The Hopes and Hazards of Raw Pet Food
People charged with overseeing the safety of our food supply have a crucial role in society that is not properly appreciated. In a westernized community, food borne illness is so rare that citizens take food safety for granted. In the United States, the probability of a lethal food poisoning from any one meal is one in 73 million1. Such stellar success actually makes it difficult for authorities to get anyone to listen to them, except in moments of high drama or sudden fear. So maybe we should be more attentive when they sternly rap the desk...
read moreThe care and feeding of a dairy nutritionist
In the beginning. Animal nutritionists are invariably ag school graduates. We don’t talk much about our ag school system anymore, but it was a driving force is America’s rapid rise to prominence in world commerce. In the 1860’s our government authorized the Morrill Land Grant Act, setting aside land in each state for a school for agriculture and engineering (Cornell, Penn State, Kansas State, etc.). This was soon followed by the creation of an Ag Extension Service, intended as a conduit for tech transfer. Today, the extension agent is less of...
read moreWhat to Feed Your Dog
Rhetorically speaking. In a book about the fate of human societies, the author framed the discussion with a rhetorical question, why did European decedents come to dominate Native Americans instead of the other way around, with Geronimo scalping the king of England. In this book, Garrad Diamond went on to answer this question with convincing insight. The discussion here could be framed by another rhetorical question: Why, if fat is the problem, has per capita consumption of fat gone down precipitously for the past 30 years, yet obesity has...
read moreThe Biologic Value Of Protein
Quality of protein gets little attention. Do you realize that it is possible for a diet that is 17% protein to be more nutritious than one that is 28% protein? The average pet owner thinks the higher the protein of a diet the better. This is not true at all. If the Dodgers had played the Padres and I told you the score of the ball game was 5, and said no more, you’d think me quite stupid. The final score of a ball game involves two numbers, and one number is not enough information. It is exactly the same thing regarding the protein in a...
read moreFeed the World
Our ambition to feed the world is soothed by images of monster grain barges tugging down the Mississippi. In reality, quiet, unassuming breakthroughs in technology that can be applied on site will ultimately contribute more. In the world of modern agriculture, the chicken, hog and beef feedlot facilities all focus on one number to access their profit and competitiveness. That number is feed conversion, used as the only criteria for any and every management decision. Their complete focus is the amount of grain required to produce a pound of...
read moreCase Study: Adaptability Perfected by Lack
The eloquence of lack: Billions of years of dealing with lack have made mammals good at it. As a biological entity, mammals have an exact and precise set of enzymes, hormones, and all attendant molecular machinery that evolved by Darwinian selection. By the dawn of upright man, about four million years ago, this biochemistry was within 2% of today’s precision. One could argue that mammals are the ultimate designer product, having their gene pool skillfully crafted and engineered to interface with their environment with maximum efficiency....
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Companies that market products
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