Grain Fed Rant

[jnntefend]

OK, I just need to blow off some steam here. I live in Texas, and around here, we have alot of steak houses and every one of them EVERY SINGLE ONE OF EM(!!!) says some bull-honkey (trying to watch my language) about "Proud to serve USDA Grain-fed Beef"! Why on earth would you brag about the fact that you serve the same sh.... bull-honkey... that they can get in the grocery store? I even had a waitress one time go on and on about how the grain added extra marbling and made the meat better. I asked her if she has ever had grass-fed beef, and she says "Cows aren't supposed to eat grass" I kid you not! I turned green and asked for a baked potato. I'm not eating any of their meat.

And Heaven only knows what she thinks chickens are supposed to eat. Good grief! the corporations are going to have every think that breathes eating nothing but corn in the next few years...


OK, I can put on my happy face again now

 

[Cold Canadian]

I personally like pastured beef over feed lot ( Grain Feed ) beef ? Free range is what I'm used to ? some Like ,some don't .

 

[cassie]

OK, I just need to blow off some steam here. I live in Texas, and around here, we have alot of steak houses and every one of them EVERY SINGLE ONE OF EM(!!!) says some bull-honkey (trying to watch my language) about "Proud to serve USDA Grain-fed Beef"! Why on earth would you brag about the fact that you serve the same sh.... bull-honkey... that they can get in the grocery store? I even had a waitress one time go on and on about how the grain added extra marbling and made the meat better. I asked her if she has ever had grass-fed beef, and she says "Cows aren't supposed to eat grass" I kid you not! I turned green and asked for a baked potato. I'm not eating any of their meat.

And Heaven only knows what she thinks chickens are supposed to eat. Good grief! the corporations are going to have every think that breathes eating nothing but corn in the next few years...


OK, I can put on my happy face again now

I have had both grain fed beef and grass fed beef. I don't much care for grass fed beef. It is a matter of personal preference. And the quality of the beef you get at the store has a lot to do with what grade it is. Much of the grocery store beef is grade Good. Some of the high end stores sell a more premium and expensive Choice grade. And the waitress is right. The grain does put marbling on the beef, and most people, including me, consider the result a superior product. Some people do prefer grass fed beef and it is probably better for you. I don't care if it is. I do not like the way grass fed beef tastes. Whenever I raised a beef steer for ourselves, the steer could run around in the small pasture, but I fed him hay and a LOT of grain. In fact, the last two months or so, I would feed him all the grain he would eat.

 

[lowbike1]

Cows weren't created/designed, or didn't evolve (depending on what you believe, not meant to be a creation/evolution debate) to eat grain, it has nothing to do with how it tastes, it has to do with ethics, and letting animals grow naturally... their digestive system doesn't function properly on a grain diet, not to mention the fact that the grain is fed to them in disgusting feedlots (google that)...
Grass fed beef also has 6x the omega 3 fatty acids, grass fed beef creates substantially less methane gas.... the list goes on and on and on...

 

[cassie]

Cows weren't created/designed, or didn't evolve (depending on what you believe, not meant to be a creation/evolution debate) to eat grain, it has nothing to do with how it tastes, it has to do with ethics, and letting animals grow naturally... their digestive system doesn't function properly on a grain diet, not to mention the fact that the grain is fed to them in disgusting feedlots (google that)...
Grass fed beef also has 6x the omega 3 fatty acids, grass fed beef creates substantially less methane gas.... the list goes on and on and on...

I am sure grass fed beef is better for you. Maybe better for the environment, too. I still don't like it. However, to say cattle are not "designed" to eat grain is not true. They can digest it just fine. It depends on what the microflora in their rumens are used to. You can't dump a sackful of grain in front of any ruminent that has not been acclimated to it without serious, and perhaps fatal, complications, and a 100% grain diet is never advised. Ruminents do need some roughage.

Modern cattle did not evolve naturally. They were and are intentionally bred for a particular purpose, whether for beef, dairy, draft, or a combination thereof. Their nutritional requirements have evolved also. For instance, Longhorn cattle do much better on sparse pastures than, say, an Angus or Hereford. There are some Shorthorn dairy cattle in Australia, I believe, that sustain high milk production on a grass diet with very little grain, but our Holsteins cannot do that. Dairy cows, particularly the ones that are high producers, must be fed a high energy ration, and that includes lots of grain. If they don't get it, not only will they not produce well, but they will rob their own bodies to sustain milk production as long as they can.

The steers I personally raised for our freezer were fed all the hay and grain they would eat for the last two or three months or so. They always had free choice hay, but until the last three months or so, they did not have free choice grain. When I started upping grain, I increased it gradually day by day until they were getting it free choice, but they were fed some grain their whole lives. If you wean a calf before it is several months of age, it will not grow properly without at least some grain to take the place of the energy it would otherwise get from milk. Since I got my calves when they were newborns and I bottle raised them, they got grain from the time they would eat it. They were weaned off the bottle at about eight weeks of age. My cattle always grew fast, looked good, and didn't have any health or digestive issues either.

 

[chickened]

Cassie is right, modern breeds of cattle need grain to develope the marbling and taste they were bred for. The intermuscle fat is actually good for you, it is the exterior fat that is not good for you. Cattle are healthier when fed whole grains. If you were raising water buffalo or some other wild/domesticated breed than grass may be fine. Here in western oregon cattle and other animals would starve on a grass only diet. One acre of grass here has the same nutritional value as a 10 x10 plot in eastern oregon. Dairy cattle have been known to abort their calves if left on grass in the western oregon valleys.

Grass fed beef is tough and flavorless to me also.

 

[RHRanch]

I don't know where you folks are getting that "tough" grass fed steak... I've had grass fed steak and it was fine. I think the reason some people don't like grass fed beef is that they have been conditioned to like that fatty beef, similar to how a lot of people don't like home raised heritage chicken meat because they are used to grocery store chicken.

 

[bakerjw]

I purchased some grass fed beef from a friend of mine that raises cattle. It is a bit wilder tasting than the beef that we get from the store that has been grain finished.

 

[jnntefend]

I remember getting our first ever grass fed beef from a friend. It was a pound of ground beef. I made it into these giant hamburger patties, because I am used to almost 50% shrinkage. These things did not shrink noticeably at all! And they tasted (in our opinion) like the best burgers we ever had. My husband, who is very cost-conscious, was sold on grass-fed immediately, for no other reason than the lack of waste.

As far as the morality of it goes, I can't say that i have a problem with the poster who gives some supplemental grain. It's the fact that these restaurant steaks come from the same cafo as the BOGO Strips I can get from my local grocery store that kills me. And the fact that I grew up in TEXAS, Texas of all places, and never even knew about grass fed beef for the first 28 yeas of my life! You would be amazed how many grown adults swallow the CAFO "Company line" Now, if you want your nice, farm raised, grain supplemented, delicious steer that knows what grass at least looks like, then good for you, enjoy your meat, that's just a matter of taste. At least you are thinking and informed and doing somethign to help. But pleaspleaseplease, don't just think corn-fed is better because ConAgra, (And the waitress at Texas Land and Catlle) says so.

 

[cassie]

I don't know where you folks are getting that "tough" grass fed steak... I've had grass fed steak and it was fine. I think the reason some people don't like grass fed beef is that they have been conditioned to like that fatty beef, similar to how a lot of people don't like home raised heritage chicken meat because they are used to grocery store chicken.

Not all beef is the same whether it is grass fed or not. The quality and flavor of all beef, not just grass fed depends on a number of factors. Some of these are the condition, age, feeding, and breed of the steer. And maybe on the type of grass. Not all grass is the same, either. That said, I still don't care for grass fed beef. I'm not all that fond of venison either, but that's me.