Angus Prius

Angus Prius

Susan Allen
Susan Allen

 

Alternative feed and fuel that’s the subject of today’ Open Range  or maybe it should be whether cattle are  picky eaters?  You be the judge,  I’m Susan Allen inviting you to stay tuned after the break for the story. When corn prices soar so does the cost of  feeding cattle and that means higher prices at the meat counter.  The National Alliance for Advanced Biofuel and Bio-Products is supporting a research program that will be finalized in June to determine if algae can be used as   an alternative cattle feed. Agrilife Research scientists and a graduate student from Texas A and M wanted to determine not only if algae could be used as a  less expensive feed additive but if the cattle would even want to eat it in it’s  powder form left over after the oil is extracted for other purposes. The team is hoping to be able to replace distiller’s grains and cottonseed meal, typical in  feed mixes today with  nutritious and less expensive algae.  Like a new soft drink or  snack when  developing a different  cattle feed a variety of components are taken into effect including , nutrition, taste,  shelf life, packaging etc.. While nutritionally algae preformed better than cottonseed it  does takes twice as much to meet protein needs.  Still algae is  very promising and in the end and if this research comes to fruition we could produce eco-friendly  green cattle raised on a co-product from biofuel. Kind of an  Angus Prius.
 
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