The Use of a Cow

A by-product is something produced in the course of making the main product.

In the beef industry, the main product we produce is beef—the hamburgers, steaks and roast beef we enjoy eating.  A beef by-product is something made from a cow besides the beef we eat. To illustrate, an 1150-pound market steer yields approximately 500 pounds of beef. Nearly all of the remaining weight is recovered as by-products.

There are three categories of by-products to determine the items made with the rest of the animal: EDIBLE, INEDIBLE and MEDICINAL.

Edible By-Products are things we can eat 

Some edible beef by-products are fairly well known such as variety meats. The nutritious value of liver, kidneys, brains, tripe, sweetbreads, and tongue has been acknowledged for quite a while. Other important edible by-products are less well known. Fats yield oleo stock and oleo oil for margarine and shortening. Oleo stearin is used in making chewing gum and certain candies. Gelatin produced from bones and skins is used in marshmallows, ice cream, canned meats, and gelatin desserts. Intestines may provide natural sausage casings.

Inedible By-Products are things we cannot eat

You probably use at least one item containing inedible beef by-products every day. For example, you probably know that the beef hide is used to make leather, but did you know that the hide also supplies felt and other textiles? It provides a base for many ointments, binders for plaster and asphalt, and a base for the insulation material used to cool and heat your house. In addition, “camel hair” artists’ brushes are not really camel hair at all, but are made from the fine hair found in the ears and tails of beef cattle. Footballs, which used to be called “pigskins,” are also generally produced from cattle hide.

Industrial oils and lubricants, tallow for tanning, soaps, lipsticks, face and hand creams, some medicines, and ingredients for explosives are produced from the inedible fats from beef. Fatty acids are used in the production of chemicals, biodegradable detergents, pesticides, and flotation agents. One fatty acid is used to make automobile tires run cooler and, therefore last longer.

Bones, horns, and hooves also supply important by-products. These include buttons, bone china, piano keys, glues, fertilizer, and gelatine for photographic film, paper, wallpaper, sandpaper, combs, toothbrushes, and violin string.

Medicinal By-Products are things used by your doctor

More than 100 individual drugs performing such important and varied functions as helping to make childbirth safer, settling an upset stomach, preventing blood clots in the circulatory system, controlling anaemia, relieving some symptoms of hay fever and asthma, and helping babies digest milk include beef by-products. Insulin is perhaps the best-known pharmaceutical derived from cattle. There are 5 million diabetic people in the United States, and 1.25 million of them require insulin daily. It takes the pancreases from 26 cattle to provide enough insulin to keep one diabetic person alive for a year.

Through genetic engineering techniques and research developments, many of the drugs produced from cattle are now being chemically produced in a laboratory, often less expensively than recovery from animal organs.

Most of the material used for surgical sutures is derived from the intestines of meat animals.

This description of cattle by-products is by no means complete. In fact, new uses are discovered almost daily. But we hope that now when you hear “Where’s the beef?” you will think:

• It is in hospitals and drug stores.
• It is helping your car run better and your clothes get cleaner.
• It is in sporting goods, photographic equipment, and art supply shops.
• It is in firecrackers on the Fourth of July.
• It is in your garden keeping down insect infestations.
• It is in soap for washing your face

Milk By-Products

Dairy products are essential to strong, healthy bones. Eating three servings of milk, cheese or yogurt daily is a wise choice for people of all ages. Research shows that most of us eat only half of the recommended daily servings of dairy

Butter

Butter is made exclusively from milk or cream, or both, with or without common salt and with or without additional colouring matter. Butter also contains protein, calcium and vitamins A, D and E. Butter Varieties include:

» Traditional Butter

» Salted/Unsalted Butter

» Whipped

» Light Butter

» Cultured Butter

» Anhydrous Butter

» Butter Oil

» Butter Powder

Whey

Whey is the liquid part of milk that remains after the manufacturing of cheese. Whey can be transformed into a dry product by different techniques. Today’s whey ingredients go into numerous products ranging from dairy foods and nutritional supplements to processed meats.

They serve as excellent emulsifiers, whipping agents and water-binders, and also aid in gelation, thickening and browning. The two major categories of whey in the United States

are sweet whey and acid whey.

» Sweet whey results from the manufacturing of hard cheeses such as cheddar and mozzarella and has a pH greater than 5.6.

» Acid whey, on the other hand, is produced during cottage cheese and ricotta manufacturing

processes and has a higher mineral content and a pH of less than 5.1.

Ice Cream

Ice cream has a great deal more nutritional value than its dessert counterparts, such as cake, pie or candy. The primary nutrients in ice cream are calcium, riboflavin (vitamin B2) and protein.

Ice Cream Varieties Include:

» Frozen Custard

» French Ice Cream

» French Custard Ice Cream

» Reduced Fat Ice Cream

» Lowfat Ice Cream

» Fat Free Ice Cream

» Sherbet

Cheese

Cheese, a concentrated dairy food made from milk, is defined as the fresh or mature product obtained by draining the whey (moisture of original milk) after coagulation of casein, the

major milk protein. Cheese can be used in almost every food product. Different ingredients and processes used

during the making and aging of cheese result in a wide

variety of cheeses, each with its own distinct texture and

flavor.

There are more than 200 varieties of cheese produced in

the U.S. and over 1,400 varieties in the world.

Cheeses are categorized in several ways:

» Natural

» Process

» Unripened

» Ripened

» Soft

» Hard

Source: cattle-empire   ension.iastate.edu