Beef industry reeling from rising feed costs

[phantom power]

There are some public misconceptions about the influence of corn ethanol on the cattle industry, namely that once that corn has been processed for ethanol it can be delivered to feedlots, thereby reducing risks of a corn shortage. But corn comes out of the ethanol process resembling confetti and is very hard to ship, beef producers said. In some areas of the country, feedlots have managed to avoid shipping problems by locating across the street from ethanol refineries, but that's not an option for many.

Weschenfelder said post-refinery corn is too high in sulfates and phosphates to be fed to cattle in high portions and can actually kill a cow.

http://www.billingsgazette.net/articles/2008/03/11/news/local/18-beefindustry.txt

[Nihil]

1. Oops ...

> Weschenfelder said post-refinery corn is too high in sulfates
> and phosphates to be fed to cattle in high portions and can
> actually kill a cow.

:wow:

Looks like this is a case where two wrongs make a significantly bigger wrong.

[malakai2]

2. Good

It's nice to see them finally have to deal with something their lobby can't control politically.

[eppur_se_muova]

5. Seconded. nt

[bananas]

3. The beef industry is doomed anyway. nt

[Fledermaus]

4. Distillers grains or spent mash has been fed to cattle for hundreds of years perhaps thousands

Lautering
The mash is transferred to a straining or "lautering" vessel, usually cylindrical, with a slotted false bottom 2 to 5 cm above the true bottom.

The sugar solution created in the mash tun drains through the false bottom and is run off to the brew kettle. The sweet liquid is called 'wort' and is not yet beer. Water is "sparged" or sprayed though the grains to rinse out as much to the sugars as possible. The left over solids, or "spent grains" are mainly protein which is sold for cattle feed.
http://www.brewers.ca/default_e.asp?id=71

Barley was one of the first domesticated cereals, most likely originating in the Fertile Crescent area of the Near East. Many references to barley and beer are found in early Egyptian and Sumerian writings that are more than 5000 years old. Archaeological evidence of barley cultivation has been found dating back to 8000 BC in Iran. There is now considerable evidence that the initial cultivation of barley in China and India occurred at a later date.

http://oregonstate.edu/instruct/css/330/five/BarleyOverview.htm

[Nihil]

6. i.e., before the mass application of artificial fertilizers ... coincidence?

Maybe not.

> post-refinery corn is too high in sulfates and phosphates

I don't get the impression that it is the refinery that is *adding* the
sulphates and phosphates, merely concentrating them into the "feed",
much as the old poison-in-the-food-chain process does with everything
from mercury to PCBs. As such, the "thousands of years" argument simply
doesn't apply as chemical (=man-made not naturally produced) fertilizers
were not being used then.

(BTW, how come it is "sulfates and phosphates" rather than either a true
US form "sulfates and phosfates" or a true English form "sulphates and
phosphates"?)
:shrug:

[jpak]

7. Remove biofuels from feed costs and the beef industry would still be reeling from higher feed costs

$100+ a barrel oil has nothing to do with higher food costs...

none...

:rofl:

And the "don't tase me bro" beef industry is crying "fowl" that it should pay higher prices for *higher quality* distillery mash feed - boo fucking hoo..

...and I call BS on the "cow-killer" feed argument - distillery mash has been used for decades in the US for cattle feed...and centuries elsewhere...

http://www.straightbourbon.com/forums/showthread.php?p=113326

http://www.benromach.com/Archive-Item-08.html

waterc3.com/index.php?option=com_ weblinks&task=view&catid=3&id=12

http://www.mtfeedfuel.com/CoProducts.php

http://www.mreethanol.com/services.htm