What you **NEED** to know about grain fed beef (garbage, business, research)
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I went back to the original thread and read the following------------
--" 50 years ago nearly all beef cattle were grown by eat grass / hay in an open field "---
NOT TRUE !
50 tears ago, just like today, the stock cows were raised on grass pastures and fed hay in winter. The steers and heifers that were going for slaughter were corn fed 50 years ago, just like today.
In 1963, as a 17 year old just graduated from high school-----I went to work at a packing plant lugging beef quaters of grain fed steers and heifers. I worked there for 19 years.
There were 2 packing plants in that town that butchered only grain fed steers and heifers.
5 days a week, 24 hours a day the semis would be hauling grain fed steers and heifers from Siox Falls South Dakota into our packing plants.
Even in the 1950's , we had neighbors who would every fall truck in feeder steers and heifers from Montana to finish out on corn on their farm.
I wonder where some people get their info from !
This is true Marmac. As I have said a million times, my family has farmed here since 1757 and I have the family trunk and autobiographies of past Great Uncles and Great Grandfathers, etc that farmed here. TexasHorseLady is indeed right that horses were the tractors and automobiles of the day, but here they used oats for energy and not really corn.
One Great Grandfather 7 times removed "was a man of good calculation, opened a store within the barn at the Great Farm and took in trade by way of oats." This was in 1800 and what they are saying is, his store ran by taking in oats as currency.
Another Great Uncle explained in his memoirs that he taught school for 3 months in a nearby town and was "paid 9 bushels of oats " for doing so. This occurred about 1840.
Back in those days it was common to farm in the mid-coast during the summer and log up north in the winter, and my Great Great Great Grandfather ran a logging camp up there and mentions in his scale log about hauling oats and hay for the horses, as well as "mowing oats for the cows" one hot summer day. This log was in September 1899.
The truth of the matter is, grains were the economy of the times back then and a bushel of oats had more bargaining power then a dollar bill. The real question was whether or not they gave those grains to their livestock???
Of course they did. Threshing back then was back breaking work and not all that efficient. Since they did not waste anything, I am sure the livestock got the stems and wheat chaff which was laden with grain. Google up old farming books and you can see all kinds of home made silos they cobbled up to preserve corn other feed stuffs. Ensiled feed has only one purpose and that is for livestock, and all this occurred long before the second world war.
As for grain fed beef being a government conspiracy....I don't think so. Its called marbling of meat. Grain allows better marbling of fat throughout the meat, which gives meat its flavor. To the chagrin of the Angus Beef Council, the Jersey cow has won tastes tastes many times for its flavor...and this cow is well renowned for its marbling of meat with the Holstein cow right behind it. Not surprising, these two cows have high calcium requirements because of their high bone structure which is hard to get from a grass only diet.
I've said this before and will say it again...the best tasting meat comes from a nutritionally sound animal. Period. I employ a nutritionist dedicated to ensuring my sheep are healthy and we use a combination of grass and grains to ensure they are healthy.
Neither had I, Marmac, but different places in the country grow different things and utilize different resources. In the heat of the South we NEVER fed corn to horses - they would get sick and overheated, it would kill them. Here corn is used incrementally as a supplement; oats and hay and grasses are the staples. Different climates, different uses, and different resources dictate what is used, I think... We were always taught that corn was chicken feed, used to sweeten the meat even of wild critters like hogs and turkeys, but for nothing else.
The thing I know is that it taste better! Same reason people come Hunt Deer in Minnesota! The deer eat CORN and taste better then those that eat sagebrush!!!
Grain has pretty much always been used as supplemental or winter feed (with stored hay) in areas that had difficult winters... there are records of this practice way back to the Dark Ages. Farmers would feed their livestock whatever grains and fodders that grew best in their area... whether that was corn, oats, rye, barley, wheat, sorghum or whatever. However, until recently (last 100 years), the animal's primary diet was foraged pasture. Whether you got grass-finished or grain-finished beef all depended on the time the animal was slaughtered... if you slaughtered in the summer & fall, the animal was most likely finished on pasture; and if you slaughtered in the winter or spring, the animal was most likely finished on grain because they'd been wintered.
All animals have most likely been pastured at some point in their lives, and have been supplemented with grain and hay during the winter season. Americans have developed a taste for grain finished meat, and the animals tend to have a higher proportion of grain supplementation during their pasturing time, and an exclusively grain diet during finishin. Not all countries have such a strong preference for grain (specifically corn) finished beef.
You can get marbling from grass-finished meat (although it is less than grainfed and takes longer) but it does require managing high quality forage pastures. High quality grass pastures require time and effort most farmers feel would be better spent growing something more directly profitable (unless you're a hay farmer, of course). Nutritional studies of grass-finished meat have shown higher levels of CLA, Omega-3 fatty acid, Vitamins A C & E and lower levels of saturated fat and cholesterol then grain fed beef. Grass finished beef also does not require the use of as many antibiotics because the amount of grains they are and have consumed is not enough to upset the bacteria balance in their rumens. Whether any of that is important is up to the consumer.
Grains are not really good food for anything including ppl. Grass fed cows I would imagine are treated more humanely since they can go out and roam in a pasture. The other reason I support grass fed beef is more Omega 3 in the meat which is healthier for the cow and in turn for us.
Red meat, despite all the abuse it has taken is healthy in moderate amounts. Saturated fat is also very healthy for us if its from animal sources.
With that being said I support only farmers who raise there animals in the humane fashion they deserve. They are giving their lives to give us life.
Actually, the radio program didn't say to cut out all red meat and dairy, just be aware of the consequences of our actions. I think that many Americans eat too much red meat and too often. And cheese is worse than milk.
Another reason I eat red meat in moderation is because I believe that the hormones and antibiotics in the meat are especially bad for me as a woman. Especially the hormones, and it's my personal belief that breast cancer is linked to all the hormones in our food products. So the beef that I eat is usually organic beef.
The problem with dairy is the pasturezation/homogenazation process. Raw milk/cheese with risks included is much healthier than what they call milk on most store shelves. I find that most ppl dont have the same allergies to unpastureized/homogenized milk that they do from the traditional supermarket dairy.
The problem with dairy is the pasturezation/homogenazation process. Raw milk/cheese with risks included is much healthier than what they call milk on most store shelves. I find that most ppl dont have the same allergies to unpastureized/homogenized milk that they do from the traditional supermarket dairy.
Interesting that you should mention this. For the longest time I thought I was allergic to milk, or at least very lactose intolerant. Then one day I tried raw organic goat's milk and didn't have any problems. I thought, ok, maybe it's the goat vs. cow thing since goats milk is known to cause less allergic reaction. So I tested some raw cow's milk from the same dairy... and had NO problems either. Normally drinking a glass of cow's milk off the shelf would have me totally phlegmed up within seconds and having serious GI distress within a few hours if I didn't throw it up first. I don't know what they've added or removed in the regular store bought stuff, but my body definitely doesn't like it.
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