Discarded potato peelings and slices too small to qualify as chips end up in the 180,000 gallons of water used in the peeling and slicing process. After the water is treated at a primary facility, the solids taken out of the water mount up to a hefty 6 tons daily, which is trucked to the feedlot. The starch is removed from the waste water and sold for fine paper manufacuring. The water is piped to hay fields where it is used for irrigation. The hay is used to feed the cattle.
Snack food is the third byproduct used at the feedlot.
It looks just like a party mix because it is a variety of the different snack foods mixed together. The steers really like it a lot. One day's worth adds up to about 4,500 pounds. The snacks come out of the plant on a big central-vacuum system and are loaded on a dump truck for delivery to the commodity area of the feedlot. The mix also is high in salt, eliminating the need for salt supplementation.