National Geographic magazine has been devoting a lot of space to sustainable agriculture. So as you’d suspect, we’ve been paying attention.
Recently, they published an article entitled One Third of Food Is Lost or Wasted: What Can Be Done indicating that 30 percent of the food we grow is never eaten, and we can do better.
This made us think of beef. Do you ever wonder just how much of a cow is wasted when beef is produced?
Well, a 1,500-pound market steer yields approximately 500 lbs. of beef. The other 1,000 lbs. are recovered and used. So nothing, read, nothing goes to waste. Shoot, even leftover feed in the stomachs of slaughtered cows gets returned to the land as fertilizer!
Though we can’t eat all of it, there are edible as well as inedible and medicinal by-products from the beef production process.
Edible By-Products
We’ll start with edible. Though many of us don’t eat them, liver, kidneys, brains, tripe, sweetbreads, and tongue are nutritious and enjoyed by many cultures. Other edible by-products include fats for margarine, shortening, and even chewing gum. And many of you know that Gelatin from bones and skins is used in marshmallows, ice cream, canned meats, and gelatin desserts. Even intestines are used as casings for sausages.
Inedible By-Products
Inedible by-products include the hide, which is used for leather, of course, but also felt, ointments, binders for plaster and asphalt, and, of course, footballs. Lots of other oils and lubricants contained in soaps, lipsticks and skin creams are a result of these by-products too. As are buttons, bone china, piano keys, and more from bones, horns, and hooves.
And last, but not least, over 100 medicinal drugs are produced from cattle, including insulin, and most of the material used for surgical sutures is derived from intestines.
Sustainability
So you see, when we write about sustainable agriculture, the production of beef is one of the most sustainable forms there is. Surely there is more to consider, such as how we take care of and feed these amazing animals – but that’s for another time – but you can rest assured as you enjoy that juicy burger or tasty steak that the answer to where the beef is, is literally, everywhere!
Any questions? Just ask!
Data Source: Many Uses of Beef Products
So you see, when we write about sustainable agriculture, the production of beef is one of the most sustainable forms there is.
