Bob Evans: Let Cattle Eat New Grass

RIO GRANDE, Ohio (AP) â€” Retired restaurateur Bob Evans has a simple message for struggling cattle farmers: Let them eat grass. <br><br>Evans, who once ran a chain of 445 restaurants, points to research

Monday, November 27th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

RIO GRANDE, Ohio (AP) â€” Retired restaurateur Bob Evans has a simple message for struggling cattle farmers: Let them eat grass.

Evans, who once ran a chain of 445 restaurants, points to research showing that farmers can save money by grazing cattle on new types of grass that can endure winter weather.

``If I were 20 again, I never would have started a restaurant,'' Evans, 82, told The Columbus Dispatch on Sunday. ``This is going to make money, boy.''

Because the new grasses are largely self-sustaining, farmers can avoid labor and equipment costs, Evans said. The grasses also are far cheaper to grow than the corn and soybeans usually used for feed.

At Evans' Ohio farm, experiments are also being done on turnips that yield leafy, cattle-pleasing tops.

``It costs 16 cents a day to keep a cow on turnips instead of 75 cents to $1.50 a day on more traditional management systems,'' said Evans' assistant, Ed Vollborn.