CALF_News_August_September_2021

18 CALF News • August | September 2021 • www.calfnews.net CALF ANIMAL HEALTH Chuteside Manner EXPLORING THE FRONTIER OF ANIMAL HEALTH The Amazing Ruminant By Patti Wilson Contributing Editor B ovines have been taking a bum rap for too many years. First, doctors mistakenly reported the risk of heart disease from eating beef nearly 30 years ago. Animal rights groups, seeing an opening, jumped on the bandwagon and used their agenda to inflict guilt upon meat eaters. Most recently, those espousing the theory of manmade climate change have vilified ruminants as copious producers of greenhouse gasses. Although the medical field has somewhat backed off their slanderous accusations, we continue to be plagued with two of the most pernicious groups to occupy our planet. It is important to speak well of rumi- nants; they provide more than meat and indispensable byproducts. Their capac- ity to utilize a huge variety of feedstuffs is of great benefit to the planet, and their ability to convert otherwise ined- ible components into meat is a miracle. We are aware of their common diets of grasses, grains and crop residues. This Chuteside column investigates some Thivend reports that whey is a strong pollutant when discharged into water- ways. Its high organic matter content leads to biochemical oxygen demands. It’s estimated that a cheese factory pro- cessing 100,000 liters of milk each day is equivalent to the pollution of a city of 60,000 inhabitants. Consequently, whey is sometimes dumped at produc- tion sites, provided the land area is large enough and the soil type is appropriate for absorption. Animal feed is the principal outlet for whey, being fed as a liquid, condensed or dried. On a dry matter basis, it is approximately equal to corn in energy, and to barley in protein. Liquid whey can supply 20 to 30 percent of the ration dry matter for cattle. Adult ruminants are able to use much larger quanti- ties of whey or its filtrates than other species. Digestibility of dry matter tops 87 percent; the nitrogen content being converted in the rumen into microbial protein. The least expensive method of feeding whey is in water tanks, where cattle can ingest large quantities of the product in partial or total substitution of water. It can be used to preserve and improve silage quality, as well. Granted, one needs to live in proximity of a cheese plant to make this work with liquid whey; how- ever, it’s a product that provides a great opportunity. Kochia Don’t cringe, it’s becoming a viable option for cattle producers in drought- stricken areas. In a July 2006 issue of Angus Journal , Troy Smith reported on forage kochia (K. prostrata) . It‘s gaining a good reputa- tion because of its nutritive value and positive impact on rangeland. Forage kochia grows best in poor soils and pro- vides adequate grazing, being acceptable in protein. It performs best as a fall and winter stockpile, retaining digestibility and providing a substantial volume of additional feedstuffs you may never have considered. North Dakota State University (NDSU) lists in a 2015 paper “114 Alternative Feeds That Can be Found in the U.S” is full of surprises. Kris Ring- wall, NDSU beef specialist, recounts that “as a ruminant animal, the beef cow never was intended to lead a pampered life.” Feeds listed fall into these categories: forages, straws, residues, weeds, roots and tubers, grains and screenings, oilseeds and liquids, and all the coproducts of the above. Here are a few of my favorites: Whey AWorld Animal Review paper by Pierre Thivend of France gives good rea- sons to use whey as a feedstuff, and also as a deterrent to pollution problems. Whey is the residue obtained from the manufacture of cheese. It is estimated that growth in the world cheesemaking industry has pushed up global whey pro- duction to more than 80 million metric tons annually. Much of it is wasted. LEFT: Ruminants provide a use for plants and feedstuffs that are indigestible to humans and other simple-stomached life. Their unique ability to grow muscle from these otherwise unusable products makes them an invaluable asset to our planet.