USDA researchers are laboring to create a new corn-feed stock that can be fed to beef cows to make their shit smell better.
The scientists don't measure odor per se, but the compounds that might cause odor. Starch that is not digested produces many odor-causing compounds in manure. If more starch is digested, less starch is available to cause odor. Starch from dry-rolled corn does not get digested as thoroughly as that in the high-moisture corn, so cattle fed high-moisture corn are less likely to produce foul-smelling manure.
