Snack Foods Help Beef Cattle Gain Weight
Farm Animals Eat Chips, Pretzels
POSTED: 2:42 pm CST February 10,
2003
UPDATED: 5:31 pm CST February 10,
2003
NOTTINGHAM, Pa. -- Farm animals throughout the Susquehanna Valley and beyond often eat people food.
They chow down on cereal, candy and even chips leftover from food manufacturers.The beef cattle at the Herr Angus farm munch on a mixture of corn, hay, potato peels and something called steer party mix. The party mix is a variety of Herr's snack foods."You can see pretzels, popcorn, potato chips, cheese curls here," farm manager Dennis Byrne said.The party mix is made from the snacks that are swept up off the floor of the nearby Herr's plant and the rejects.A computer optisort machine identifies chips that don't quite fit the bag, the ones with sizeable brown or black spots."We're running two lines a day," plant manager Phil Bernas said.Bernas said it's waste that would otherwise go to the landfill."I think its great. (It) gives us an avenue to get rid of our not first-class quality type of potato chips," Bernas saidThe steer don't seem to mind the rejects."They think it's first quality, better than what they get in the field, grass," Byrne said.Rob Roher and the other farm hands mix up the feed, which ends up with 5.5 percent fat content. It helps the Black Angus gain about three pounds a day."You and I don't want to grow three pounds a day, but they do, that's important," Byrne said.The cattle stay at the Herr farm for about five months, until they weigh about 1,300 pounds. Then, it's off to the packing plant, where they become prime beef."The beef is really good. Mr. Herr said you get your steak and potatoes all in one. Other friends call it chipped beef, but very good beef," Byrne said.Herr's production was way up before the Superbowl, so it sold some of the steer party mix to other farms.
They chow down on cereal, candy and even chips leftover from food manufacturers.The beef cattle at the Herr Angus farm munch on a mixture of corn, hay, potato peels and something called steer party mix. The party mix is a variety of Herr's snack foods."You can see pretzels, popcorn, potato chips, cheese curls here," farm manager Dennis Byrne said.The party mix is made from the snacks that are swept up off the floor of the nearby Herr's plant and the rejects.A computer optisort machine identifies chips that don't quite fit the bag, the ones with sizeable brown or black spots."We're running two lines a day," plant manager Phil Bernas said.Bernas said it's waste that would otherwise go to the landfill."I think its great. (It) gives us an avenue to get rid of our not first-class quality type of potato chips," Bernas saidThe steer don't seem to mind the rejects."They think it's first quality, better than what they get in the field, grass," Byrne said.Rob Roher and the other farm hands mix up the feed, which ends up with 5.5 percent fat content. It helps the Black Angus gain about three pounds a day."You and I don't want to grow three pounds a day, but they do, that's important," Byrne said.The cattle stay at the Herr farm for about five months, until they weigh about 1,300 pounds. Then, it's off to the packing plant, where they become prime beef."The beef is really good. Mr. Herr said you get your steak and potatoes all in one. Other friends call it chipped beef, but very good beef," Byrne said.Herr's production was way up before the Superbowl, so it sold some of the steer party mix to other farms. Distributed by Internet Broadcasting. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
