no reason the Texas cattle-feeding industry cannot remain strong and viable if it incorporates distiller's grains intorations, said a Texas Agricultural Experiment Station researcher. "Our concern has been 'Will there be enough feed?'," said Dr. JimMacDonald, Experiment Station beef cattle nutritionist. "Assuming all thedistiller's grains are available for livestock feed, clearly there willbe."

(link) [EurekAlert!]

08:01 /Agriculture | 1 comment | permanent link