Food for Thought

President John F. Kennedy once said, "The farmer is the only man in our economy who buys everything he buys at retail, sells everything he sells at wholesale, and pays the freight both ways." That's the truth.

When A Cow is More than A Cow

Back in high school I remember preparing a speech with the title 'When A Cow is More Than A Cow'. Even for a ranch/ag kid I can remember being shocked by all the by products that cow from a cow. I remember doing all sorts of research, being excited to present my findings and shocked with all that I didn't know! I mean I was a ranch kid, I knew lots about a cow! I don't remember if I did this for a FFA competition or FCCLA competition, but I remember giving that speech at several different community meetings and at my 4-H meeting. I wish I still had that crumbled old folder that held all that information, but I have moved way too much in my short life to still have that.



So, When is cow more than just a cow, you ask? Well, let me tell you.

A Cow is more when it's a meal:

• Blood Sausage
• Marshmallows
• Candies
• Mayonnaise
• Chewing Gum
• Oleo shortening
• Clarification agent forPaté, juice, wine & beer
• Sausage casings
• Comsommé
• Yogurt
• Cookies
• Head Cheese
• Gelatin in Salads
• Ice Cream
• "Light" Products

A Cow is more when it's in your house:

• Leather is most common by product. Boots, handbags, gloves, luggage, shoes, jackets, belts, and even footballs and baseball gloves are made from leather.
• Bones and hooves are used to make doggie chews or ground to bonemeal for dog biscuits, and other animal feeds.
• Bone china
• Beef tallow is an important ingredient in many products that we use in everyday life. For example, it provides glycerine for lipstick, face and hand creams, toothpaste and cough medicine
• Photographic film manufacturing requires gelatin to fix light sensitive chemicals to the film base
• Plastics
• Deodorants
• A variety of cleaning agents also come from tallow - commercial soaps, industrial cleaners, shampoos, liquid soap and detergent
• Shaving cream
• Textiles
• Free fatty acids derived from tallow are also used in the production of candles, fabric softeners, crayons, paper, phonograph records
• Glue
• Upholstery
• Insecticides
• Violin strings
  
  

A Cow is More when it's at the Pharmacy:

• Insulin
  - treatment of diabetes
• Heparin
  - used in treatment of allergies, rheumatoid arthritis, rheumatic fever, and respiratory diseases
• Thyrotropin
  - stimulates the thyroid gland
• Parathyroid Hormone
  - used to treat parathyroid deficiencies
• Thrombin
  - promotes coagulation during surgery
• Glucagon
  - treats hypoglycaemia
• Sodium Levathyroxine
  - thyroid replacement therapy
• Trypsin & Chymotripsin
  - cleansing wounds and ulcers
• Deoxyribonuclease
  - acts against devitalized tissue in purulent (discharging pus) states
• Fibrinolysin
  - treatment of blood clots within the cardiovascular system
• Pancreatin
  - treatment of infants with celiac disease (gluten intolerance ) and related pancreatic deficiences
• Thyroid
  - treats myxedema (metabolic disease caused by deficient action of the thyroid gland) in adults and cretinism (deformity and mental retardation caused by thyroid deficency) in children

A Cow is more when it gets you from Point A to Point B:

• Stearic acid, and free fatty acid made from tallow, is an important component in the tire curing process
• Hydraulic brake fluid
• Airplane lubricants and runway foam
• Various machine oils and viscous fluids
• Steel ball bearings containing bone charcoal
• Car polishes and waxes
• Textiles for car upholstery
• Ashphalt
  

A Cow is more when it's used everyday:

• Free fatty acids derived from tallow are also used in the production cement blocks
• Animal Feeds
• Industrial Cleaners
• Lubricants
• Molds for Plastics
• Explosives
• Printing Ink
• Fertilizers
• High Gloss for magazines
• Whitener for paper
  

Unbelievable, isn't it! And all from a cow.

I Heart Beef

Valentines Day is fast approaching! Are you prepared? Valentines Day is not the only thing happening in February. This month is also Heart Health Month and also host to the "I Heart Beef" campaign. So as you are making those Valentines Day plans, don't forget the Beef!

Below are a few fun facts I found:

• In this month of romance, beef is the preferred choice of Americans (62 percent) because nothing says love like a great steak dinner for Valentine’s Day.
• Americans associate steak as a “best match” for love (44 percent), romance (42 percent) and passion (41 percent)—more so than other high-end proteins.
• When it’s time to share that Valentine’s Day meal, beef wins. A ribeye (35 percent) or T-bone steak (32 percent) are chosen as the best meal to share with a significant other.
  Americans most often associate beef with celebrations (50 percent), compared to chicken (18 percent), pork (17 percent) or fish (15 percent).
• Sixty-two percent of Americans say they choose to prepare beef if they are looking for gratitude or appreciation from their dinner partner.
• Fifty-three percent of Americans identify filet mignon as the food most associated with candlelight romance and 50 percent of Americans think filet mignon is the best way to say “I love you.”

The above fun facts were taken from here

Yellow tail smellow tail......

The other day I passed along some information I found about Yellow Tail wine and their campaign 'tails for tails' where they plan on donating $100,000 to the HSUS, and some informative links. I just recently found this video and thought I would pass it along. Troy Hadrick, who made the video, is from South Dakota and you can check out his blog here: Advocates for Agriculture.

We Survived!

We we made it back from South Dakota. The roads weren't pretty but we returned unscathed. A good time was had by all. We took my 86 year old grandpa, whom had a great time once we talked him into riding in a wheel chair. Believe me, that took alot of talking! Ran into old college friends. Friends from where I grew up. Saw lots. Enjoyed a great rodeo. And drank some beer. I believe it was a successful trip!

Black Hills Stock Show....here we come!

We are headed south to the Black Hills Stock Show and rodeo! Whooopwhooop!! I am so excited! I haven't been down there for years. I have plans of meeting up with some old college friends and will definetly unexpectadly run into other people I know. Big D is actually going. Which is shocking! We are taking my grandpa and my friend J and her husband (who is my cousin) are going down too. We will meet the rest of my family down there. My friend 'Chief No Talk' (childhood nickname that stuck) is flying up from Colorado. I. Am. Excited!

There is just one problem with this little plan. Mother Nature. She has taken to snowing and there are weather warnings out for tonight and in the morinng. I so hope the pass.

So, hopefully I will have lots to share from the stock show come next week. Which would be better than me writing about wanting to kick Mother Nature's butt!

Maybe I should send her a bottle of wine? Get in her good graces?

Beef...

Beef...it's what's for dinner at my house! Come across some facts I thought I would share.

*29 cuts of beef meet the government guidelines for lean, with less than 10 grams of total fat, 4.5 grams or less of saturated fat, and less than 95 milligrams of cholesterol per 3-ounce serving.

*More beef is consumed on Memorial Day than any other day of the year. Fourth of July and Labor Day typically tie for the second most popular beef eating days of the year.

*There are over 70 different breeds of beef cattle in the United States today.

*Christopher Columbus brought cattle with him to the Western Hemisphere on his second voyage to the New World in 1493, but Hernando Cortez was the first to bring cattle to North America in 1519.

* Beef accounts for 39% of poundsand 52% of total dollars spent atretail.

* Chicken—the second largest segment ofthe fresh meat case—garners just21% of total meat sales.

* Retail meat sales in 2004 were $26.2 billion,with beef accounting for sales reaching$13.4 billion.

*According to the latest government data, a 3 oz. serving of beef is a good source of 9 essential nutrients. What’s more, the six leanest beef cuts have, on average, just one more gram of saturated fat per 3 oz. serving than chicken’s leanest cut, the skinless chicken breast.

* Nearly nine out of 10 U.S. households (88% ofhouseholds) will eat beef at home in the next two weeks. That’s 251 million people! This base level has remained stable over the past13 years.

*While the U.S. has less than 10 percentof the world’s cattle inventory, it produces nearly 25 percent of theworld’s beef supply.