How do we feed the cattle if the grass won’t grow?
Mealworms or mushrooms as alternative protein source?
“The clouds appeared and went away, and in a while they did not try anymore.”
― John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath
The US Midwest/Plains region is currently suffering from a severe drought, a reminder of Dust Bowl days. One wonders, how do we feed the cattle if the grass won’t grow? The hay fields are brown, too. So what are the alternative feed sources available to us, for their behalf?
While George Soros and the World Economic Forum were pushing crunchy cricket snacks onto the Liberal Woke folk, entrepreneurial farmers were instead pursuing routes to healthy economical feed enrichment for their livestock.
Mealworms are not just for birds and fishes
Pro
Con
Back in the 1990s farmers fed their cows with sheep feed called Scrapie.
Then Mad Cow disease (nvCJD) hit the herds.
These mealworms had fed on animal offal scraps which included brain matter. The scrapie feed had mealworm proteins that contained prions - and went on to infect the cattle. Prion proteins originated in brain matter and when the beef was ingested, it spread to humans.
Mealworm feed on waste which may contain diseases which are then passed on to animals and humans. So UK/EU slapped restrictions on that feed. But the mealworms still were sold as wild bird food. And some folks fed it to their chickens …
Fungi! Mushrooms and yeast on the barnyard menu
So if mealworms are potentially a sketchy food source. What else can farmers turn to in times of grass/hay scarcity?
Corn stover is the dried, decayed leaf and stem matter left on the field (and spit out of a harvester) after cobs are picked and shelled. While stover is a plentiful crop residue after harvest, it is poor livestock feed. Mushrooms can inoculate this castoff waste and turn it into a more digestible nutrient rich feed. Several research and pilot projects are underway trying this out.
Now it’s time to test the concept at small farmer sites and see how the science and economics add up. There is a possibility that the production of mushrooms and the simultaneous utilization of abundant, low-cost corn stover could really improve the financial landscape for farmers. The team believes that cultivating mushrooms on corn stover will: 1. Alleviate financial challenges for farmers by utilizing cheap and plentiful corn stover especially for winter feeding of cows. 2. Break down the lignin in the corn stover making it appealing and easy to digest. 3. Release nutrients and bioactive compounds into the stover which makes it more nutritious. 4. Improve the gut microbiome in cattle. 5. Produce mushrooms, a tasty, nutritious, high-margin, year-round crop for farmers to sell. - benisonmedia.com
Fungi [e.g. oyster mushroom and shiitake] can break down lignin. After colonizing the harvest waste with mycelium/hyphae, they concentrate nutrients and eat up fiber, while valuable carbohydrates are spared. The growing process is stopped just before the mushrooms appear. This leaves an enriched digestible vegetable material for the ruminants (cows, sheep, goats, horses).
Juncao refers to a Chinese-invented technology using grass substrate to grow mushrooms for feed. Its use can help increase local income through low-cost mushroom cultivation and by providing a new source of cattle feed.
Total Nutraceutical Solutions, Inc. is a US startup that is developing the use of left over mushroom waste post harvest for feed enrichment. Their facility, produces mushrooms such as: Brown Beech (Buna Shimeji), White Beech, King Trumpet (Pleurotus eryngii), and Maitake.
Mushroom substrate waste is defined as the spent substrate (growing media) and all mushroom residuals resulting from cleaning the growing bottles after the harvest of mushroom fruit bodies at the growing facility. The material still contains bioactive nutrients and enzymes to increase the nutritional value of animal food products.
And from the brewing industry: their spent cider yeast, a by-product of the apple fermentation process, works well as a dietary supplementation in a piglet experimental model.
“Man, unlike any other thing organic or inorganic in the universe, grows beyond his work, walks up the stairs of his concepts, and emerges ahead of his accomplishments.”
― John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath
REFERENCES
https://benisonmedia.com/mushroom-based-feed-supplement-might-improve-u-s-cattle-farming/
https://www.wur.nl/en/article/Fungi-turns-straw-into-digestible-feed.htm
https://www.allaboutfeed.net/home/spent-mushroom-substrate-as-animal-feed-additive/
This is a great idea. If adopted, it could help decentralize food production here in the USA.