# What parts of the cow can't be used? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 29, 2017, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-parts-of-the-cow-cant-be-used/778515 "2017-01-29T18:27:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![coffeecat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/coffeecat/32/3405_2.png) [@coffeecat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/coffeecat)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2017, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-parts-of-the-cow-cant-be-used/778515/41 "2017-01-30T19:06:54Z")
> [@psychonaut](#): > > One thing I never recall having seen is udder. I wonder if I could special-order it. Does anyone know a good udder recipe? My mom’s old cookbook had a recipe for cow’s udder. Had I known, I’d have saved it for you. [Oh, wait.](http://www.food.com/recipe/cow-udder-eclairs-283690)😃 Sent from my SM-G900T using Tapatalk ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2017, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-parts-of-the-cow-cant-be-used/778515/42 "2017-01-30T20:12:16Z")
> [@coffeecat](#): > > My mom’s old cookbook had a recipe for cow’s udder. Had I known, I’d have saved it for you. [Oh, wait.](http://www.food.com/recipe/cow-udder-eclairs-283690) :eek: Bags of fat, pan fried in a melted stick of fat? I think I got angina just from reading the recipe. ---
**Author:** ![sitchensis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sitchensis/32/4892_2.png) [@sitchensis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sitchensis)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2017, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-parts-of-the-cow-cant-be-used/778515/43 "2017-01-30T20:50:50Z")
> [@psychonaut](#): > > Well, for breeds that need the horns removed before they go to the feedlot (and later the slaughterhouse), what do the people that remove the horns do with them? We remove them when they get branded at a few months old. The horns are smaller than a Hershey’s Kiss and they get burned off using a branding iron that’s basically a metal cylinder with a little indentation on it. You can also cut them off with what looks like a cross between a cigar clipper and a big set of tree limb loppers. ---
**Author:** ![Cornelius\_Tuggerson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/13edae/32.png) [@Cornelius\_Tuggerson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cornelius_Tuggerson)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2017, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-parts-of-the-cow-cant-be-used/778515/44 "2017-01-30T21:02:41Z")
> [@Gymnopithys](#): > > What about tail hair ? Coarse brushes. For painting and hair brushing. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2017, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-parts-of-the-cow-cant-be-used/778515/45 "2017-01-30T21:15:16Z")
> [@coffeecat](#): > > My mom’s old cookbook had a recipe for cow’s udder. Had I known, I’d have saved it for you. [Oh, wait.](http://www.food.com/recipe/cow-udder-eclairs-283690)😃 Yeah, the first direction is to soak the udders in Nair. Nair, the depilatory agent which contains sodium hydroxide (lye) and calcium hydroxide (lime, and not the fruit kind). I know it’s possible to use lye in food. I’m a good little Norwegian-American, I’ve eaten lutefisk. But I doubt that rinsing in warm water is going to do the trick after you soak the damned things in hair-removal tonic, as opposed to food-grade lye, which I’m pretty sure is fairly hard to come by. _Several times_, if the recipe is to be believed. That, plus nothing made with artichoke hearts and smelt can be called eclairs. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2017, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-parts-of-the-cow-cant-be-used/778515/46 "2017-01-30T21:59:12Z")
> [@Gymnopithys](#): > > What about tail hair ? Hair is protein. If there’s a processing plant handy that will process it, then it goes there. (A lot of waste protein from meat processing ends up in animal feed but it can end up in many other “interesting” products. Do you know where your protein powder comes from?) The problem is that collecting it, shipping it, etc. takes resources. Sometimes the math doesn’t work out. Then it goes into the trash, compost, whatever. The trend towards massive concentrations of meat processing facilities means that products like protein are likely to have a buyer nearby. (If the company doesn’t do it itself.) It’s the stuff that gets composted and such that needs to be spread on fields that produces a local glut due to having too much processing going on in the area. ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2017, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-parts-of-the-cow-cant-be-used/778515/47 "2017-01-30T22:30:15Z")
> [@Derleth](#): > > Yeah, the first direction is to soak the udders in Nair. Nair, the depilatory agent which contains sodium hydroxide (lye) and calcium hydroxide (lime, and not the fruit kind). I know it’s possible to use lye in food. I’m a good little Norwegian-American, I’ve eaten lutefisk. But I doubt that rinsing in warm water is going to do the trick after you soak the damned things in hair-removal tonic, as opposed to food-grade lye, which I’m pretty sure is fairly hard to come by. _Several times_, if the recipe is to be believed. > > That, plus nothing made with artichoke hearts and smelt can be called eclairs. Well, it does have whipping cream and brown sugar… ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2017, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-parts-of-the-cow-cant-be-used/778515/48 "2017-01-30T22:31:22Z")
Some bones are sold as soup bones. ---
**Author:** ![smithsb](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smithsb/32/12107_2.png) [@smithsb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smithsb)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2017, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-parts-of-the-cow-cant-be-used/778515/49 "2017-01-30T22:43:41Z")
> [@psychonaut](#): > > Well, for breeds that need the horns removed before they go to the feedlot (and later the slaughterhouse), what do the people that remove the horns do with them? Another cow horn use: Bugles (noise makers) Images: [cow horn bugle images - Google Search](https://www.google.com/search?sourceid=chrome-psyapi2&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8&q=cow%20horn%20bugle%20images&oq=cow%20horn%20bugle%20images&rlz=1CATAAC_enUS692US692&aqs=chrome..69i57.13156j0j7) ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2017, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-parts-of-the-cow-cant-be-used/778515/50 "2017-01-30T22:59:37Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > Cattle shinbones and feet (but not the hoof) are processed into neatsfoot oil, a leather dressing. I had wondered where that came from; never heard of an animal called a neats. 😕 Many years ago, I worked with a woman who had grown up in Hawaii, and she said that cow udders were a part, although not necessarily a staple, of native Hawaiian cuisine. Don’t know if the udders were meant to be eaten while the cow was lactating or not. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2017, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-parts-of-the-cow-cant-be-used/778515/51 "2017-01-30T23:31:00Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > I had wondered where that came from; never heard of an animal called a neats. 😕 Yep, [“neat” is an utterly (udderly?) obsolete word for cattle](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/neat): > [@Wiktionary](#): > > From Middle English nete, neat, from Old English nēat ‎(“animal, beast, ox, cow, cattle”), from Proto-Germanic \*nautą ‎(“foredeal, profit, property, livestock”), from Proto-Indo-European \*newd- ‎(“to acquire, make use of”). Cognate with Dutch noot ‎(“cow, cattle”, in compounds), dialectal German Noß ‎(“livestock”), Alemannic German Nooss ‎(“young sheep or goat”), Swedish nöt ‎(“cattle”), Icelandic naut ‎(“cattle”). ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2017, 9:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-parts-of-the-cow-cant-be-used/778515/52 "2017-01-31T09:35:52Z")
> [@psychonaut](#): > > I see! What about horn-rimmed glasses? Do any manufacturers still use real horn rather than plastic? You can get custom real hornrims, but it’s almost invariably going to be water buffalo, not cow. ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2017, 10:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-parts-of-the-cow-cant-be-used/778515/53 "2017-01-31T10:37:20Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > You can get custom real hornrims, but it’s almost invariably going to be water buffalo, not cow. Any particular reason for that? Is there something about water buffalo horns that makes them particularly suited for use in glasses, or something about cattle horns that makes them particularly unsuitable? ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2017, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-parts-of-the-cow-cant-be-used/778515/54 "2017-01-31T12:20:46Z")
> [@psychonaut](#): > > Any particular reason for that? Is there something about water buffalo horns that makes them particularly suited for use in glasses, or something about cattle horns that makes them particularly unsuitable? Generally bigger\*, with thicker walls\*\* and most importantly, black/dark for that classic hornrim look. Cow horns are popular in some circles (in my case, the SCA) as drinking horns, and they’re often light- or multi-coloured, plus of course many common Western breeds are polled or greatly reduced… - Various[African cattle](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanga_cattle) are one exception. Highland, I think, [another](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Highland_cattle). Are Texas Longhorns still common? \*\* Anyway, even when the \*B. taurus \*horn is bigger, IME it has thinner walls. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2017, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-parts-of-the-cow-cant-be-used/778515/55 "2017-01-31T13:59:18Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > Any byproducts that are left over after slaughter and butchering are sent to a [rendering plant where they are used in a wide range of products](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rendering_(animal_products)#Rendering_processes_for_edible_products). The same thing holds true for pigs except for the farts. I dunno if they’re processed by a rendering plant or not but if you go to a pet store you’ll find all kinds of odd cow parts being offered up as chew toys for dogs. The one I specifically remember were [Moo Tubes](https://www.getwag.com.au/moo-tubes) which were made from trachea. If you follow the link you’ll find a pretty hefty price for offal, but this is quite common for pet products (don’t even get me started on bunny alfalfa at $3.2-million(!) per ton). ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2017, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-parts-of-the-cow-cant-be-used/778515/56 "2017-01-31T14:10:59Z")
Almost anything sold at retail in small quantities has a ridiculous price per ton compared to the wholesale price leaving the factory. Nail polish is umpteen thousand dollars a gallon. But it’s not all rip-offery. Somebody has to pay for all the little packages and all the handling and the layers of middlemen and the retail storefronts and … If you own enough bunnies to use quickly a ton of alfalfa, you can pay the wholesale price. Returns to scale are not a new idea. ---
**Author:** ![Dallas\_Jones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dallas_jones/32/3277_2.png) [@Dallas\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dallas_Jones)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2017, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-parts-of-the-cow-cant-be-used/778515/57 "2017-01-31T19:29:52Z")
> [@Navy\_draftee](#): > > Surprised you used “livers” in animal feed as when I worked in the packing plant, all livers were wrapped ,boxed, went in the freezer and shipped out when a semi trailer load was accumulated. Certainly …NOT… for animal feed. You must have been packing for the human food market. That market is way too small to consume all the cow livers that are in the waste stream from beef processing. Some of the liver came in de-natured so it would not make it back into the human food market. I think they were just sprinkled with a little charcoal. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2017, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-parts-of-the-cow-cant-be-used/778515/58 "2017-01-31T23:10:55Z")
> [@DesertDog](#): > > I dunno if they’re processed by a rendering plant or not but if you go to a pet store you’ll find all kinds of odd cow parts being offered up as chew toys for dogs. The one I specifically remember were [Moo Tubes](https://www.getwag.com.au/moo-tubes) which were made from trachea. If you follow the link you’ll find a pretty hefty price for offal, but this is quite common for pet products (don’t even get me started on bunny alfalfa at $3.2-million(!) per ton). How about “beef pizzles”? It’s a bull penis, dried and put into a variation of a spiralizer. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2017, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-parts-of-the-cow-cant-be-used/778515/59 "2017-01-31T23:14:44Z")
> [@Dallas\_Jones](#): > > You must have been packing for the human food market. That market is way too small to consume all the cow livers that are in the waste stream from beef processing. > > Some of the liver came in de-natured so it would not make it back into the human food market. I think they were just sprinkled with a little charcoal. IIRC, I saw that on “Dirty Jobs” or some similar program. Animal parts deemed unfit for human consumption were indeed sprinkled with a small amount of charcoal, mainly to easily identify them by color with an inert product. ---
**Author:** ![Punoqllads](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/d2c977/32.png) [@Punoqllads](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Punoqllads)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2017, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-parts-of-the-cow-cant-be-used/778515/60 "2017-01-31T23:38:52Z")
Reminds me of this Gary Larson cartoon: [http://p.vitalmx.com/photos/forums/2013/01/03/buffalo\_224723.jpg](http://p.vitalmx.com/photos/forums/2013/01/03/buffalo_224723.jpg) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-parts-of-the-cow-cant-be-used/778515.md?page=2)