Feed Makers Face New Competition from Fruit Loops and Marshmallows
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With the cost of feed rising, farmers are turning to alternative sources of food in an effort to keep costs down. According to reports, those alternatives include discarded food products which are compiled of a mix of cookies, gummy worms, marshmallows, fruit loops, and orange peels - anything that contains starch or sugar that can replace corn and soy, which has skyrocketed in price thanks to the recent drought.
"Everybody is looking for alternatives," said Ki Fanning, a nutritionist with Great Plains Livestock Consulting in Eagle told Reuters. "It's kind of funny the first time you see it but it works well. The big advantage to that is you can turn something you normally throw away into something that can be consumed."
Besides sweets, alternative feed products include distillers grains, cottonseed hulls, rice products, potato products, and peanut pellet.
The price of alternative feed saves cattlemen 10 to 50 percent, but the savings is being squeezed as more and more ranchers rush to alternatives.
In August, Tyson Foods (NYSE: TSN) said they expect to see a reduction of industry fed cattle supplies of 1-2% in fiscal 2013 as compared to fiscal 2012, with the reduction predominately in the second half of fiscal 2013, so the worst effects of the drought could be ahead for cattlemen, and for food prices.
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"Everybody is looking for alternatives," said Ki Fanning, a nutritionist with Great Plains Livestock Consulting in Eagle told Reuters. "It's kind of funny the first time you see it but it works well. The big advantage to that is you can turn something you normally throw away into something that can be consumed."
Besides sweets, alternative feed products include distillers grains, cottonseed hulls, rice products, potato products, and peanut pellet.
The price of alternative feed saves cattlemen 10 to 50 percent, but the savings is being squeezed as more and more ranchers rush to alternatives.
In August, Tyson Foods (NYSE: TSN) said they expect to see a reduction of industry fed cattle supplies of 1-2% in fiscal 2013 as compared to fiscal 2012, with the reduction predominately in the second half of fiscal 2013, so the worst effects of the drought could be ahead for cattlemen, and for food prices.
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