Corn Fed VS Grass Fed Beef

[Linda R]

Here is one of the best and clearest explanations I have seen as to why grass fed is SO much better for us. I wish that some of the farmers in my state [Iowa] would allow this part of the world to return to it's original grassland condition and get the cattle back out there instead of planting that damn corn and soy, fence line to fence line. 


http://flawsforgiven.blogspot.com/2013/08/grass-fed-beef-101.html

[Rita]

and vs. petri dish ....

[lyra]

my local co-op sells a product called natural angus beef that uses no growth hormones and no antibiotics, but is not labeled as grass fed. another local farm near me sells a similar beef that is without growth hormones or antibiotics, and is partly grass-fed and partly corn fed. They claim they feed them the corn towards the end of their lives to increase marbling. Any thoughts on these products? Both cost almost as much as the strictly grain-fed products.

[Jan in Key West]

Lyra,
See if this link helps.....


http://www.marksdailyapple.com/the-differences-between-grass-fed-beef-and-grain-fed-beef/#axzz2c3ohUou7

[lyra]

Thanks Jan! That's helpful. If the beef is local, free of hormones, and antibiotics, and is produced humanely, that counts for a lot. Fresh and available, and affordable, and not totally grain fed.

[Jan in Key West]

Just returned from two weeks on Long Island.....very encouraging that many of our favorite restaurants out there now feature pastured beef on their menus!


Now I have to catch go catch up on this forum........

[Rita]

Just returned from two weeks on Long Island.....very encouraging that many of our favorite restaurants out there now feature pastured beef on their menus! Now I have to catch go catch up on this forum........

I had the feeling you were on a trip.  We missed you.   Good to hear that more restaurants are going with pasture raised beef.   I would think that it would be a great marketing tool for restaurants, since people will go out of their way to go there.  Did they advertise it prominently on their menu, or was it something you asked about?

[lyra]

I have found a good source of all grass fed beef at my local co-op and am happy with it in general, except that it has been frozen for three weeks. It sort of shook me up to see it dated August 22. Anyway, I am totally disgusted with the feedlot beef and just won't buy it anymore.

[Linda R]

I have found a good source of all grass fed beef at my local co-op and am happy with it in general, except that it has been frozen for three weeks. It sort of shook me up to see it dated August 22. Anyway, I am totally disgusted with the feedlot beef and just won't buy it anymore.

I have also found a grass fed beef/chicken/lamb/goat producer just 2 miles down the road from me. How convenient is that?
They even have a web site with a well organized price list, plus a choice of pick-up locations which includes the farm itself by appointment.
Yes, the beef is frozen when I purchase, but that is fine with me. It goes into my freezer until I decide when to cook it up. I will be picking
up a chuck roast, ribs, and a package of minute steaks on Saturday AM.

[Barbara from New Jersey]

Linda,


I have a recipe I like a lot for Grilled Chuck Roast with a horseradish sauce.  Super delicious reheated too!  For 3 lb. roast


RUB     Note:  You can change the spices according to your tastes.  The important one is the fresh lemon juice.

1TBS lemon juice
1/2 tsp. ground cloves
2 TBS Dijon mustard
2 TBS pepper
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1 TBS  Oil or butter or ghee  with more for "foil package"

Mix together in a small bowl and rub evenly over your chuck roast.  Seal tightly in plastic and refrigerate it over night.  Next day, bring it to room temperature . Rub with butter,ghee or oil. Heat it on a grill set on low-medium, about 10-15 minutes or until both sides are brown and crusty.  Remove it from the grill, add more oil or butter to top and wrap tightly in 2 layers of heavy duty foil.  Place it back on the grill, turn off heat under the roast, close cover and cook with medium-low heat for about an hour.  Or you can use your oven or toaster oven for 45 minutes or so at 2275-300*.  If very thick, you might need more time.  Thinly slice the roast and serve with the horseradish sauce recipe which follows.  If you can, make this a day ahead of time, cool, slice, pour any juices from the foil packet back onto the meat and chill overnight.  Bring to room temp to eat or to reheat gently.


HORSERADISH SAUCE

8 oz. sour cream
1 tsp lemon juice
1 TBS Dijon mustard
2 tsp prepared horseradish


Mix until well combined.  Serve at room temp for hot meat or cold for cold meat.


I have served this for many years at brunches and buffets.  One of my favorite "go to " recipes.  People seem to like it and are astounded that a lowly chuck roast was used!


Also, this recipe has been adjusted to grass fed beef.  It seems that because of the low moisture content, lower cooking temperatures are needed as well as added moisture.  Please do an internet search on "how to cook grass fed beef" so you understand the adaptations needed.

[Jan in Key West]

The pastured beef/meat we buy is also frozen....but we prefer it that way. I believe that it's a matter of licensing, at least in our state.

[Jan in Key West]

Yes, Rita.....the 'pastured' verbiage was prominently highlighted on the menus....very encouraging!

[lyra]

Good to hear that other folks buy frozen too. Lately, I have been drifting around the local grocery stores in hunting mode. Today I found my favorite grass fed beef in the store. The delivery has been sporadic, so I was thrilled to find it in stock. It was freshly ground yesterday and packaged, so I splurged and bought four pounds. Now I have it frozen in my freezer! My shopping cart must have seemed strange, consisting of the four packages os beef, a quart of goat's milk yogurt, and a pint of red palm oil, after wandering the aisles for almost an hour. Hey, I was excited with my goodies!

[Barbara from New Jersey]

Too funny Lyra!


The fact that you have found all those items in one place is amazing to me.  Our local coop has some, but not all.  Ditto for Whole Foods.  I think that will be changing soon.  2 local supermarkets are now carrying pastured, grass fed ground beef and also buffalo, which is delicious.  Some grass fed, no hormone, antibiotic lamb from Australia too.  The trick is going to be to learn how to cook the beef since it is low fat and moisture.  Haven't seen any red palm oil yet, but that goats milk yogurt sounds good.  Please let us know how that tastes.

[lyra]

thanks, Barbara. this is the Hanover Coop in Hanover, New Hampshire. The beef is Hardwick Beef from Hardwick, Mass., the Fred's palm is from Nutiva, and tithe goat yogurt is from Redwood Hill, something Rita recommended. they have the buffalo meat there, but I haven't tried it. I guess I better!

[deanna in AR]

We had buffalo meat from Whole Foods last year. It was delish.

[Jan in Key West]

Stopped in at the local market yesterday "Faustos" and was surprised to see several more cuts of pastured, grass fed beef available.....they also have signs with 'country of origin' (USA). The head   butcher/meat man was gone but after I asked for detailed info on where the beef was raised, they said they would get that information for me. The cost was crazy though....$25.99 per pound for rib eye steaks! Yikes!

[Barbara from New Jersey]

Good morning Jan,


Hopefully, the price of grass fed will become more competitive as demand increases.  I'm seeing a much wider variety of foods that we would eat, so it is just a matter of time for it to happen in the beef market. 

Fish and seafood prices are very high too.  Farmed is less expensive, at $5-8 per pound (swai aka catfish and talipia) but certainly not inexpensive. Hardly any wild caught fish is available.  Scallops is a favorite, but at $22 per pound, it is a special treat now.

Government subsidies and big ag have kept food costs artificially low for years.  This is coming back to haunt us now. 
As we adjust our menu's to reflect our budget and health goals, we will be eating the way they do around most of the world. New insight about why the food pyramids keep recommending cheap grains!!!!! 

[Linda R]

Good morning Jan,


Hopefully, the price of grass fed will become more competitive as demand increases.  I'm seeing a much wider variety of foods that we would eat, so it is just a matter of time for it to happen in the beef market. 


Fish and seafood prices are every high too.  Farmed isless expensive, at $5-8 per pound (swai aka catfish and talipia) but certainly not inexpensive. Hardly any wild caught fish is available.  Scallops is a favorite, but at $22 per pound, it is a special treat now.

Government subsidies and big ag have kept food costs artificially low for years.  This is coming back to haunt us now. 
As we adjust our menu's to reflect our budget and health goals, we will be eating the way they do around most of the world. New insight about why the food pyramids keep recommending cheap grains!!!!! 

I feel your pain!
I am not a steak eater but I do love briskets and rump roasts slowly cooked in my Crockpot and every time I see one at my local Hy-Vee, I argue with myself about buying one. The price is way up there compared to the grain fed beef on the other side of the store, but when I read another article regarding the benefits of grass fed, I just refuse to buy the cheaper cuts.
I do believe that eventually the prices will level off. So I pick up a pound of grass fed ground beef for $5.99 a pound instead. Hey, meatloaf is awesome too!

[deanna in AR]

Does anyone buy grass fed beef, chicken, pork from Tendergrass Farms? If so, what is your experience? If not, do you have another favorite where you consider prices to be good? It has to be someone who ships. Thanks.


http://www.grassfedbeef.org/Pastured-Pork-Grass-Fed-Franks

[Jan in Key West]

Deanna,
We've had good luck ordering from USWellness meats in the past but it seems like the past few months they have had several items that were 'temporarily out of stock'. A friend down here told me about another good source that she uses and they ship from Florida but she hasn't emailed me the site yet.....will forward.

[deanna in AR]

Thx Jan. I put together an order for Tendergrass Farms: ground beef, stew meat, chicken drums and breasts, pork breakfast sausage and pork franks...several pounds of some, less of others...it averaged out to about $10 a pound. Don't know if this is good in comparison w/ others or not? Haven't sent order in yet.

[aspexil]

Here is one of the best and clearest explanations I have seen as to why grass fed is SO much better for us. I wish that some of the farmers in my state [Iowa] would allow this part of the world to return to it's original grassland condition and get the cattle back out there instead of planting that damn corn and soy, fence line to fence line. 


http://flawsforgiven.blogspot.com/2013/08/grass-fed-beef-101.html

The problem is we have several factions at work.  First is the Big Government subsidies to Big Ag farmers.  We pay them to grow wheat, corn & soybeans.  Now that we have all this crop we have to consume it.  So the Big Government USDA tells us to eat heart healthy whole grains and the ranchers use the unused corn as feed for cattle. 

Then Big Food uses wheat and grains to create heart healthy cereals, breads, etc.  That the then bombard us with commericals on tv to eat heart healthy processed foods.  And we know wheat is an appetite stimulant for a large portion of the population (just look at what obese people have in their shopping carts).  Hey, I used to buy the same crap myself before I went wheat free. 

Then Big Pharma will help us with our bad blood work from the wheat consumption with their expensive drugs. 

That, folks, is the circle of life.

[Linda R]

I am not currently purchasing my meat from this farm, I have decided to sign up with the Iowa Food Coop, but this article is very heartwarming and hopeful to me. Hoping more and more farmers decide to change their way of operating as well.


http://www.press-citizen.com/article/20131016/NEWS01/310160024/Back-to-the-land?Frontpage

[Barbara from New Jersey]

YES!!!  I was happy reading this article!  This is grassfed meat is growing by leaps and bounds!  Thanks for posting.  Too bad I live so far away.  There are poultry farms around here and their wonderful eggs are quickly sold out.  I hope to find a farm for grassfed beef nearby.  Thank you for posting this.

[Jan in Key West]

Studies are finally emerging....


http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/16500874/

[Barbara from New Jersey]

Wow!  We are certainly seeing more and more "proof" about the importance of eating properly raised animals.  The tasteless, feedlot meats are less expensive to purchase now, but when you consider the nutritional cost to our body, and distasteful farming practice and the horrid cost to our environment, it is incredibly expensive.

Note that the PubMed study was written up in 2006….7 or 8 years ago!  Lots of time for the big ag producers to spruce up their advertising campaigns….and make sure our government employees are kept informed of their way of thinking.  After all, who will buy the inedible corn if not farmers paid by the government to grow it and sell it to the meat producers?  An entire layer of bureaucracy, from state to federal and all the assorted contractors would be jobless.

On a positive note,  I am seeing more grass-fed meats and poultry available.  Just saw grassfed cultured buttermilk in the grocery store and low temperature pasteurized, not homogenated organic milk.  Now that national sports players are starting to eat the way we do will only help get more nutritious foods on the shelves.

[Jan in Key West]

Yes, I thought it was interesting that even the short-term-grain fed meat was compromised.....many small farmers (at least in Indiana) pasture raise, then grain/corn feed the last few months to fatten (grain finished). They charge more per pound to grass finish.

[Linda R]

"Why Grassfed Is Best"


http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_28873.cfm

[TaylorSpruill]

Grass fed beef is more healthy

[Linda R]

And here we go again..........................




http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2014/05/19/313973807/e-coli-fears-spark-recall-of-1-8-million-pounds-of-beef?utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=health&utm_medium=social&utm_term=nprnews

[BarbinNC]

I have been buying grass fed organic steaks at Trader Joe's, they are frozen and come from New Zealand.  Definitely not as tender and fatty as corn fed, but getting used to it.  We put lots of butter on top.  I like the Smart organic chicken we get at the supermarket, really taste so much "cleaner" and better.  I can't even eat "regular" chicken any more, the smell alone makes me gag.  Pork, same thing .. like I mentioned, Publix, which is a fairly new supermarket here in the Carolinas, has this fresh pork, that smells really good and tastes like it does in Germany.  German food laws are very strict, at least they have been so far, and their meat is still relatively unadulterated.  But who knows how long that will last … they also don't allow GMO, so of course we grow that for export here in the US, did you know that?  Unbelievable ….

[ldyrdr4311]

Besides corn being used for feed for animals, do you know that breweries sell off their spent grains as food for animals also? This stuff raises the standards for added proteins in feed for animals, which, to me is the same as adding wheat. So, this feed that they're eating contains corn (GMO stuff), soy, & wheat. What's a person supposed to do besides go vegetarian or vegan?

I sure hope that the grass fed beef becomes more widely available. It isn't easy to find locally most of the time.

Someone posted an address link (sorry, I don't remember who it was, so cannot give proper credit to that person) for finding humanely raised meats in your area. This includes grass fed animals and nitrite free pork products. Read the site carefully, as there is a lot of information here, including where to find meats in smaller quantities, and stores that sell these products. For those of you that missed this posting the first time around, here are 2 addresses. The first one was posted on the forum.

http://www.eatwild.com/index.html   and:

http://www.eatwild.com/products/index.html

Ldyrdr4311 on 6/10/14

[Linda R]

A delightful short video explaining what cows really want to eat and how they should be fed.

[deanna in AR]

Informative and, yes, it made me smile...

[Randal]

Nice video. It's always entertaining watching someone passionate about their work talk about their work.