Buying grass fed, local beef (Austin: vs., steak, rain)

[TexasHorseLady]

New Zealand beef is pretty good (they are considered the Experts of grass fed), but considering you can get just as good locally, without the expense to the pocketbook OR the planet of shipping it all that distance, seems only reasonable to do the latter.

[spelrod]

Originally Posted by trayanh

what's wrong with beef from New Zeland? Mad Cow disease???

I'd rather my dollars support something here at home, locally. There is awesome land, farms, cattle right here in Texas. It's more than the healthiness about local, grass fed beef it's about sustainable agriculture. Shipping meat halfway around the world is far from that.

Organic foods on average travel further from farm to table than conventional foods. That's a lot of fossil fuels.

[spelrod]

Originally Posted by TexasHorseLady

New Zealand beef is pretty good (they are considered the Experts of grass fed), but considering you can get just as good locally, without the expense to the pocketbook OR the planet of shipping it all that distance, seems only reasonable to do the latter.

I think we were sharing brain waves while I was typing my post. Get out of my head!

[G Grasshopper]

Originally Posted by trayanh

what's wrong with beef from New Zeland? Mad Cow disease???

Grass fed beef and in particular, intensive rotation in grazing is very much better for the earth than conventional beef raising techniques. Proponents work to keep the soil healthy. Conventional farmers basically think of soil as a neurtral medium, to which they must add artificial nutrients in order to grow food/grass. And feed lots are basically an environmental disaster. I won't go into the evidence for that, since it is readily available. People who are trying to live in an enrivonmentally responsible way often just reduce their intake of beef for this reason. But grass fed beef is an option. I have been eating very little beef in recent years because I don't want to support the feed lot system, but I am looking into grass fed. Also, I don't want to be eating anything that is grown on the other side of the earth. That is not very environmentally sound because of transportation costs/pollution, etc. Texas is someplace where we can eat pretty locally, so I am going to try to do that. I also want to support people in Texas who grow food with an environmental consciousness.

[FueledByBlueBell]

Anyone know where to buy local eggs (other than only at the farmer's markets)?

[trayanh]

your guys are just too..... people in shipping and delivery business make a living on transportation. keeping their jobs or creating more jobs also keeps economic health... I support local farms by shopping in farmer's market stores I support grass fed beef too. Hope it can be constantly available.

[G Grasshopper]

Originally Posted by trayanh

your guys are just too..... people in shipping and delivery business make a living on transportation. keeping their jobs or creating more jobs also keeps economic health... I support local farms by shopping in farmer's market stores I support grass fed beef too. Hope it can be constantly available.

I'm glad you support local farmers and grass fed beef. Shopping locally is how things used to be - when we weren't, as a nation, consuming so much petroleum, wasting so much energy. I have nothing against the people working in transportation. I'm just saying that whenever possible, we should buy locally produced products because they prevent a lot of pollutants being poured into the air and land and also decrease the demand for oil. How much and the way we consume does make a difference, and I think we should be conscious consumers. Everyone is free to make their own decisions about consumption, and this is just me. If you want to buy beef from New Zealand, you just go right ahead and do that.

[spelrod]

Originally Posted by G Grasshopper

I'm glad you support local farmers and grass fed beef. Shopping locally is how things used to be - when we weren't, as a nation, consuming so much petroleum, wasting so much energy. I have nothing against the people working in transportation. I'm just saying that whenever possible, we should buy locally produced products because they prevent a lot of pollutants being poured into the air and land and also decrease the demand for oil. How much and the way we consume does make a difference, and I think we should be conscious consumers. Everyone is free to make their own decisions about consumption, and this is just me. If you want to buy beef from New Zealand, you just go right ahead and do that.

I've tried to rep you 4 times today now.

[inthecut]

At first I saw "buying grass" and I'm thinking uh oh..till I saw the beef thing...thought this was an underground newspaper for a sec...sorry

[Austin97]

Originally Posted by inthecut

At first I saw "buying grass" and I'm thinking uh oh..till I saw the beef thing...thought this was an underground newspaper for a sec...sorry

Im originally from the midwest where the beef tastes so much better. I just went home last month and had a porterhouse from a grocery store which is better than any meat that I have had since living in texas.

I had always thought grain fed cows were supposed to be better and that grass feeding was used when people couldnt afford grain. I did some brief research and found this quote

<<Meat from a grass-fed steer has about one-half to one-third as much fat as a comparable cut from a grain-fed animal. Lower in calories, grass-fed beef is also higher in vitamin E and omega-3 fatty acids, which are thought to help reduce the risk of cancer, lower the likelihood of high blood pressure, and make people less susceptible to depression. Further, meat from grass-fed cattle is rich in another beneficial fat called conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), which supposedly lowers the risk of cancer. The benefits of CLA are so widely acknowledged that some ranchers who don't grass-finish their cattle add CLA supplements to their animals' feed once they're taken to the feedlots.>>

So from my point of view, marbling is everything in steak and so based on the above, grass fed may be more sustainable, but there is no way it tastes better than grain fed.

Grass Fed vs. Grain Fed Beef?