Cows and Pigs Dine on Kitkats, Trail Mix and Ramen

Last night I got back out on my bike for a 12-mile jaunt. Felt great. I came home and later that night read the WSJ and found out what cows and pigs eat these days. A story by Lauren Etter said they used to eat mostly corn, but today, the corn market is way, way up due to the use of corn to make ethanol…so farmers are finding it too expensive to give to their cows.

So now the farmers are feeding livestock all sorts of interesting things. Such as trail mix, chocolates, spent grain from breweries, and even pretzels. There are brokers who can arrange to ship out a truckload of oversalted trail mix, or burned cookies. These ingredient companies are passing along these odd wares and the pigs and cows are loving it.

The list of foods now served in styes and pens across the US is varied. In California, grape skins from vineyards and lemon pulp from citrus groves. In Idaho, truckloads of uncooked french fries, tater tots and hashbrowns. In Pennsylvania, near the famous Hershey plant, animals dine on waste trimmings from Kitkat bars or scraps from the squiggly noodles in ramen. One farmer said he often watched his cows fighting over a whole potato.