Our discussions often address the perversions (tsk tsk) of modern stock
raising and the unnatural diets fed to animals prior to slaughter.    Here's
an excerpt from an article written 150 years ago.  I have the periodical in
my temporary possession.
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Genesee Farmer, Vol. XIV, No.1, January *1853*, published Rochester, NY.  In
the "British and American Agriculture" article on p. 14, written in the form
of a dialogue:

A. They had been allowed one pound of American oil-cake per day, for which
$45 per ton was paid.

B. I recollect the time when I could get as much linseed oil-cake here as I
wished for $10 per ton, but now it sells readily for $22.  I suppose it
[American oil-cake] is the large demand for it in Europe, and the increased
facilities of transportation, that has so enhanced the price.

A.  I think even at that price it is the cheapest food we can feed to
cattle; cheaper than corn at 60 cts. per bushel. I mix a little of it with
corn meal for my horses, and they do exceedingly well on it, never better.
The English farmers think that pound for pound, oil-cake is worth more than
any other substance used for food; while the manure of the animals taking
it, is of the richest and most valuable kind.
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"Oil-cake" would seem to suggest that the flax seeds were ground and pressed
or pelleted, wouldn't it?  I wonder if the oil was fresh or rancid and what
effect the food that would have on the FA profile of the steaks and chops?

Theola