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Nutrition Grass-Fed Beef?

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Anna C

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Grass fed beef

I had some really nice grass fed ribeye steaks this past weekend. Currently trying to decide if they were worth the price - we could take the plunge and buy a good 1/2 or 1/4 cow from the farm we bought these from (White Oak Pastures in Bluffton, GA). So.... it is better for you... better for the environment... better tasting (although, a different taste... maybe a little gamier? It was definitely good, but would take a little getting used to). So how much better is it, especially on the health aspect? I believe it's better, but I need a little convincing. 1% better? 50% better?
 
Everything I have read suggests that grain-fed beef provokes an inflammatory response in our bodies while grass-fed beef does the opposite. That's a big difference. Cattle don't normally eat grain - it's a Franken-animal, IMO.

-S-
 
This is what I understand as well. Unfortunately grass fed ribeye (for instance) costs over $23/lb around here:(
I'm not taking my money with me when I go, but still.....
 
[QUOTE="Anna C, post: 72928, member: 2846. So how much better is it, especially on the health aspect? I believe it's better, but I need a little convincing. 1% better? 50% better?[/QUOTE]

A few years back getting immersed into the paleo thing I popped in to my local butchers to ask: 'is your beef grass fed'?
The reply, as he rolled his eyes in disbelief and bewilderment, or a wtf face, was 'well course they eat grass, they're f**king coos'! That's not a typo, just Scottish vernacular. Much guffawing and cajoling followed mocking my apparent total lack of knowledge of farm yard animals. Cows in the uk are indeed grass fed for the most part. They are beefed up with grain before they go to market for selling and slaughtering as it makes them bigger but the grain alters the omega 3 to 6 fat ratio, inflaming the hardy beasts. Also there is a reduction of cla fat quota too. Also with our climate, they are fed dried spillage during winter. There are farms where the cows are 100% grass fed and they are marketed as grass fed with a price tag to match. Without actually knowing the real difference, there is a distinct difference in colour, grass fed is more a deep purple flesh. But this is is in the uk. Your cattle raised on grain in those massive farms with no natural food stuff makes the issues of grass fed v grain fed v no meat at all more polarised, I'd think. I try to buy meat from local butchers who source from local farms, grass fed yes but not 100%. I don't know in the US if you have that general option, is it all grain v all grass?
 
In the US, it's grass fed or it's not specified. No halfway.

-S-
 
In the US, it's grass fed or it's not specified. No halfway.

-S-

Does that mean then, when it is not specified, it is from one of those massive industrialised cattle factory farms, cafo, I think is the term? All or nothing?
 
No it does not mean that. There can still be small local independent cattle 'ranchers' that feed their cattle grain, but are not 'feed-lot' cattle. Some are a mix as well.
 
Steves message and mine crossed paths. The difference between grain fed and grass fed is indeed a difference. (And IMO, an important one. Also IMO, grass fed being 'better')
To clarify my response to Ali... Not all beef producers in the US that feed their cattle grain are huge mega industrialized operations. Some are small independent family businesses. At the end of the day however a grain fed cow is a grain fed cow regardless of other factors. With that being said, smaller operations may be less likely to use hormones and antibiotics an the like. Also a factor in the quality of the end product.
 
In North America all cattle is grass fed in pastures and with hay, and then fattened up in industrial Feed Lots. To raise cattle on feed would be significantly more expensive. If it is mass market beef it is raised that way. Only true grass fed beef comes from small local farms, and then butchers, even then it is still a sales gimmick and who really knows how it was raised.

I have worked at a massive industrial beef processing plant as a Millwright doing maintenance and shut downs. Only two corporations own the vast majority of beef processing. If people really knew what went into getting the beef to your plate, it is amazing, and disgusting.
 
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In North America all cattle is grass fed in pastures and with hay, and then fattened up in industrial Feed Lots.

That was my impression, too; that they're all grass fed for a year or so, then the majority are sent to the huge and crowded feedlots to be fattened up on corn and other grain for several months to maximize the quantity and fat content, whereas those designated as grass fed are not.

Yes, watching "Food, Inc." gives me some idea of what is behind the meat industry. That does make me want to buy from the small local farms; but still I wonder what is the real effect on that end product that I consume, and therefore the effect on me.

Sorry @Bonkin, I probably should have started a separate thread on grass-fed beef!

EDIT by admin Steve Freides: You did. :) This is now its own thread.
 
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Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser, talks about mass meat production and what goes behind it; opened my eyes some years back.
 
IMHO, the meat most people think of as "normal" is cut-rate thing - what grass-fed beef costs is what beefs costs. One could ramble on about the big business of supplying cheap food, but that big business isn't supplying cheap food, it's supplying something that's a poor imitation of food, and that I don't want to spend my money on, regardless of its price.

-S-
 
IMHO, the meat most people think of as "normal" is cut-rate thing - what grass-fed beef costs is what beefs costs. One could ramble on about the big business of supplying cheap food, but that big business isn't supplying cheap food, it's supplying something that's a poor imitation of food, and that I don't want to spend my money on, regardless of its price.
Not to mention the amount of money one saves in doctor bills, later on. So in the long run...
 
Just about everything we are exposed to in our environment is slowly poisoning us. Eating beef and produce from a supermarket should be the least of our worries. First world problems.
 
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