related to this discussion, I found this quite amusing…..

http://conditioningresearch.blogspot.com/2008/06/eat-more-protein.html

What are you concerned with getting too much of in ground beef though?

Cheers
Scott

Reading your posts about milk just made me wonder if the whey protein powder had any of the same issues since you were talking about whey a bit. Seems to me it’s got to be processed beyond all recognition, so maybe not. (I have an allergic “craving” reaction to milk (but not to hard cheeses), but I’ve never perceived any reaction to whey protein powder.)

He said conventional milk production is all about volume, though there is a slight price increase for high fat content. But bulk was the only way he could stay afloat so that is what he concentrated his efforts on. Feed ration ingredients were chosen based on their cost and if they increased milk yield. The bakery trucks and snack food trucks would drop off the “old” bakery and snacks stock that that they collected on their sales routes and he would feed that to the cows as a free supplement to their rations, because it increased bulk milk yield.

Yup, he fed his cows day old white bread, muffins, donuts, cookies, hot dog buns, old Snickers bars, and corn chips. Appetizing, huh?

Mark McAfee of Organic Pastures raw dairy in CA (one of our raw milk sources) said in a lecture I attended that outdoor cows make more vitamin D in their milk than confined indoor or shaded cows (I have heard this of chickens & eggs, too). If I understand it correctly, the oils in the fur and feathers are changed by the UV exposure (much like the cholesterol in our blood and skin is changed by the UV light) and it is ingested when self-grooming and during cooperative grooming, then that precursor goes to the liver for processing.

Healthy stores of vitamin D in the blood and body tissues (tested by the 25 OHD test) are important for both tooth and bone health. Even here in So. Cal., the winter UV wavelengths are in short supply during winter months. One would have to have full or nearly full body exposure in mid-day to get enough of the right sunlight wavelengths to produce adequate Vit D precurser. Needless to say, I supplement Vit D even in sunny So Cal.

Last December I had my 25 OHD level checked and it was only 44, after 8 months of supplementing at 2000-4000 iU Vit D3 nearly daily (my doctor was happy with that level, but I view my test result as reassurance that I can supplement even a bit more and/or get more sunshine).

On a related note, a Seattle-based friend who has recently completed chemo and radiation treatment for breast cancer, told me that her Vit D levels were in the “teens” (!) at the time of her diagnosis (low Vit D levels are associated with breast cancer), yet I don’t think anything was said about it (I wonder why the test was even done if they weren’t going to do something about it). The Vitamin D Council advises levels of at least 50, preferably over 60. 30-100 is considered normal.

Dan, the dancing cow tale brought a smile. That’s funny.

Cheers
Scott

One rather charming event came every spring when we put the cows out to pasture after a winter in the yard. Grass survives the winter in the UK (which explains why it the landscape looks so green) but the grass itself doesn’t grow. If you put cattle on it they will (a) strip the fields and (b) cut up (‘poach’) the ground, both of which will reduce the productivity of the land.

When we released our little herd of 30 head back into the field after a few months on the yard they would go wild with joy, hurtling around the field like calves, bellowing, kicking their heels in the air and pawing the ground in between snatching mouthfuls of the first fresh grass they had seen for a long time. Seeing a 1400lb cow dancing with happiness is not only amusing but in a strange way quite moving.

Dan

Food Is Love