Being an NHF member, no doubt you are well aware of what has been taking place with regards to how we produce and grow food.  In particular, factory faming has made considerable inroads into the beef industry, destroying “common sense” in exchange for easier profits.  Smaller farms have been replaced with large confinement facilities that produce a steady stream of year-round supply of meat.  Although the food is cheap and convenient, factory farming has created a variety of problems, not the least of which is lack of nutrients and the introduction of pharmacology and growth hormones into our meat (and dairy).

 

Unnatural and Unhealthy Diets

           

Animals that are raised in a factory-farm environment are given diets totally unnatural and unhealthy.  These diets are designed to boost productivity and lower feed bills.  The main ingredient found in factory farm beef is grain, which has been kept at an artificially low price by the government.  To further cut costs, the grain may contain many of what the industry calls “by-product feedstuffs.”  This is George Orwell’s  “1984” terminology for municipal garbage, stale cookies, poultry manure, chicken feathers, bubble gum,  and restaurant waste, to name a few.

           

Adding insult to injury, it was not until 1997 that the USDA finally put a stop to feeding cattle, well, cattle.  That is right, the feeding of cow parts to cows - in effect, turning herbivorous animals into cannibalistic carnivores - was condoned up until just eight years ago.  It may have seemed like a good idea at the time, but the long-term consequences are still unknown.  This unnatural practice is believed to be the underlying cause of “mad cow disease.”

           

That bright-red, packaged beef many consumers believe means fresh at your local grocer is in fact not.  It is in reality full of antibiotics, hormones, and even food dye.  In addition, factory farm beef is high in total fat, saturated fat, and calories.  Instead, healthy beef has a dark purple color to it, more like wild venison or elk.

           

Grass-fed and grass-finished beef have a variety of advantages over store-bought meat, not the least of which is supporting small, independent farmers who have had the conviction and character not to be pressured by the large-production corporations. Raising beef in a pasture or “grass farming” has its challenges.  For instance, to earn the certification of USDA “certified organic,” the cow must be totally free of all hormones and antibiotics throughout its entire life.  If ever a cow becomes ill or suspected of illness, it is immediately removed from the “certified organic” program.  This is something non-certified organic beef or “natural” beef cannot legally claim.  Certified organic grass-fed and grass-finished beef are never fed grain, and even the pasture they graze on must be deemed totally free of pesticides, herbicides, and nitrate fertilizers.    

           

Look for certified, organic grass-fed and grass-finished beef.  Natural raised beef or “free range” or even “grass fed’ mean nothing.  A natural beef label may tell you what it may not contain, but it will not differentiate as to what it does actually contain.  In addition, the cow’s diet is not required to be organic.   The USDA requires no methods of inspection to determine what is or is not in a natural beef product.  Likewise, a cow can be designated as “grass fed” even if the last 4 months of its life is in a feed lot eating grains and “by-product feedstuffs.”

           

As in George Orwell’s book, USDA terminology does not necessarily mean what we think it means.   Likewise, clever marketing phrases designed to confuse the consumer and create the illusion that establishes a higher retail price are prevalent.  It pays to be an informed consumer. 

 

So Why Switch to Grass-fed and Grass-finished Beef? 

           

The number one reason is that it is good for the environment.  Raising cattle on pasture is better for them and the environment rather than in a conventional feedlot operation.  Transporting huge amounts of antibiotic- and hormone-laced manure for dumping is not good for the dumps soil or the groundwater.  Pasture-raised cattle become a welcome source of organic fertilizer and not a waste-management problem.

           

Raising cattle on pasture requires knowledge and skill by the ranchers and farmers.  Cattle surviving in a feedlot and pumped with hormones and antibiotics really only requires a low-paying, stressed factory worker.  No care or humane treatment is bestowed upon the animal.

           

Grass-fed and grass-finished beef is lower in total fat.  If the meat is very lean, it can have one-third as much fat as a cow raised on grain.  Corn-fed beef may look pretty, and is definitely tender; but, once again, the meat is high in the wrong kind of fat.  Grass-fed and grass-finished beef is lower in fat and consequently calories too.  The greater the fat content, the greater the calories.

           

Omega-3s: Your grass-fed/finished animal has two to four times more omega-3 fatty acids than grain- or corn-fed meat.  Omega-3s are called the “good fats” because they are vital to every cell and system in your body.  Omega-3 fats are the most heart friendly and have been shown to reduce blood pressure as well as regulate the heartbeat.  In addition, omega-3 fatty acids help combat depression and Alzheimer’s disease as well as help reduce the risk of cancer.

           

Feedlot cattle, whose primary diet is designed for fattening (weight-gain), lose omega-3s fatty acids to the point of actual total disappearance.  So much for a grass-fed cow spending the last four months confined to a feed lot.   

           

Finally, grass-fed and grass-finished beef are rich in conjugated linoleic acid.  This is another type of fat typically known as CLA.  Pasture-raised beef contains three to five times more CLA then feedlot animals.  CLA has been shown to be a powerful defense against many types of cancers and tumors. 

           

When you get back to the pasture, you will find animals that feed on what nature intended.  No grain, corn, antibiotics, or hormones, and definitely no “by-product feedstuffs.”  When you get back to the pasture, you are also supporting small independent grass farmers.  You are safeguarding the environment, promoting humane animal welfare, and eating good nutritious and organic food.  Above all, you are not ingesting whatever pharmaceutical cocktail “they” decided to subject the beef too.

  

John Vnuk is an NHF member and a former member of the NHF Board of Governors who lives in Eagle, Idaho with his wife Dawn and their three boys, Jeremy, Jeffrey, and Jameson.  Mr. Vnuk is currently the president of Wildridge Healthy Living LLC of Eagle, Idaho, a company that only distributes certified organic meats and products.  For additional research material or information on today’s “meat crisis” visit www.idahoproducts.com or call the author at 1 (208) 830-9939.