Do cattle, lamb and goats need grains?
No. These livestock are all RUMINANTS, which are four-stomached animals (the rumen being the first and largest stomach). Why so many stomachs? Ruminant evolved by eating a relatively low energy/high fiber diet of grasses and forbs. With the aid of bacteria residing in the stomach and additional mechanical break down of the fibers (cud chewing), these forages are utilized and turned into high protein muscle. There are seeds (grains) present in the grasses at certain times of the year on the prairie, but they bring entirely different dietary results than our modern grains (see HEALTH BENEFITS). It has only been in the last eighty years or so – since the invention of the combine harvester – and the resulting surplus of grain for our own needs — that our country has been graining ruminant livestock. Millennia of evolution cannot be replaced by decades of technology.
