This came from Infobeat.  We already have learned that hogs can't digest
the corn that is grown for animal consumption. Corn is a row crop with high
erosion, high chemical demand.  We have recently learned that all corn
being grown in the US is contaminated by drift from a crop considered unfit
for human consumption.  Is it good for anything but ethanol?  Is there a
crop that is less harmful to the environment that could be grown instead?

Peggy Murdock

*** Cattle feedlot studied

WASHINGTON (AP) - Feeding cattle diets of starchy, high-calorie grain
produces more steak but gives the animals disorders that must be
treated with antibiotics and other drugs, a researcher says. Cattle
being readied for the slaughterhouse are typically put on diets that
are 90 to 100 percent grain. This makes them gain weight quickly and
produce meat with the tasty marbling of fat so beloved by steak
eaters. The problem, said James B. Russell, a Department of
Agriculture researcher at Cornell University, is that nature
designed cattle to feed on grass and other high fiber foods. An all
grain diet makes them sick, he said in a study appearing Friday in
the journal Science.

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