Word: rumen
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Diet: Grass Niman's cows eat only grass, along with a smattering of hay. That's the normal diet for cattle. Their rumen, a digestive organ, can break down grasses we'd find inedible...
...earth's ozone layer is eroding despite the enviro-conscious efforts of industries and consumers to cut back on ozone-eating chemicals, the Geneva-based World Meteorological Organization reports. But is the sky falling? "The worst is still six or seven years ahead of us," Rumen Bojkov, special adviser to the agency on ozone issues, told reporters. On the other hand, he said, the ozone level could recover within a half-century. The report, the work of 226 scientists around the globe, explains that international efforts to reduce the use of chlorofluorocarbons, or CFCs, have made a dent but take...
...another. In Michigan, researchers found that cows that licked barn wood treated with the preservative pentachlorophenol were starving to death. It turned out, explains Jerry Hook of Michigan State University's new Center for Environmental Toxicology, that "this substance is toxic to the bacteria in the cow rumen." Such toxicity did not show up in tests with rats...
...only increases air pollution and drying it takes up too much space. A more promising approach is to reduce each animal's excretion. Farmland Industries of Kansas City, Mo., has developed grain-sized plastic tabs that, once eaten by a cow, lodge in one of its stomachs, the rumen. There they take the place of roughage, reducing the animal's need for hay. Such cattle subsequently produce up to 40% less manure than those fed conventionally. Another scheme calls for injecting manure with special bacteria to hasten decomposition...
...there will be more meat, less waste, less expense in raising it. Some experts also believe that even the traditional feed-lot method of fattening cattle with expensive corn can be greatly improved. One development in feeding is the use of synthetic urea to nourish the bacteria in the rumen (part of a steer's stomach) so that a steer can be readied for market on cotton burrs, corncobs and even sawdust in its food...