It would depend. If they were Liberal moose then they would only eat cake.

Well they seem to like it

http://www.flickr.com/photos/64765059@N08/5958845614/

But apparently the combination is delicious

http://recipes.sparkpeople.com/recipe-calories.asp?recipe=193913

Stephen, while I don't disagree with the notion that Moose eat barley - standing in a crop does not indicate consumption.

Scuse my lack of moose knowledge, but is the joke here that moose actually DO eat barley, and these environmental jackholes have it wrong?

Jason - yup! and wheat and peas and... (you get the picture!)

Bear....Wasnt trying to say they like to eat it. Just they apparently dont have an aversion to being near it. Otherwise titled A Moose Out Standing In The Field.

Of course you could have I dont know if you would have titled it the same way if the MP's had been out there in the picture.

And if the point is about attracting Moose, which it isnt, then they could just add a bunch of saltlicks.....

Yeah, a giant cow would never want to eat any kind of grain. Nor would bears.

Way to come up with a good talking point Bennett. What a complete asshat. Seriously if you're an anti oil sands tard and you're talking to a native band I think you want the talking point to be "we need to get you money from these evil oil companies". Even a little high school kid libdipper could come up with that.

"It would depend. If they were Liberal moose then they would only eat cake."

or . .

It would depend. If they were NDP moose then they would only eat other people's cake.

Perhaps the most surprising thing about moose is that they can serve as domestic animals. During the Middle Ages, they were used as draft animals and people rode them. A moose can pull a sled carrying 900-kilogram loads through swamps and over dry terrain that would stop any horse. Moreover, in Russia, scientists have found that moose make excellent dairy animals, giving as much as 430 liters of highly nutritious milk. The only obstacle to keeping moose domestically is their fairly specialized food needs. When researchers tried to enrich their diet with barley, oats, or wheat bran, the moose developed digestive problems. But, in typically odd moose fashion, it turns out that a diet of potatoes works very well. (Source: Earthwatch Institute-2001 Research and Exploration, p. 56, Earthwatch Expeditions, Inc. 2001)

Forget the moose it's not like they are endangered, besides I'm sure LOT's of birds, mice, rats, squirrels and other assorted vermin LOOOOVE barley, and lots of other things love to eat the vermin.

And all that inefficient eating & pooing a will spread barley and other seeds around in short order.

The last link was an obvious joke, but thanks to the extensive efforts of SDA readers, aboriginal leaders will know what not to feed their domestic moose herds.

I myself enjoy a nice munch of barley while watching George Snufalufagus' show right before bedtime.

I see they also plant legumes ,

maybe Carolyn Bennett could stand behind a flatulent moose and listen close as it would make as much sense as she ever did.

The barley is for erosion control (heavy rain) and cover from the hot sun. Barley grows much quicker than grasses and legumes - providing a cover from the elements until the others are established.

How the 'what could go wrong crowd' would do it.

- apply for multimillion dollar gov't grant
- set up "working" groups (side trips to Vegas, ect)
- some professor on 14th ivory tower floor says moose eat grass.
- "working" group invites CBC to do a three part series on planting grass seed.
- some hyppie scatters organic grass seed for an hour then takes the rest of the day off to smoke grass
- with no cover crop the grass does not germinate and emerge and the inevitable erosion takes place
- the "working group" (sitting around in a circle) calls the CBC to do another three part series on oil sands erosion
- Suzuki has hour long special on Nature Things claiming moose and mankind should not eat barley because it is not natural. Meanwhile he is drinking beer made out of malting barley that farmers grow by the millions of bushels

"Bennett was quick to point out that oilsands operators and the federal government are losing perfect opportunities to tap into all the traditional environmental knowledge of aboriginal elders, especially when it comes to reclamation which, she said, is, so far, an experiment."

Traditional knowledge of oil sands reclamation? Did I read that right? How much have they traditionally reclaimed?

I know of one proposed mining project that had to throw out 3 years worth of work because it relied upon "Traditional knowledge" in regards to fish spawning that was incorrect.

Traditional knowledge can be useful, but it needs field work to confirm it.

Should have asked the leader of the Green Party, who is as we all know, the first moose elected to Canada's parliament.

"...tap into all the traditional environmental knowledge of aboriginal elders, especially when it comes to reclamation which, she said, is, so far, an experiment. "

huh? The Cree.. experts of land reclamation?? How do they come up with this stuff?

As for moose diet.. Everytime I've seen a moose they've been happily munching away on water plants. ;)

that tradition knowledge would of course include the elder that couldnt identify a rotting fish from a mutant fish with two mouths. it was in fact a rotting fish , not a mutant fish up at ft. chip.

Ron nails it. The point of planting barley is not to feed moose. That's just something the MP's pulled out of their derriere. It's so that the soil stays there to give other plants time to grow.

Of course, the aboriginals in the story know that "erosion" is just a myth constructed by big oil, and Rosie O'Donnell will tell you that this is the first time in history that water has ever moved land. Google it!

"They need the help of the people who were here first. These people have some real experience with what will work and what won't work, and planting barley for some of the First Nations' people seems a bit odd, and that they've never seen moose eat barley. It is again, two and two makes five."

Right. Because your average indian is really up to date on modern remediation methods. This gatekeeper of the earth crap really needs to stop.

"Should have asked the leader of the Green Party, who is as we all know, the first moose elected to Canada's parliament."

That's an insult to all Moose. Everyone knows she is a domestic cow in drag.

What moose is eaten with barley? Makes a damn fine soup...

Reclamation isn't that what they did at Caladonia?

- some professor on 14th ivory tower floor says moose eat grass.

Posted by: ron in kelowna
--------------------------------------

And as usual for profs in urban ivory towers, he'd be wrong. Moose are maily browsers, eating twigs and brush.

Moose are big beer and scotch drinkers. It's inconceivable that they would not be fond of barely.

Wasn't it the North American Indians (or at least their ancestors) who wiped out the original North American horses, the mammoth, the giant ground sloth, the sabre toothed tiger and basically all the animals that have disappeared on the North American continent with the exception of the Passenger Pigeon (which tasted so good in the tourtiere)?

Moosehead beer is from the Maritimes, it appears that the other end of the animal is from the Opposition benches in Ottawa.

"comes to reclamation which, she said, is, so far, an experiment"

In unsurprising news, Bennett has never heard of Holland or Sudbury.

Sorta funny these "experts" (definitely 50 miles from home) place such reliance on aboriginal knowledge but like the policy of suppressing forest fires....has resulted in degradation of the forests..making them susceptable for the Pine Beetle.
The FNs traditionally set forset fires to rejuvenate the forest much like the plains tribes set grass fires to rejuvenate the tall grass prarie.
BTW...the aboriginals practiced slavery and genicide (given the opportunity) and were not traditionally tree hugging pacifists.

Clue: adult male FNs were styled as warriors rather than hunters (like the Inuit).

I googled Kirsty Duncan as I can not remember a Canadian Nobel Prize winner by that name. Turns out she was a member of the IPCC when it co-won the Nobel Peace Prize with Al Gore. Do we need to know anymore about her mindset? Incidentally her expertise is in 'Medical Geography' which apparently qualifies one as a climate expert in IPCC fantasyland.

Moose primarily eat water plants in shallow water during the summer and lychens or tree branches in the winter. I have seen them eating hay at the feeders with the cows in Eastern Ontario during the winter. Wonder why Toronto area Liberal MPs don't know that?

Have a good weekend everybody.

Speaking of Moosehead - does having moose barley soup count as barley & moose? Just had it the other day as a matter of fact!

Farm boy - me. Your non-farming Liberal MP geniuses should look up the term "cover crop." Whenever we plant hay we plant it with barley and oats because it comes up fast and shields the grass and helps choke out weeds. Moose prefer tree buds but would eat barley if they are hungry enough but elk and deer sure eat grain. Mice and hares like it too. Their are more than just moose in the patch.

Why bother with expensive reclaimation projects?

When the work is finished just leave.

Why are you guys writing this stuff here? Write these two greentard MPs and inform them of how stupid they are and make sure you CC your own MP,the PMO and anyone else you would like to know about this. This is great political ammo to be used against liberal morons who should never leave the confines of their Toronto constituencies. Like the CWB they know nothing of rural matters or agriculture. Time to rub their faces in it.

speaking of moose and squirrel like people - where has Lizzy May been since the election ?

there was a time where CBCpravda would treat us to her back of a nickle countenance daily

Lizzy May destroyed her credibility by winning. The mainstream media has bigger fish to fry - getting the Liberals back in power. The scary Conservatives with the hidden agenda thing doesn't seem to be working all that well.

But that's a Finnish moose not a Canadian one!
;^)

Carolyn Bennett is a former physician who represents St. Paul's in downtown Toronto. So, of course she's an expert on the diet of moose in Northern Alberta. Since she only watches the CBC, she's seen every episode of "Hinterland Who's Who" which clearly gives her advanced knowledge of all our native species.

"Germs don't respect borders."

Yes, barley goes well in moose stew. Carrots, barley, maybe a tomato or two. I usually throw in a few lentils.

Moose is not usually very gamy, but that depends on where it was feeding when it ran into a bullet.

Meta-recipe for moose: take a recipe which works well for beef, replace beef with moose, obtain an even better dish.

Full of angst this afternoon I wrote both of them an email. I finished the email with the line:

"If you've ever wondered why Albertians have a distaste for eastern politicians, look no further then the nearest mirror."

Can you imagine the outrage should a Western MP show up in Northern Quebec and wonder how all the moose are doing under water in those hydro-dam lakes? Of course we typically don't poke our noses where it constitutionally doesn't belong.

Duffman, those were tens of thousands of caribou that died, not moose. Sheesh. You're forgiven of course as the coverage they recieved was inversely proportional to the hundreds of ducks that died in Alberta tailings ponds.

It would appear the equation they use to determine negative press coverage is opposite to the equation they use to distribute equalization payments.

Where did the reclaimers buy the seed barley from? I hope they bought it from farmers and not the Canadian Wheat Board.

Do we really need to listen to people who have NO idea what they are talking about? Whether it's a Liberal yahoo or a corrupt band chief claiming to be in commune with nature, we should just tell them to cram it.

Moose will eat anything.

If you sprinkle it with salt.

Sometimes in the winter my car is end to end lick marks from moose licking off the road salt.

Standard reclamation methods. As someone else pointed out, it's a cover crop. In grassland, we sometimes use crested wheat, or other hardy grasses, but they want something that'll die out quickly, and allow the native species to take over. Unfortunately, there isn't anything they could plant, that moose will eat. The moose will have to look elsewhere for a few years. Once the poplar and willow catch hold, the moose will be back in droves.

FN experts on land reclamation??.....thought they were experts on barley products

fact not only did they not have beasts of burden when white eyes landed on their shores, they had no wheel, no literacy, no numeracy, no metallery ('cept the Mayans and Aztecs, who kept it in Mexico), they were a backwards people and only learned from white eyes what they know

So, once you plant the barley, you fly the moose in by helicopter?

I don't about barley, I quit growing it years ago because the CWB handles it, but the moose sure raised hell with my oats.

I guess they have never gone out to feed cows in the morning at -40 and found moose bellied up to the feeder along with the cows. I guess they never talked to farmers who get a rebate in northern Alberta because the Elk and Moose destroy bales in the stored in the field etc. The Moose and Elk are our Occupy Protesters here in Northern Alberta. Difference is we would like to eat them but can't, we wait for hunting season.

Ron and scar have it right.

Len, you will soon be able to grow barley again thanks to Ritz.

Bennett and the expression "dumb as a bag of hammers" comes to mind.

moose and barley ?

more like moose and squirrel, dahlink...

or in this case, moose and squirrel..bait.

The Doctor is a big old Trotskyite, government everywhere - over regulate and tax us to death elite. She knows so much more then us lowly peons - NOT. I suggest she get back to what her real area of expertise seems to be - sex toys.
http://www.torontolife.com/daily/style/required-reading/2009/12/18/toronto-sex-shop-and-mp-carolyn-bennett-fight-for-eco-friendly-orgasms/