Edmonton, Canada -- They're hangin' out in the field, swilling free beer
that's too old to be any good -- what a bunch of cows. An Edmonton-area
farm began feeding outdated Molson's beer to its cattle a few weeks ago.
But the bovine beer-bellies aren't exactly setting a bad example to all
the other farm animals either. They may even propose a toast to Earth
Day. The cows are part of an imaginative and successful recycling plan by
Molson Breweries.
"Our mandate as a company is to try and eliminate all the byproducts of
the brewing process from going to the landfill," says Peter Rochefort, an
environmental specialist with the brewery.
In the past, Molson paid a surcharge to pour thousands of litres of beer
more than 110 days old into city sewers. Now they just ship it to the
farm.
And rural neighbors need not fear any drunken cow revelry, Rochefort says.
Stale beer is only one element mixed into their feed and their
multi-chambered stomachs metabolize the alcohol while ingesting the
protein.
Scientific tests show cattle can absorb many litres of the beer without
any rise in their blood alcohol levels.
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