PHILADELPHIA, Penn. (RFD-TV) — Veterinarians at the University of Pennsylvania are looking into new ways to support dairy cattle health through nutrition. With feed supplies running tight, producers can tap into some creative options, according to UPenn Veterinarian and Professor Dr. Joe Bender.
“Probably the weirdest one we’ve used is recycled ketchup—it was ketchup that was a mistake and had too much sugar in it,” Dr. Bender explained. “Not good for people, but it was good for dairy cows. So, we replaced some molasses with recycled ketchup. It came in on a tanker, and we pumped it into our tank. So, that’s probably the weirdest.”
But the list of “weird” alternative sources of cattle feed they are testing does not end there.
“We’ve done corn starch. We’ve done chickpea flour. We’ve done cereal fines — we say ‘cereal fines’ rather than floor sweepings,” Dr. Bender continued. “A lot of the chocolate products, especially on the East Coast, with our relative proximity to the Hershey Company. Those always seem to be floating around. Then we also do a lot of the bakery products, whether it’s pretzels or some kind of pasta, and some kinds of cereal become very common.”
But before you try something new to stretch your money, Bender said it is important to prepare, especially when it comes to nutrient analysis.
“Cows generally don’t care if they get their sugar from molasses, ketchup, or from discarded oranges,” Bender explained. “Cows have a nutrient requirement. They don’t have a ketchup or molasses requirement, so they can handle it very well.”
Bender said they are researching alternative feed sources using some of these emergency ingredients at lower inclusion rates, at least to start. If the economics work and the cattle performance is consistent, they might push new feed sources slightly higher.
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