★★★Improving ‘Feed Efficiency’ in Cattle

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Vocabulary

*Read the words carefully.

1. wildfire /ˈwīldˌfīr/ (n.) a fire in a wild area (such as a forest) that is not controlled and that can burn a large area very quickly
2. rangeland /ˈrānjˌland/ (n.) open land that farm animals (such as cows and sheep) use for grazing and roaming
3. feedlot /əˈtriˌbyo͞ot/ (n.) an area or building where livestock are fed and fattened up
4. attribute /ˌäbsəˈlēt/ (n.) a usually good quality or feature that someone or something has
5. convert /kənˈvərt/ (vb.) cause to change in form, character, or function

Article

Improving ‘Feed Efficiency’ in Cattle

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(1) Animal feed is the biggest cost for most cattle producers. In the United States, the cost of hay, grains and other feed has risen sharply because of a drought. At the same time, wildfires this year burned more than a million hectares of North American rangeland.

(2) Jack Field raises cattle in the northwestern state of Washington. To save money, he made plans to truck his small herd of cows three hundred kilometers to feed on crop stubble. Crop stubble is what remains after crops have been harvested.

(3) Moving his cattle from farm to farm costs money and time. But he says if he can avoid feeding them hay, he can still make a profit.

(4) Tim DelCurto is a beef scientist at Oregon State University. He is working with ranchers and feedlot owners to help them find lower cost ways to feed cattle. He says cattle can eat things like grass-seed straw and distillers grains. These grains are left over from ethanol fuel production.

(5) He says cattle can also eat cannery waste and items rejected by vegetable processors — like misshapen green beans, carrots, even French fries.

(6) “Now I think one of the unique attributes of beef cattle — and sheep would fit this, too — is that they can virtually digest anything.”

(7) The rising cost of feed has led agricultural research universities to give greater attention to what experts call “feed efficiency.” The University of Idaho has a cattle barn where sensors measure exactly how much food each cow eats.

(8) Professor Rod Hill says just because animals are growing at the same rate does not mean they eat the same amount of food. In fact the difference in how efficiently their bodies convert feed into meat, fat, bone and hide might be surprising.

(9) “These animals are — for your eye and mine — they look quite homogenous. But the variation in intake for animals growing at the same rate is of the order of thirty-five percent.”

(10) This is a case where humans and animals have something in common.

(11) “You know, we talk to people who say, ‘All I have to do is, is, is look at the candy store and, and I put on three pounds.’ We don’t actually quantify it so precisely in humans, but we know in humans that some people can eat a little and they can put on quite a bit of weight and some people can eat a lot and hardly put on any weight. So it’s a biological phenomenon.”

(12) Rod Hill says ranchers can use selective breeding to get the same growth with less feed. But he says not to focus too much on one thing, like reducing fat.

(13) “Less-efficient animals are slightly fatter, and more-efficient animals are slightly leaner. So we wouldn’t want to just go after efficiency and then forget about the body composition. So, we wouldn’t want animals to become too lean, so that might reduce marbling in the product, especially in the quality cuts where the profit is.”

Discussion

*Let’s talk about the article base on the questions below

1. What is the most expensive meat in your country? Why is it pricey?
2. Among all the types of meat that people commonly eat, what do they always buy? What is or are the reasons why people buy that type of meat?
3. Do you prefer eating meat or vegetables? Please explain your answer.

 

English Compositions

*Let’s make English compositions using the words from the article.

(1) wildfire

EX) At the same time, wildfires this year burned more than a million hectares of North American rangeland.

(2) convert

EX) In fact the difference in how efficiently their bodies convert feed into meat, fat, bone and hide might be surprising.