Comments on: Grass-finished Beef vs. CAFO Beef

By: Susan

Susan — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 01:50:55 +0000

I already get the daily email from The Nourished Kitchen and enjoy it greatly. I would invite my siblings to a bbq of grass fed meat. Some of them just don’t believe there is a health, or taste difference, and the ones that do would be happy to enjoy it with us.

By: Ridge Shinn

Ridge Shinn — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 12:26:59 +0000

I have to keep going after reading a few more comments. There are so many good excuses to feed grain to cattle (they are still wrong), but there are cattle that get fat looking at grass and to feed grain would make them obese. These easy-fleshing cattle were listed as a “rare breed” as recently as 2002 because they do not work on the industrial feedlot. For grass they are a wonder. I imported a whole herd of these cattle from New Zealand last year: they are Devon cattle that I purchased from the Rotokawa stud or farm–visit http://www.rotokawacattle.com for more info. These are cattle like the cattle that were around before the feedlot craze in the 1960′s. Many folks will have to “prop” up their cattle with grain if they are “industrial cattle”–you have to find/breed grass cattle to have success on a grass-only diet. Many folks are having great success–we buy from 20 producers to supply the cattle we harvest weekly and sell in NYC and Boston-visit http://www.hardwickbeef.com. The real key is the consumer getting educated and then insisting on what she/they want. This will provide the “pull on the rope” instead of the “push on the rope” many of us are trying.

By: Ridge Shinn

Ridge Shinn — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 12:15:05 +0000

In response to feeding grain, I like to tell folks that this 100% grass-fed and finished is like pregnancy–either you are or you are not. What the research shows (Susan Duckett-Clemson University) is that as soon as you feed corn/grain in any form you change the omega 6: omega 3 ratio of the meat. This is like a finger print–she can precipitate the fat out of a piece of meat, measure this ratio and tell you whether that animal ate grain/corn. Of course the imbalance of this ratio (10 omega 6 to 1 omega 3) found in grain finished meat is the cause of the health related problems we have all heard of in red meat. The nearly 1:1 ratio found in grass-fed and finished is perfect for human health. These are EFA”s essential fatty-acids and critical to important things like brain function. It is critically important that the consumer understands this and insists on it in the market place. Everyone in the market place claims to be “grass-fed” now because the consumer wants it but almost all is pseudo, sort of, kind of , almost grass-fed and finished. Research shows a “bit of grain” ruins the ratios. Get educated visit http://www.eatwild.com for the data.

By: Bill Clark

Bill Clark — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 18:49:47 +0000

Hi,

The best method for raising beef is the MIG way.

Mig stands for Management Intensive Grazing.

Cattle are kept on grass their whole life.

Thank you, Bill

By: ABC7.com Green Content - Where’s the E. coli? In the beef

ABC7.com Green Content - Where’s the E. coli? In the beef — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 16:55:30 +0000

[...] if youâ€™ve seen the movie Food, Inc., or read or viewed any of a dozen reports (here’s just one) on the problems of mass-produced beef, you know what Iâ€™m talking about. Weâ€™ve taken a [...]

By: Mary McCall

Mary McCall — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 20:25:35 +0000

I refuse to eat beef unless it’s been grass fed. The problem is, I live in San Diego, and I don’t know where to purchase grass fed beef or which restaurants serve grass fed beef. As a result, I have not consumed beef in months. Is there a website or any other resources that I can go to?

Thanks for your help.

By: Jenny

Jenny — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 15:09:05 +0000

Hi Mike –
At the time of your original comment, this site used CommentLuv – (you can no longer see the opt-in button because we’ve disabled it due to compatibility issues) – a service that tracks the feed of the website you link to and posts the last item from that feed. The service is meant to provide cross-linking for bloggers who make up the vast majority of commenters on this site.

Unfortunately, since the website you linked to was petition2congress.com, CommentLuv pulled petition2congress’s last post which was about supporting Democracy in Venezuela.

I’ve removed the link from your comment. Take Care!

By: Mike Murphy

Mike Murphy — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 14:45:16 +0000

Hi,

I wanted to clarify, I did not write the democracy in Venezuala petition, or include it in my orginial comment post here. I have no idea how it was added to this website, and at who’s request. I have had similar things happen where I have posted the Veterans Against NAIS petition such as someone claiming to be me posting a later link to a petition against homework for students. Apparently, someone feels the need to distract from this issue by methods that have nothing to do with discussing the merits of their postition.

Mike Murphy
Michigan

By: Mike Murphy

Mike Murphy — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 22:39:30 +0000

My grandfather listened to the â€˜expertsâ€™ who told him to sell his grass fed cattle to the feedlots for a fraction of what they were worth so they could fatten them on grain and make them unhealthy for people to eat. They convinced him that grass and hay was ok for cows used for breeding stock, but cattle raised for food must be fed corn. After giving up his healthy, nutrient dense beef without knowing it, he would take the little money they told him his cattle were worth and buy â€˜foodâ€™ at the grocery store that did not nourish his body. Like many farmers, he did not feed his family with what he produced. He died of cancer.

It took 34 years for me to begin grass based farming in an effort to provide healthy food for my family and to help address my health issues from a lifetime of industrial food. Watching my 2 year old ask for thirds and fourths of a grass fed steak that we raised and knowing it is not only nutrient dense, but safe for her to eat feels incredible. â€œHow bout more take, Daddy? How bout more?â€

I know that the nutrition she and her mom were provided with has given her a great start in life, and I would not have been able to do that without being able to raise food for them in this way. She already tells me that real eggs come from a farm, not the â€œgocery tore.â€ I want to be able to continue to provide her with grass fed food throughout her life.

Just when we seem to be making inroads, we realize we need to keep educating people, especially Congress. We canâ€™t allow them make it harder for us to raise food for our families and our neighbors in this way. Our childrenâ€™s health and future depends on it. Thanks for helping spread the word.

http://petition2congress.com/2/1903/veterans-against-nais/

By: Mary Ellen

Mary Ellen — Sat, 23 May 2009 18:43:57 +0000

Thank you all for the insight! Check out Mary Ellenâ€™s last post: What About Now?.

By: Jenny

Jenny — Sat, 23 May 2009 15:59:53 +0000

Mary Ellen – I think there’s a world of difference between a CAFO and the habits of your rancher, and there’s a lot to be said for trusting your farmer to raise his or her cattle the way they ought to be raised. They should know the health of their herd better than anyone else. Still, I’d ask a lot of questions if I were you. Most importantly: how much is some? Cattle can do okay with the inclusion on very minimal amounts of grain and lots of grass, but it does change the fatty acid profile. Still, if this is your only option – it is worth pursuing.

By: CHEESESLAVE

CHEESESLAVE — Sat, 23 May 2009 02:15:39 +0000

I heard an interview with John Wood of U.S. Wellness Meats on Underground Wellness.

I’m pretty sure it was in that interview that he said that the reason grass-finished is important is that even the short time the cow is “finished” with corn or other grain is enough time to change the bacteria and make the cow susceptible to pathogens.

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/UndergroundWellness/2009/02/04/Is-Your-Cow-on-Grass

I love 100% grass-finished beef. I’m now so accustomed to the taste that I no longer like that “marbled” taste of corn-fed beef. It just tastes bland and boring to me. And too fatty or something. Grass-fed and grass-finished is so much more flavorful.

Check out CHEESESLAVEâ€™s last post: Organize Locavores and Support Small Farms with Meetup.com.