Students at the Scott County Boys and Girls Club enjoyed a fun, and interactive presentation by ladies of the Scott County Farm Bureau Women’s Leadership Committee.
President Laurie Richardson and representative Regina Oliver visited the club and shared information on by-products provided by the beef cattle industry.
Of course, most think of the protein source the animal provides. However, they also provide things such as leathers, textiles, oils, lubricants, fertilizer and insulin.
According to the presentation, “More than 100 individual drugs perform such important and varied functions as helping to make childbirth safer, settling an upset stomach, preventing blood clots in the circulatory system, ‘pepping up’ a sluggish thyroid, controlling anemia, relieving some symptoms of hay fever and asthma, and helping babies digest milk. Insulin is perhaps the best-known pharmaceutical derived from cattle. There are 5 million diabetics 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.”
Following the informative session, Oliver invited volunteers to pick a product out of her grab bag. The students then had to guess what part of the cow that product came from. Each child received some gummy worms and a hand out to take home.