LUNGS!

[Drake]

Why is this not you?

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/...88M05N20120923

Sweet times for cows as gummy worms replace costly corn feed


By Carey Gillam

KANSAS CITY, Missouri | Sun Sep 23, 2012 12:18pm EDT

(Reuters) - Mike Yoder's herd of dairy cattle are living the sweet life. With corn feed scarcer and costlier than ever, Yoder increasingly is looking for cheaper alternatives -- and this summer he found a good deal on ice cream sprinkles.

"It's a pretty colorful load," said Yoder, who operates about 450 dairy cows on his farm in northern Indiana. "Anything that keeps the feed costs down."

As the worst drought in half a century has ravaged this year's U.S. corn crop and driven corn prices sky high, the market for alternative feed rations for beef and dairy cows has also skyrocketed. Brokers are gathering up discarded food products and putting them out for the highest bid to feed lot operators and dairy producers, who are scrambling to keep their animals fed.

In the mix are cookies, gummy worms, marshmallows, fruit loops, orange peels, even dried cranberries. Cattlemen are feeding virtually anything they can get their hands on that will replace the starchy sugar content traditionally delivered to the animals through corn.

"Everybody is looking for alternatives," said Ki Fanning, a nutritionist with Great Plains Livestock Consulting in Eagle, Nebraska. "It's kind of funny the first time you see it but it works well. The big advantage to that is you can turn something you normally throw away into something that can be consumed. The amazing thing about a ruminant, a cow, you can take those type of ingredients and turn them into food."

PRICING VARIES

Feed is generally the largest single production expense for cattle operators. Whatever is fed needs to supply energy and protein levels that meet the animals' nutritional needs. High prices for soy has operators seeking alternatives for both corn and soy.

Corn alternatives are in particular demand as supplies are so tight that in some areas of the country, feed corn is not available at any price.

Pricing and availability of the many different "co-products" as they are called, varies from place to place, but buyers report savings of 10 percent to 50 percent.

The savings for operators are shrinking, however, as savvy resellers tie pricing for their alternative offerings to the price of corn, which surged to record highs this summer due to drought damage.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture said last month the harvest now underway will yield the smallest corn crop in six years due to the drought that is still gripping more than half of the nation.

"They are using less corn in a number of these rations, but as corn prices go up, prices for really every other co-product go up too," said Greg Lardy, head of the animal sciences department at North Dakota State University.

Operators must be careful to follow detailed nutritional analyses for their animals to make sure they are getting a healthy mix of nutrients, animal nutritionists caution. But ruminant animals such as cattle can safely ingest a wide variety of feedstuffs that chickens and hogs can't.

The candy and cookies are only a small part of a broad mix of alternative feed offerings for cattle. Many operators use distillers grains, a byproduct that comes from the manufacture of ethanol. Other common non-corn alternatives include cottonseed hulls, rice products, potato products, peanut pellet.

Wheat "middlings," a byproduct of milling wheat for flour that contain particles of flour, bran, and wheat germ, also are fed.

And every now and then, there is a little chocolate for the hungry cows.

Hansen Mueller Grain out of Omaha, Nebraska, which markets chocolate bars alongside oats and peanut pellets, said it all comes down to fat, sugar and energy.

"That's all it is," said Bran Dill, a spokesman at Hansen Mueller. Demand is high, he said.

But he also said increasing prices are making alternatives less attractive.

"The price of this stuff has gone up so much it's gotten ridiculous," he said.

(Additional reporting by Michael Hirtzer in Chicago; Editing by Leslie Gevirtz)

Son, I am disappoint.

[DaddyTorgo]

Yes - FEED YOUR COWS CANDY!!!

NOM NOM!!! HAPPY CHEESE COMES FROM HAPPY COWS!!! THAT'S WHAT THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA TELLS ME!!

[lungs]

Sorry, we're pretty boring. Instead of something exotic like candy, we're increasing beet pulp which is a byproduct of processing sugar beets. If we had a candy factory near us, we'd maybe do candy but beet pulp is a better buy for us.

[tarcone]

Dude, Jelly Bellys are made in your state.
Southeastern part of the state. Drive a truck down there and get after it.

[lungs]

Originally Posted by tarcone

Dude, Jelly Bellys are made in your state.
Southeastern part of the state. Drive a truck down there and get after it.

We do get our brewer's grain (grain left over from brewing beer) from Milwaukee......

A company we work with probably could source candy from somewhere but like I said, the best deal for us is beet pulp.

Plus the nutritional consistency of candy can be lacking. I know, I know, to hell with all that and just feed the poor bastards some candy, eh?

[DaddyTorgo]

Feed em whatever is good for em and makes the best business sense man. We're just amazed at cows eating candy I think.

[molson]

I find the contrast between candy and beet pulp kind of hilarious. Lungs is MONSTER!!!

[M GO BLUE!!!]

If you feed them chocolates, is the milk brown?

[tarcone]

Originally Posted by M GO BLUE!!!

If you feed them chocolates, is the milk brown?

It would be chocolate milk, though, right?

[Ksyrup]

Originally Posted by lungs

Sorry, we're pretty boring. Instead of something exotic like candy, we're increasing beet pulp which is a byproduct of processing sugar beets. If we had a candy factory near us, we'd maybe do candy but beet pulp is a better buy for us.

Clearly, you are the Billy Beane of the dairy farmers. Compared to gummy worms and sprinkles, beets HAS to be the market inefficiency.

[EagleFan]

Don't the cows in Wisconsin already eat too much candy?

[lungs]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

Clearly, you are the Billy Beane of the dairy farmers. Compared to gummy worms and sprinkles, beets HAS to be the market inefficiency.

You're onto something here. I do some thing unconventionally, mainly in my genetics program because of what I viewed as inefficiencies. And it mirrors the whole scouts vs. stats argument. A lot of people base how good a cow is by the way she looks which I think is nonsense. Ugly cows make me money too. I've pulled out the "I'm not selling jeans" line a few times.

[lungs]

Originally Posted by EagleFan

Don't the cows in Wisconsin already eat too much candy?

The between our cattle and our women is a little murky.....

[M GO BLUE!!!]

Originally Posted by lungs

The between our cattle and our women is a little murky.....

When you pour the candy on the troth & your wife knocks the cow out the way... you got problems. No bull!

Originally Posted by lungs

You're onto something here. I do some thing unconventionally, mainly in my genetics program because of what I viewed as inefficiencies. And it mirrors the whole scouts vs. stats argument. A lot of people base how good a cow is by the way she looks which I think is nonsense. Ugly cows make me money too. I've pulled out the "I'm not selling jeans" line a few times.

Pimp.

[DanGarion]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

Clearly, you are the Billy Beane of the dairy farmers. Compared to gummy worms and sprinkles, beets HAS to be the market inefficiency.

Dwight Shrute approves.

[sterlingice]

This is already an awesome thread

SI