Grass-fed "free-range" beef cattle worse for the environment and no healthier?

[SunnyD]

If I wanted corn in my beef, I'd eat a taco.

 

[EagleKeeper]

In terms of flavor, the breed will have much more to do with it than wehre the meat is raised.

Standard rule of thumb when we (as a kid) raised beef - 1 acre/head. this was back east where there is high moisture.

In Colorado, I have been told that the rule is 10 acre/head.

The numbers above are for range beef, not penned herds

 

[Deeko]

Half the point of this type of beef is to try to provide the cow itself a healthier, "happier" life than not... Ask people around you why they would rather have cows be treated this way. I'm guessing not a lot of them are going to say because the meat tastes better, or because it is better for the earth. They will say its for the sake of the animals.

Actually, quite a few idiot hippies drone on and on about how grass fed organic beef is better for the environment and for you. Yea, some might care about the animals, but they insist on the health/environment issue too - which apparently is BS.

 

[IceBergSLiM]

No mention of concentration of fatty acids in the resulting meat. How can this be deemed a relevant article? Also did she study the impact of corn feed production on the carbon foot print? Not to mention that animals feeding on corn are 99% feeding on GMO corn. And most relevant carbon foot print is the least concern for people that want grass fed animals meat. This is entirely irrelevant unless you buy into carbon con.

Oh then it completely ignores the impact of the massive slaughtering facilities needed for these crowded feed lots. The antibiotics, the toxic chemicals required to process the shit meat and sterilize said facilities on a nightly basis.. The human lives lost in dangerous meat packing facilities etc...

This article ignores 99% of the equation for why people choose local and grass fed meat.

This article is shit.

 

[waggy]

The farmers here are pretty smart. They work out of a co-op. One farmer grows corn that is traded to the farmers that grow beef. Other farmers grow hay and trade it the same way. Cows cannot live off just a pasture unless it is a huge pasture or low amount of cows. They eat too much and most of the places here that raise cows have them in corrals that are dirt with little grass.

yeah.

there is a ranch about 2 miles from me and another about 10 (i know both owners and pass by each weekly).

they both claim "free-range" cattle. what they do is rather slick but legal.

the one near me has a field about 10-15 acres with a creak running through the end. in the spring its full of grass and he lets about 1/3rd of his cattle in it for a week. then rotates them out every other week. Within a month there is no grass in it at all. so he has to bring in feed.

he is able to claim "free-range" even though they spend 1/3rd of the time out. rest of the time they spend in a covered barn.

sad part this is normal for what is considered "free-range"

 

[Deeko]

No mention of concentration of fatty acids in the resulting meat. How can this be deemed a relevant article?

But what about damage to people? Some advocates of grass-fed beef claim that the more naturally raised animals are healthier to eat.

"There is absolutely no scientific evidence based on that.

Absolutely none," she replied. "There is some very slight difference in fatty acids, for example, but they are so minor that they don't make any significant human health impact."

But what about those hormones the cows are given? Surely that cannot be good for us.

"What we have to remember is every food we eat -- whether it's tofu, whether it's beef, whether it's apples -- they all contain hormones. There's nothing, apart from salts, that doesn't have some kind of hormone in them."

I would recommend you read harder next time.

 

[trenchfoot]

Well, I recall eating beef fresh off the pasture and it tasted a whole lot different, and not necessarily better than the aged stuff coming from the meat packers.

 

[Modelworks]

yeah.

there is a ranch about 2 miles from me and another about 10 (i know both owners and pass by each weekly).

they both claim "free-range" cattle. what they do is rather slick but legal.

the one near me has a field about 10-15 acres with a creak running through the end. in the spring its full of grass and he lets about 1/3rd of his cattle in it for a week. then rotates them out every other week. Within a month there is no grass in it at all. so he has to bring in feed.

he is able to claim "free-range" even though they spend 1/3rd of the time out. rest of the time they spend in a covered barn.

sad part this is normal for what is considered "free-range"

I guess some people have never watched a western. Cattle drives were a big deal . You would pay someone to lead your cattle through a long path where they would feed along the way finally ending up at the destination having fed and big enough to sell. They didn't put them in a pasture and then take them to market even then.

 

[Deeko]

Well, I recall eating beef fresh off the pasture and it tasted a whole lot different and not necessarily better than the aged stuff coming from the meat packers.

You mentioned "fresh" vs "older and went through pasture". No mention of grass fed vs not. Not a 1:1 comparison.

 

[IceBergSLiM]

I would recommend you read harder next time.

Absolute horse shit. 60% more omega 3's is significant. grass fed cows are Leaner over all as well.

nice charts and graphs on the matter.

http://www.fitnessspotlight.com/2010/04/15/grass-fed-beef-meat/

 

[ElFenix]

Well, I recall eating beef fresh off the pasture and it tasted a whole lot different, and not necessarily better than the aged stuff coming from the meat packers.

aging beef concentrates the beefy flavor. aged beef does taste better.

 

[waggy]

aging beef concentrates the beefy flavor. aged beef does taste better.

true. but i don't consider meat that is packed and shipped is "aged".

 

[spidey07]

Absolute horse shit. 60% more omega 3's is significant. grass fed cows are Leaner over all as well.

Which makes them not as tasty. DO NOT WANT.

 

[her209]

And how many of them have been on a farm before to know what the heck they are talking about? I'm talking about family farms not corporate farms.

I was "forced" to work in the fields (1 acre) growing up for my parents helping them grow crops to eat and sell. We grew corn, cucumbers, beans, etc.

 

[JellyBaby]

When the runoff from concentrated animal factories (where cattle literally spend their lie standing in in their own feces) spilled into agricultural fields and contaminated crops with E. coli thus forcing a recall of spinach a few years back, was that better or worse for the environment and public health?

Cattle that are fed corn are literally made sick as a result and will die. So, the meat producers inject them (or feed them corn laden) with antibiotics to keep them alive. Cows aren't meant to eat corn. They're fed corn because corn is super cheap due to government subsidies. Cows are designed to eat grass. They don't fall ill when they eat what nature intended. Grass fed cattle don't need antibiotics.

Do a google search on "beef e. coli". The frequency of meat recalls is utterly astonishing. Guess how many are associated with grass fed cattle? Zero. Guess how many are tied to concentrated animal feed lots?

Cows are fed grain (corn) instead of their natural diet of grass which turns their rumen into an ideal habitat for E. coli bacteria. (Incidentally, this bacteria can't survive long in cattle living on grass). In feed lots, they live in their own crap. Crap in a pasture is a good thing (it's a natural, self-sustaining fertilizer). Crap spread across acres and acres of factory lots is a haven for nasty microbes like E. coli.

All of that is a product of industrial agriculture. Sure, productivity is higher and McDonalds stands to benefit immensely. But to sell it as equally healthy is a TOTAL lie.

 

[IceBergSLiM]

Have any of you seen the videos where they literal have holes in the cows stomachs so that the farmers can reach in and clear out all the corn feed that the animals are unable to digest. Because the cows cannot digest this and have to be constantly "unclogged" , the hole is left open. This open wound requires tons of antibiotics.

Watch food inc and tell me this is a "fad"

 

[IceBergSLiM]

Which makes them not as tasty. DO NOT WANT.

are you just saying that or have you legit tried grassfed beef? Its much better imo. Easier to over cook but still delicious.

 

[ElFenix]

true. but i don't consider meat that is packed and shipped is "aged".

right, and maybe tweaker2 didn't mean aged when he wrote aged. or maybe he really was comparing fresh beef to aged beef. :shrug:

 

[JSt0rm]

Grass fed cattle has a different taste then corn fed cattle. This is the reason to do it.

 

[spidey07]

are you just saying that or have you legit tried grassfed beef? Its much better imo. Easier to over cook but still delicious.

Flavor is a direct result of fat content. Leaner meat doesn't taste as good. That was the point.

 

[JSt0rm]

I prefer wagyu beef. Walking around burns the fat.

wagyu is the breed. In Kobe Japan they have a specific process to create the kobe beef you sometimes see. I actually prefer the Australian process as it has a little bit less fat and is still very tasty. The american wagyu is even leaner (due mostly to cross breeding). Make no mistake they are all very fatty and the japanese kobe beef is almost like foie gra. Yum.

 

[ichy]

I lost any belief in organic labeling or grass fed labeled meat when I read the regulations governing it.

Fair enough, but John Stossel isn't the most honest guy out there either. He's pushing a libertarian agenda, and from what I've read & watched of his he relies heavily on anecdotes and the selective use of data.

 

[piasabird]

very seldom do farmers actually water the corn in the midwest (USA). There are some areas in the west that do dry farming which means everything that is grown is watered from irrigation. Of course that would go for all crops and animals. If you eat meat, where do you think the meat comes from?

I visited a dairy belonging to a friend of mine in Utah. They grew corn and other plants like alfalfa to feed their Dairy Cows. I dont know how much people know about feeding cows, but on this farm which is a dry farm, they use the entire Corn Stock and other plants to feed the Cows. They also added other grain to the feed. They mixed it all together in a big mixer and added some water and then fed the cows. Keep in mind these are dairy cows and they formulated the feed specifically for dairy cows and milk production.

Corn is very hard to grow. You have to use a sprayer and spray the tassles on top from the time that they appear till you pick the corn. You also need lots of fertilizer to grow corn. Corn is one of the most developed hybrid crops imagineable. Also you have all the exhaust produced by the tractors to grow the corn. So I would not say that Corn is any better or worse for Cows. The main thing is if you let cows graze, you need a lot of acerage to raise Cows in that manner.

Everything is not such a one sided consideration.

 

[IceBergSLiM]

Flavor is a direct result of fat content. Leaner meat doesn't taste as good. That was the point.

I thought marbling and diet was more important than actual fat content. This is why kobe beef is so expensive and jamon iberico de bellota is expensive

 

[JohnOfSheffield]

Agreed. You don't want that cow moving around. Toughens the meat and burns the fat. Fat = flavor. And veal is the ultimate IMHO.

They were put on this earth for us to eat, as such we need to make them as tasty as possible.

Actually, slower growing and more physical active animals (of any sort) will have a higher degree of intramuscular fat which would make the meat more tender and juicy.

You weren't put on this earth to think though, so how on earth would you know such a simple thing?