Grazing the Net: Glow in the dark cattle
Police in India are rounding up stray cattle and making them glow in the dark. The effort is being conducted by Madhya Pradesh authorities to help reduce the amount of traffic accidents involving cars and cattle. The police are putting reflective stickers around the horns of cows and bulls that roam the streets of the district.
"Many drivers injured themselves or killed the cattle after running over them at night," says Kailash Chauhan, traffic police inspector for Balaghat district. Last year more than 550 people died in stray livestock related traffic accidents in India. Thus far, 300 head have had the strips put on their horns.
Beef Bonanza
The men of the Ponderosa Ranch would probably never miss a lunch at the chuckwagon if Hop Sing had known how to cook a "Bonanza" cut of beef.
Meat scientists at the University of Nevada-Reno - just down the road from the Cartwright family - have developed a new cut of beef from the caudal tip of the muscle infraspinatus, commonly known as the flat iron steak.
The researches have called it a "Bonanza" cut and it really could be like striking beef gold. Typically the cut would be ground into hamburger yielding $1.90/lb., but the new Bonanza steak could fetch an estimated $5.30/lb.
Hopefully the meat scientists keep up the good work in Reno, we can't wait to see what a "Hoss" steak looks like.
Feedlot Losses Exceed $50
A $1 decline in average fed cattle prices and a $25 per head increase in the cost of feeder cattle pushed cattle feeding losses to $52 per head last week, according to the Sterling Beef Profit Tracker. That's $39 per head lower than the previous week. The total cost of finishing cattle last week was $1,690, compared to $1,664 the previous week and $2,084 last year.
A Look at Shipping Cattle in the Flint Hills
Another summer of grazing has passed at the Bechtel Ranch and associate editor Wyatt Bechtel has some great images to share from shipping cattle in the Flint Hills.
