There is an apparent reluctance on the part of the public, as well as of some beef producers, to accept broiler Litter as a cattle feed. However, the public readily accepts organically grown vegetables grown on composted broiler Litter. The process by which a plant assimilates food into its tissues is much less complicated than the process by which a cow does the same thing; a cow's food is broken down and processed much more completely. And, in fact, a cow must be off broiler litter for 15 days before it can be slaughtered for beef, while a mushroom can go directly from its bed of manure to the grocery store.
I will not succeed in changing minds that are made up based on emotion; however, I will site the above quote & remind those who uphold the notion only plant based food should enter cattle ruminan, that the cattle feeding industry (feed lots) often use as a low cost protein source the output from rendering plants (ie ground up animals of all types except cloven hoofed animals). These horrible chicken feces (primarily inefficiently processed corn & other grains) have been composted & smell much like chocolate. In fact, a friend asked a neighbor what he thought of his new feed what he thought of it without telling him what it was (many years ago before it was commonplace), they had to stop him as he started to put some into his mouth to test (much like D.R. Cattle suggested – needs to smell good enough for him to eat before he’ll feed it to his cows).
A final comment, a few years ago one of our state senators (Kouric – sister to Katie) tried to have it banned based on “it just doesn’t seem right” – luckily the conservatives fought back & prevailed. One thing I like about the cattle industry is that government is not overly involved & I like it that way; creating laws restricting business activities based on emotion & hearsay are just plain wrong for America & wrong for our business (that’s why I’m a conservative & not a liberal).
