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Not long ago, quinoa was just an obscure Peruvian grain you could only buy in wholefood shops. We struggled to pronounce it (it's keen-wa, not qui-no-a), yet it was feted by food lovers as a novel addition to the familiar ranks of couscous and rice. Dieticians clucked over quinoa approvingly because it ticked the low-fat box and fitted in with government healthy eating advice to "base your meals on starchy foods". Adventurous eaters liked its slightly bitter taste and the little white curls that formed around the grains. Vegans embraced quinoa as a credibly nutritious substitute for meat. Unusual among...

ANSAS CITY, Missouri (Reuters) - Mike Yoder's herd of dairy cattle are living the sweet life. With corn feed scarcer and costlier than ever, Yoder increasingly is looking for cheaper alternatives -- and this summer he found a good deal on ice cream sprinkles. "It's a pretty colorful load," said Yoder, who operates about 450 dairy cows on his farm in northern Indiana. "Anything that keeps the feed costs down." As the worst drought in half a century has ravaged this year's U.S. corn crop and driven corn prices sky high, the market for alternative feed rations for beef and...

Animal rights activists are behind the burning of cattle trucks at the Harris Ranch truck lot early Sunday, according to a statement from the purported arsonists. The statement, released Monday, describes how the fire, which heavily damaged 14 tractors and several trailers, was set and says the attack was aimed at "the horrors of factory farming." Spokeswoman Nicoal R. Sheen of the Animal Liberation Press Office, which released the statement, said the office doesn't take part in illegal actions but distributes communiqués from those who do. Fresno County sheriff's spokesman Chris Curtice said detectives are looking into the claim. He...

Cattle rustlers, casting aside saddle and spurs for modern horsepower, are roaming the West with four-wheel drive and GPS technology in a resurgence of livestock thievery considered a hanging offense on the old frontier. State livestock officials said the increase in cattle crimes was linked to the slumping economy, soaring beef prices and the advent of handheld global positioning systems that allow rustlers to more easily navigate the wide-open range. They said contemporary thieves may find it more convenient and lucrative to pick off a couple cows, worth as much as $2,000 a head, than to rob a convenience store....

An East Texas man with a prolific cattle rustling history spanning more than a decade has been sentenced to 99 years in prison for swindling bovines from a Mississippi rancher. Carl Wade Curry, 44 from Athens was accused of stealing 400 head of cattle worth more than $200,000 last year. District Attorney Staley Heatly says Curry placed an order with a Mississippi man using a fake name and cattle company in Vernon, where the owner shipped the cattle. The owner contacted authorities when he didn't receive payment. A jury in Hardeman County took less than 30 minutes to both convict...

Thank you, Indiana for sending hay to the Texas ranchers! With this drought, they truly need it.

A source on the Rick Perry campaign tells Hot Air that the Texas governor conducted some Texas-size fundraising in the third quarter. Coming in just a little over halfway through, Perry raised $17.1 million. That number would put Perry somewhere between $4-6 million ahead of Mitt Romney’s rumored total for Q3, according to this report last week from the Boston Globe. It’s also likely to far outpace Herman Cain’s fundraising or that of the other Republicans currently in the race. The pace is even more impressive. Perry had 49 days in which to raise funds, rather than the full 92...

Two things you guys. First, this video is very cute. Second, watching these cattle follow the remote-control car reminds me of how the Left operates. Except the cattle smell better and have a superior intellect.

Over 1,300 cattle suspected of radiation contamination shipped TOKYO (Kyodo) -- A total of 1,349 cattle suspected of being fed rice straw containing radioactive cesium have been shipped to 45 of Japan's 47 prefectures, a Kyodo News tally showed Wednesday. On Wednesday, prefectural surveys revealed 699 cattle suspected of such contamination were shipped from farms in Iwate, Akita, Gunma, Niigata, Gifu and Shizuoka prefectures, adding to another herd of such cattle found to have been shipped from farms in Niigata, Fukushima, Yamagata and Saitama prefectures. In Iwate, up to 57,000 becquerels of radioactive cesium per kilogram -- far above the...

Wichita Falls has exceeded 100-degree highs 39 of the past 40 days. There was a string of 100-plus degree days before that. By this date in a normal year, Wichita Falls would have received about 16 inches of rain. This year it has been just over 3 inches. Forecasters are not optimistic about substantial rain between now and September. Wichita County Extension agent Fred Hall said he has talked to old-timers who remember the severe droughts of 1956 and 1980. They recall those droughts started later in the year and there was residual moisture in the ground to help forage....

"They overdrink because they're thirsty." It seems like everyone is feeling the heat this summer. Human, canine, feline, or even bovine, we're all at the mercy of high temperatures.

Anyone looking forward to corn on the cob slathered with butter this summer may find that it has become an expensive part of their diet. Or it not be available at all.

Cows were sacrificed by aliens sending the White House into a panic declassified FBI files have revealed. It is claimed that more than 8,000 cows were abducted by UFOs before they were mutilated and thrown back down to earth over the southern United States during the 1970s. The memo is one of thousands of previously unreleased classified files that the bureau has made public in a new online resource called The Vault. The files detail how the aliens took trophies from their victims in the form of body parts and in some cases they drained the animals entirely of their...

Enjoy

TOWN OF STOCKTON, Wis. -- An investigation is under way after 200 dead cows were found in a field in the Town of Stockton. (More, but not much at link)

WASHINGTON (AP) — A ruling by the Obama administration allowing the sale of gasoline containing 15 percent ethanol is running into legal hurdles from trade groups opposing the plan. The National Petrochemical and Refiners Association sued the Environmental Protection Agency on Monday over the decision to allow the sale of gasoline containing higher blends of corn-based ethanol, the second major group to protest the ruling. The Obama administration said in October that gas stations could start selling the ethanol blend for vehicles built since the 2007 model year, increasing it from the current blend of 10 percent ethanol.

...so some people aren't thrilled with the idea of a stand-up airline seat. How about a saddle seat that threatens injury to your private parts? That's what one Italian company has come up with, CNBC reports. It's developed what it calls the SkyRider, a seat with a 23-inch pitch or less. A 23-inch pitch means there's 23 inches of passenger space between the seats. That's at least 8 inches less than what you normally get in economy class, writes Jane Wells. But that's not the worst part. The company, Aviointeriors, says sitting in the seat is similar to riding on...

Amazingly, the seven-year-old bullock is still growing meaning he could smash through the current British record in a matter of months. When Shaun, a carpet fitter, saved Trigger he had no idea his new black and white friend would grow up to his magnificent size. Trigger's enormous weight means he could potentially make 7,665 Big Macs or even 6,137 Burger King Whoppers. But family pet Trigger lives a life far removed from that of your average livestock. Instead he enjoys a relaxed lifestyle in a field at Kingswood, Herefordshire, where he eats a daily diet of grass, cattle cake,...

Mongolia counts carcasses after harsh winter By CHARLES HUTZLER, Associated Press Writer 2 hrs 48 mins ago UYANGA, Mongolia – Before he can fully tend to his dwindling herd, Demberel has to bury the dead cows, goats and sheep in earth barely thawed from Mongolia's worst winter in decades. Fetid and fly-ridden, the carcasses lie stacked by the hundreds around a burial pit dug by Demberel and a dozen fellow herders. A truck brings dozens more carcasses. Others lie in piles or strewn in nearby valleys, potential health hazards for animals and humans alike. "We're bitter and sad that we've...

Mass output and U.S. rules have diminished flavor; what aficionados should demand Let's talk about steak for a moment. Was the last one you ate good? How about the one before that? Be honest. The first bite, in all probability, was juicy and tender. Not bad. A brief hit of beefiness, enough to spur you on to bite No. 2. But by bite No. 4, there was a problem: grease. The tongue gets entirely coated in it. It is at this point that many hands reach for that terrible abomination called steak sauce. It's acidic and zingy and cuts through...