Something that’s been rattling around in my head for some time now. Several years ago, kaylasmom and I bought and read The Zone, by Barry Sears. In the book, which is basically an argument for a limited-carbohydrate diet, Dr. Sears brings up the point that to fatten cattle, the rancher (or more likely the feedlot operator, but let’s not quibble) feeds them grains; that is, various forms of grasses.
From that point, Sears extrapolates that it is the grain in human diets that tends to play the most significant role in the storage and accumulation of body fat.
Here’s what I’m confused about: When I see depictions of cows eating, it looks like they are being fed grass. In other words, what the cattle eat are the stems and leaves of the grass plant(s). Humans, OTOH, tend to confine ourselves to the seeds of the plants. As far as I know, the stems and leaves, being essentially cellulose, don’t have any nutritive value.
Of course, humans don’t have multiple stomachs, and it could be that this difference allows a cow to derive nutrition from what would just be indigestible fiber to a human. But what’s the deal with Cow Chow[sup]TM[/sup]? Does it or doesn’t it contain significant levels of seed material? If it does, is it this which provides the majority of the nutrition for the beast? And if it doesn’t, how does the animal derive nutritive (and fat-creating) benefit from the cellulose?
Also, if what the cow eats is primarily leaves and stems, does this undercut Dr. Sears’s claim that it’s the bun on the bacon-double-cheeseburger that’s responsible for me not being able to fit into the old blue jeans from high school that I found in the back of the closet?
Cows can extract the nutrition from the raw stalks and leaves of grains. Humans cannot. We can’t even get nutriton from many of the seeds without breaking the seed case (chewing).
Sears’ view is accepted by most doctor’s I’ve talked to. My doc says to lower my bad cholestoral, stop eating carbs. I believe him.
Cow Chow is a blend of plant and animal matter designed to provide nutrition for a cow. Like other animal food, its made from parts people don’t usually eat (as well as some parts people do - but not too much).
seeds have higher caloric value to humans and cattle. seeds also will have oils and protein not found in plant fiber.
cattle have microorganisms in their stomachs that aid in cellulose digestion, these microorganisms help feed the cattle. the microorganisms convert the cellulose into fats and protein the cattle can use.
The natural diet of a cow is grass: stems and leaves. They have complicated, long digestive systems for the purpose of hosting bacteria to break down cellulose and create protein and fatty acids. Their bodies actually run on the excrement of this bacteria. Grass-fed cows tend to be leaner and appearance, and have much less fat marbling their meat.
Cows raised commercially in America are fed ground grains and soybeans. This food is much, much higher in calories than grass, and since they are completely unsuited to digest it, it causes them a lot of digestive and other health issues. It also makes them much fatter.
Humans eating a ‘natural’ diet (animal products, no sugar) also tend to be leaner in appearance and have much less fat infiltrating their muscle tissue.
What about alcohol? It is preferentially metabolised first, and will lead to non-alcohol calories being stored as fat, but if all you consume is alcohol you won’t get fat. That doesn’t make it a good diet, but you’ll be thin.
Cattle, being ruminants, can live quite well on forage alone. That’s grass, legumes like alfalfa and clover and so forth.
In feedlots they are fed a ration that has some roughage but is high in grain. This causes them to grow and fatten faster and more economically.
Also, American consumers prefer white fat on their beef. A ration heavy in grains produces white fat while grass-fattened beef will have yellow fat.
Yes, cattle can get just as fat on high quality forage as they can in a feedlot. It just takes longer and produces yellow fat.
Cattle have four stomachs. As touched on above, when cattle eat roughage they are feeding the bacteria in the first stomach. After grazing, they lie down, “chew their cud”, which is spitting up the contents of the first stomach, then chewing and re swallowing it and passing it on to the next stomach. Sounds gruesome, but if you get a chance sometime, sit down in the midst of a group of cattle that are resting and regurgitating. The smell is quite sweet, not at all sour like you might expect vomit to smell, and all-in-all it’s a peaceful experience.
Eh, the grains follow the same process as roughage regarding rumination. The problem with too much grain is that the bacteria that digest grain are different from those that work on the roughage (grass and hay). Changing diets too quickly, without giving bacterial population a chance to adapt, affects them.
As does feeding too much grain, as the byproducts of those cause the rumen pH to lower (become more acid), something the rumen is not as good as the abomasum (true stomach) to combat. This causes the rumenitis and all other problems coming from it.
But grains make the animal grow faster (the feed cost is lower, the feed conversion ratio better).
If by Cow chow you mean silage, in many cases it does contain a lot of roughage, with some energy source and some protein source, and the required essential nutrients for the type of cows they keep (bulls do not have to be fed the same as dairy cows, feedlot steers need different food than growers, cow/calf operations may need other nutrients added).