Let them eat poop.

What part of this sounds like a good idea?  Answer: none.

But here it is, from my Alma-mater the University of Missouri-Columbia: How to feed your cows chicken poop for fun and profit.  

Some would say that I shouldn’t expect much from the same university that is home to “Monsanto Auditorium.”  Or the university that renamed Reactor field “Monsanto Place.”

They tried to sneak in my favorite part there at the end: “Keep in mind that feeding poultry litter to beef cattle, while a sound nutritional management option, carries with it certain stigmas that may cause beef consumers to become alarmed.”

Gosh, so you think that we might be alarmed that people are feeding one herbivores excrement to another herbivore? That’s probably because we are just not smart enough to understand the complexities of modern beef production.  Why, to our untrained ears, it sounds almost unnatural.

It’s almost as if animal husbandry has become a game to these people.  “What can we get them to eat next?” They’ll ask.  Play-doh?  Obsolete computer circuit boards? The homeless?

I’ve got an idea for you:  Grass.

It’s cheap, readily available, and cattle love to eat it.  Sure it takes a bit more management, and it doesn’t grow during the winter, but it sure beats the heck out of eating poop.

After all, we are what we eat.
And if the same holds true for cows, we’re all in deep….well, you know.