In some circles the cow is considered a terrible animal. Unlike the feed thrifty chicken the cow requires 8-9 lbs of feed for 1 pound of gain. In times of low grain inventory this is absolutely wasteful of food and energy! Well the Rooster knows the whole story and we better start treating Bessie with respect. You see cows eat what we feed them. If we choose to send them off to the feedlot and cram them into pens and feed them corn or barley they are not that efficient on an energy/feed basis.
But let me digress for a moment . . . Canucks and Yanks fight about what kind of beef tastes best. Corn feed (Yanks) or Barley feed (Canucks). The debate generally ends something like this “well at least both are tender, not like that grass feed stuff from Argentina or Australia”.
Okay you dummie North Americans wake up! Grass feed beef is generally raised on land that cannot grow a grain like corn or wheat so it actually helps produce food with less energy. The wonderful multiple stomach of the cow converts that indigestible grass (at least for a human) into high quality protein that a human can eat. When you balance that equation you spend less energy to make your protein. You might even get some healthier beef (we will leave that for another day).
So what really find is our friend Bessie is a wonderful Cellustic Protein Factory. She gives meat where there is only grass and that feeds people. Although todays grain inventories are low we need to remember when production is high she can help us turn excess grain inventories into high quality protein and keep farmers farming.
Put that in you cud and chew it !
