Depending on the region, a dairy cow’s diet will consist of 30-40% byproducts. If the cows did not consume them, these would be hauled off to the landfill and send out emissions into our atmosphere as they decompose. This is known as “upcycling”. As cows eat the extras, they convert it into high quality, nutritious food! This helps keep our landfills empty, minimize emissions in the atmosphere, and helps us recycle what would otherwise be wasted.
Byproducts are leftovers from crops grown for human food. Nutritionists test different byproducts for their nutritional content to determine what types are beneficial for cows. For example, cottonseed is a byproduct of cotton, almond hulls are a byproduct from almonds, ect… All of these nutritional byproducts contain high amounts of nutrients that can only be digested by a ruminant (cow).