tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6876412395906787083.post1495191622960752622..comments2023-10-03T08:10:51.812-07:00Comments on Food, Think!: Meat Eaters, MisguidedCassiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09188215915056223426noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6876412395906787083.post-24419160067928092492011-08-25T17:35:42.975-07:002011-08-25T17:35:42.975-07:00Cassie- There are many things that we can do as w...Cassie- There are many things that we can do as we grow beef to improve feed efficiency and reduce the number of pounds of feed that are necessary for a pound of animal gain. Animal comfort and high quality care increase the efficiency of the animal. As a result, cattle in my feed yard have a dry matter feed conversion significantly below the statistic that you listed above. By consistently offering good feed, paying attention to detail on feed delivery, exercising and acclimating calves, and ensuring good lifetime vaccination practices we are able to have feed conversions that are consistently below 6#.<br /><br />Thank you for pointing out the importance of manure as a co-product. We farm in addition to finishing cattle, and the "natural fertilizer" that my animals make plays an important role in maintaining the nutrient health of our crop soil. Our crops feed animals, and our cattle make fertilizer to continually replenish the nutrient needs of our soil--it makes a sustainable cycle while at the same time producing a high quality and great tasting protein for human consumption. Beef!<br /><br />The growth of food is a complex and variable practice that depends on the natural resources available in a particular geographic location--it is like putting together the pieces of a jig saw puzzle.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6876412395906787083.post-68634290237375612422011-07-27T20:32:06.563-07:002011-07-27T20:32:06.563-07:00Good point about biomass as an energy source for g...Good point about biomass as an energy source for generating electricity. Composting is a nice way to reduce household waste, but you're right, on a large scale there are plenty of more prime destinations for vegetative waste and manure.Cassiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09188215915056223426noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6876412395906787083.post-45116213774389745952011-07-27T20:15:07.679-07:002011-07-27T20:15:07.679-07:00Correlations are everywhere in the world. I would ...Correlations are everywhere in the world. I would imagine that the record of a sports team directly correlates to divorce rates in America some how. But it would be completely unwise to say that "If the Aggies go 6-7 in football this year your marriage is going to tank and you will be divorced in 3 months. Just because there is a correlation doesn't mean there is a relation. Compost for gardening is great, however it is very inefficient on a large scale (I think I have mentioned phosphorus run off before). I would rather see manure be burned to produce steam which could be turned into electricity to charge batteries for electric tractors, but that is just me :)Aaronhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03046036648950327903noreply@blogger.com