The Rural Voice, 2005-01, Page 29tl
place in the small intestines by
enzymes. In the large intestine there
is some absorption of fatty acids,
water and minerals through bacteria
in the gut.
In a ruminant digestive tract,
instead of having a large microbial
fermentation vat in the small
intestine, it is part of the stomaph.
The bacteria, protozoa and fungi in
the reticulorem rumen get first crack
at the feed, breaking it down and
creating new products. "The big
advantage with the ruminant is that
these products can then go into the
small intestine and be fully utilized."
Grains, made up of
carbohydrates such as starch,
can be digested by microbial
enzymes in pigs and chickens.
Cellulose in forages can only be
digested by ruminant animals.
With a monogastric animal like a
pig or chicken, if you feed it
saturated fatty acids it will deposit
saturated fatty acids in its tissues and
if you feed it unsaturated fatty acids
it will deposit unsaturated fatty acids,
Mandell said. That's why egg
producers are feeding flax to their
chickens and producing eggs high in
Omega-3 fatty acids.
But with ruminants, even if you
feed an unsaturated fatty acid, the
bacteria will convert it to a saturated
fatty acid which will be deposited in
meat and milk.
Right now the ratio of
polyunsaturated to saturated fatty
acids is too low. "We have too little
polyunsaturates in our ruminant
products," Mandell says.
But research shows much higher
concentrations of Omega-3 in forage -
fed animals versus feedlot animals,
whether they be beef cattle or bison.
"Generally we're going to, see high
concentrations, with the exception of
DHA, versus chicken breasts. Also
look at the polyunsaturated versus
saturated fat ratio and again it's
going to favour the forage -fed versus
the feedlot animal."
"We should be able to provide a
source for all the Omega-3 and CLA
in any ruminant meat and in milk."
But in today's market it isn't as
simple as changing the diet of the
animals, Mandell pointed out.
Feeding forages offers much
lower animal energy than grain. "So
how will that affect our bottom line
in terms of the economics of
feeding?"
It will take a much longer time to
have a cattle beast ready for market
on forages compared to grain
finishing.
Because of the longer time on
feed and the lower feed efficiency, if
you're going to market this product
you need to get higher returns,
Mandell said.
"Research looking at natural
products shows consumers will pay
20-30 per cent more for a natural
product if it is going to deliver on
health consciousness and going away
from antibiotics and implants."
Other questions to consider will
include how you'll deal with the
increase in manure from forage
feeding? Can you get the most out of
your genetics if you're feeding
forages? Depending on how you
market your cattle you'll get
discounts if you have heavy -weight
carcasses.
There is also criticism of forage -
fed beef because it has darker
coloured lean meat and yellower fat.
Flavour can also be a problem for
those who have,an expectation that
beef should taste like that from
feedlot animals. "Interestingly
enough there are a lot of places in the
world where the flavour of forage -fed
beef is mote desirable than that of
grain -fed beef," Mandell said.
The changed fatty -acid
composition of meat that
makes it good for the
consumer, can cause problems with
shelf -life of the meat. By having
more polyunsaturated fatty acids you
actually decrease the shelf -life
because the acids can go rancid.
In shelf -life research in Wales,
when cattle were fed forage
supplemented with formic acid,
forage -fed beef actually had a longer
shelf life than grain -fed beef. "The
formic acid preserved all the vitamin
E that was in that grass so there were
higher levels of antioxidants." In
some cases the antioxidant can even
be added to the meat after slaughter.
Research showed that cattle had
much lower gains on an alfalfa
forage diet than on high moisture
corn. Feed intake was much the same
but feeding efficiency was much
lower.
To get cattle to a 7 mm back fat
stage, it took two extra months using
forage compared to a high -grain diet
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JANUARY 2005 25