Feeding candy to cows?

[TransformerRobot]

Read this first.

 

Now, what are your thoughts on such a thing?

[Phi for All]

There's a future in bovine dentistry.

[TransformerRobot]

One thing that I find wrong with it is that it includes feeding the cows gummies. Gummy candy is made of gelatin, and gelatin comes from hooves. Cows have hooves. Doesn't that make it cannibalism?

[Phi for All]

One thing that I find wrong with it is that it includes feeding the cows gummies. Gummy candy is made of gelatin, and gelatin comes from hooves. Cows have hooves. Doesn't that make it cannibalism?

Only if they're gummy cows. Gummy bears would be a normal circle-of-life issue.

[TransformerRobot]

Only if they're gummy cows. Gummy bears would be a normal circle-of-life issue.

 

So it's okay to feed gelatin based food to hooved animals?

[Greg H.]

So it's okay to feed gelatin based food to hooved animals?

 

I will refer you to Cannibalism (Zoology) on Wikipedia.

 

In particular,

 

In zoology, cannibalism is the act of one individual of a species consuming all or part of another individual of the same species as food. Cannibalism is a common ecological interaction in the animal kingdom and has been recorded for more than 1500 species. It does not, as once believed, occur only as a result of extreme food shortages or artificial conditions, but commonly occurs under natural conditions in a variety of species. Cannibalism seems to be especially prevalent in aquatic communities, in which up to approximately 90% of the organisms engage in cannibalism at some point of the life cycle. Cannibalism is also not restricted to carnivorous species, but is commonly found in herbivores and detritivores.

 

If the animals aren't really bothered by this, you do not need to be worried about it on their behalf.

[TransformerRobot]

If the animals aren't really bothered by this, you do not need to be worried about it on their behalf.

 

Then on a related note I guess the My Little Ponies keep pigs as a source of gelatin. They're cartoon characters, but they at least have some biological similarities to real equines.

 

Anyway, I hope feeding gummies to cows doesn't have any negative side effects on them, or on the meat they become. I've been extra concerned about Canada's beef industry because of that e. coli breakout from Alberta.

[Greg H.]

Then on a related note I guess the My Little Ponies keep pigs as a source of gelatin. They're cartoon characters, but they at least have some biological similarities to real equines.

 

How do fictional characters in an animated TV series have "biological similarities" to anything?

 

Anyway, I hope feeding gummies to cows doesn't have any negative side effects on them, or on the meat they become. I've been extra concerned about Canada's beef industry because of that e. coli breakout from Alberta.

 

This at least is a potentially legitimate concern, but I don't know if there have been any studies done of the long term effects of a high sugar diet in livestock.

[TransformerRobot]

How do fictional characters in an animated TV series have "biological similarities" to anything?

 

They do occasionally. XD

 

But yeah, just cartoon characters still.

[ecoli]

Then on a related note I guess the My Little Ponies keep pigs as a source of gelatin. They're cartoon characters, but they at least have some biological similarities to real equines.

 

r/spaceclop

[ibbica]

This at least is a potentially legitimate concern, but I don't know if there have been any studies done of the long term effects of a high sugar diet in livestock.

 

It's not that high in sugar, actually; ~3% of the total diet. And feeding straight grain isn't exactly great for cows either... it's done to increase body weight ridiculously quickly, and frankly beef cattle bound for market aren't typically around for long enough to fuss over 'long term effects'. It's also used to increase yield in dairy cattle, so that's where there might be a bit of cause for concern. But again, if the concern is high yield in the short term, you don't typically keep dairy cattle for very long either...

 

There is a bit of protein in corn that's of course higher than in candy (!), but as a protein source other grains are nearly always used rather than corn anyway, as corn is low in protein relative to other grains.

 

(...I feel like I should be sticking a "The More You Know" banner here )