The Truth About Grass Fed vs. Grain Fed Cattle

[Gray Seal]

I doubt anyone can take some beef and run a test to tell you if it came from an animal fed GMO or not.

Typical grocery store beef comes from cattle fed at a feedlot for a couple of months. They tend to have a higher fat percentage which increases the tenderness.

When working on a cattle ranch in Nevada, the beef was butchered at the ranch from cattle on grain for a month. It was tasty even though it had a bit less fat than what I see at groceries. The main difference we could tell at the ranch was between a heifer steak and a steer. Heifer steaks were more likely to be tender though not universally so.

 

[puppetmaster]

My beef will eat corn for the last 2-400#..

It'll also age appropriately.

Ya'll do what you like.

That's what I like about you.....

 

[tod evans]

Sorry if I'm wandering a bit off topic. I am just curious. Do sell to them? Do you butcher them yourself?

When I was younger we butchered now I just trailer the animal to the local butcher, he kills and ages it before cutting...

The dogs really loved butchering time!

 

[tod evans]

I just ordered some ground beef from our local butcher. High fat, small farm, lots of grazing, grain finished. Not perfect, but better than the pink slimey beef found in the large supermarkets and not as expensive.

If you're buying from a farmer look around for somebody raising Beefmaster cattle that'll finish one for you, you'll be impressed...

 

[tod evans]

Personally, I try to buy chicken and beef that has not been given hormones or antibiotics, because my understanding is that we are already getting a pretty hefty dose of them in our water. Since there appears to be an increasing problem with antibiotic resistance, I want to minimize the chances that it is going to happen to me. I want my antibiotics to be something I choose to take. I don't want someone else's in my water; nor, do I particularly want to ingest them in the meat I eat.

I'm against feeding the "heard" antibiotics as maintenance but refusing to medicate a sick cow is cruel....

 

[Eagles' Wings]

If you're buying from a farmer look around for somebody raising Beefmaster cattle that'll finish one for you, you'll be impressed...

Thanks for the tip, I'll check it out.

 

[squarepusher]

80% of the countries antibiotic use is for livestock (about 29 million pounds annually), and most of them are not even sick

http://www.nrdc.org/food/saving-antibiotics.asp

 

[LibertyEagle]

I'm against feeding the "heard" antibiotics as maintenance but refusing to medicate a sick cow is cruel....

Oh sure, I agree with that.

 

[pathtofreedom]

OP, that's like posting a piece about how the Federal Reserve is so great that is written by the Federal Reserve. Good job.

All of those mythbustings are completely bunk, they even openly admit that they are half bunk in many of the explanations if you apply some logic. But each and every one of them should be a lesson for concern and a reason to eat grass fed beef.

You do eat grass fed beef to increase omega 3s as but what they don't mention is that a big reason is to reduce omega 6s.

Grains we grow today are different than grasses and while they may not be too bad in smaller quantities, optimally they would be avoided if the cow has access to some grass and they should really have access to pasture at all times for better health. There are many reasons for this.

Overall very weak article.

Why does the FED make it into every discussion? It is kind of an obsession. I used a variety of different sources for the fed and used a variety of different sources for the issue of meat. Some of my info will come from industry sources some of it will come from independent sources. Most of my info was independent sources.

None of my mythbustings are bunk, you have yet to debunk a single one.

Grains are different than regular grasses but grains are themselves a form of grass. Cattle eat them just fine and often prefer them.

 

[pathtofreedom]

You can really tell this is establishment clap trap from the section on subsidies... "We haven't had a bill pass in YEARS so it must not be a problem!!" Wtf kind of logic is that?? With what we know about corn and ethanol subsidies and how they affected tortilla prices in Mexico, what idiot is going to try and argue that they don't affect what farmers feed their cattle?

I am not an "establish clap trap" I simply try to be informed about issues before I comment on them. My point is that subsidies have gone away and government can actually drive up the price of grain through methods that you mention like the ethanol mandate. I said that subsidies aren't the single cause of using grain to feed cattle. I never said government plays no role at all. Way to take me out of context.

 

[XNavyNuke]

I doubt anyone can take some beef and run a test to tell you if it came from an animal fed GMO or not.

It is well established that isotopic ratios can easily identify grass fed meat. Conventional agriculture relies heavily on geologically deep resources (oil in pesticides, herbicides, fertilizers, mined minerals like phosphorous, water pumped from aquifers for irrigation).

I know where my beef comes from and what it's fed because its still in the pasture.

XNN

 

[PaulConventionWV]

I've recently read that by the time the animal is butchered, everything has passed through the stomach, liver, etc. and the meat is clean, even of GM grains, etc.

Do you know if this is true?

Someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think the concern is with the GMOs being in the actual meat; rather, the concern lies in the fact that GMOs cause mutations in the genetic code on a cellular level which can change the meat's protein makeup.