Sweet times for cows as gummy worms replace costly corn feed

[Sam I Am]

Sounds nutritious.

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Sweet times for cows as gummy worms replace costly corn feed

(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.

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[Phoenix]

[SaltwaterServr]

The drought has hurt, yes, but what has really hurt the price of corn is the law that requires US refineries to blend X million gallons of ethanol into our fuel supplies for 'greener' gas.

1 gallon of ethanol take somewhere around 36 gallons of water to produce from seed to final blend. Smart usage in a drought even.

Another way to look at it is the United States is the largest exporter of corn in the world. We're also the largest contributor of corn to the UN's programs of feeding famine affected areas.

So it's really a piss poor program.

We burn up more water to use corn as ethanol in a drought. We use that corn which drives up prices of other consumer goods. We use that corn for ethanol so that leaves less corn to donate to starving populations.

[jobberone]

Let's don't get too political but yes there are problems with corn production and usage compounded by regulation and drought. I lost all my corn this year. I couldn't put enough irrigation on it and I just had a small garden not acres and acres of it.

[SaltwaterServr]

Originally Posted by jobberone

Let's don't get too political but yes there are problems with corn production and usage compounded by regulation and drought. I lost all my corn this year. I couldn't put enough irrigation on it and I just had a small garden not acres and acres of it.

I was doing my best to avoid the political aspects of it. I've done a bit of research on it for looking at alternative crops, which is what led us (me and a few other people) to our current incarnation of the African water project.

[MonsterD]

Originally Posted by SaltwaterServr

The drought has hurt, yes, but what has really hurt the price of corn is the law that requires US refineries to blend X million gallons of ethanol into our fuel supplies for 'greener' gas.

1 gallon of ethanol take somewhere around 36 gallons of water to produce from seed to final blend. Smart usage in a drought even.

Another way to look at it is the United States is the largest exporter of corn in the world. We're also the largest contributor of corn to the UN's programs of feeding famine affected areas.

So it's really a piss poor program.

We burn up more water to use corn as ethanol in a drought. We use that corn which drives up prices of other consumer goods. We use that corn for ethanol so that leaves less corn to donate to starving populations.

This is something I don't get there has been a trend for about 20 years now to force feed corn into every product and consumable as possible, and it came back to bite us in a big way. I don't need corn in everything, I am surprised my clothes and the houses are not built out of corn now.

And yeah I know from the local guy who is one of the foremost experts in gasoline that the whole ethanol thing has always been a complete sham.

[speedkilz88]

If they really wanted to go "green" they would make a bigger effort to go with vehicles run on natural gas.

[vta]

Originally Posted by speedkilz88

If they really wanted to go "green" they would make a bigger effort to go with vehicles run on natural gas.

Or have us work from home.
Old habits die hard but a lot of congestion could be cleared by working remotely for plenty of businesses.

[SaltwaterServr]

Originally Posted by speedkilz88

If they really wanted to go "green" they would make a bigger effort to go with vehicles run on natural gas.

Buddy, you said a mouthful there. Take a look at the price of natural gas and see how much cheaper it is than gasoline right now. You'll end up because we failed to convert to LPG in vehicles back in the early 90's when it gained popularity.