When you think of cattle feed, you might assume cows are eating grass, barley or silage. That is true for most, but just outside of Nanton, Alta. farm animals have a much more diverse diet.
Bear Trap Feeders is a feedlot that has partnered with a produce company to consume its vegetables and fruit that don’t meet the grade.
“The bulk of it is potatoes — probably about 75 per cent is potatoes — but then we’ve got all types of peppers, garlic, limes, dragon fruit,” said Bob Lowe, co-owner of the feedlot.
“We squash them all up, mix them together and they turn into cattle feed. If we weren’t doing this, if somebody wasn’t doing this, they would go to the landfill,” added Lowe.
He said its a small part in how Bear Trap Feeders is helping to reduce food waste and create feed for their cattle.
Lowe is also the past president of the Canadian Cattle Association. He said feeding the spoiled produce is a low cost feed that is nutritious, and good for the overall food chain.
“We are all supposed to be doing things in a sustainable manner, and this is just part of the process. We would be throwing away and creating methane in a landfill as apposed to turning it into protein in a cow.”
Lowe started working with Thomas Fresh, a wholesale produce packaging company a couple of years ago.
Thad Kaniewski is the chief operating officer and said the partnership is beneficial to both of them.
“Whether the product that we package is for human consumption or we are able to send it out to a secondary source where it gets into the animal field, I think that is an excellent outlet for us to make sure we have zero waste,” he added.
Lowe said that, over the years, the agriculture industry has worked hard to reduce its environmental footprint and become more efficient.
“A lot of people forget the profitability of sustainable. If we go broke we aren’t sustainable and no body gets any food.”
Beef from Bear Trap Feeders doesn’t come pre seasoned, even after all that garlic consumption.
Cattle have a unique stomach with a rumen that breaks down foods differently than humans. Only about nine per cent of the produce makes up an animals daily ration, and they aren’t fed any of the produce once they get close to their finishing weight, which means their diet doesn’t impact the quality or taste of the meat.