[quote]rainjack wrote:
rainjack wrote:
Grass fed beef is a new marketing angle. I would not expect a butcher worth his salt - a real butcher - to have knowledge of such inferior meat.
safety. [/quote]
I am definitely interested in this topic but after reading this thread I am a little confused.
rainjack, you say grass fed is inferior? I thought grass fed has a better omega 3:6 ratio for starters and is better than grain fed. I am not stating a fact but trying to understand.
Are you saying it is inferior because it doesn’t taste as good?
So, if I want to get grass fed beef what would be the best process to do so. I’ve noticed a few online companies that will ship it and they say it is 100% grass fed. The price is about what I pay locally for angus.
I like to eat steak on a regular basis and I would like to get the most nutritious meat I can.
[quote]BillO21 wrote:
I am definitely interested in this topic but after reading this thread I am a little confused.
rainjack, you say grass fed is inferior? I thought grass fed has a better omega 3:6 ratio for starters and is better than grain fed. I am not stating a fact but trying to understand.
Are you saying it is inferior because it doesn’t taste as good?[/quote]
Yes. Inferior taste. Fat is what gives the meat its flavor. Marbling (the little flakes of fat in the meat) is critical to flavor. Grass fed does not marble nearly as well as grain fed. Therefore, the taste is inferior.
That is the $64K question. If the price of online “grass fed beef” is the same as grocery store angus, something doesn’t smell right.
[quote]I like to eat steak on a regular basis and I would like to get the most nutritious meat I can.
suggestions?[/quote].
Until there are some standards in place that will give the consumer a guideline as to the meaning of grass fed beef, it is a crap shoot as to what you will get. The most sure fire way is to buy a calf and feed it out yourself, but that is rarely feasible to the average suburbanite.
Despite the fear mongering of how horrible grain-fed beef is, it is still a fine source of nutrition. Besides - when you have that rib-eye sitting front of you with the blood still oozing out of it, who gives a shit - you are eating steak.
Seriously - I think the demand is there, but there is not an efficient way to meet the demand at this time. Regardless of what has been said here, the family farmer is rarely, if ever, capable of running a retail operation on top of his other responsibilities.
[quote]swordthrower wrote:
Okay, but that’s not really sustainable, since it relies so heavily on outside energy sources. Sustainable means that every year the land gets better, the organic matter in the soil increases and therefore the stocking density can increase, the water that flows into the farm leaves cleaner that it was, etc. The system we have now is the opposite.[/quote]
That’s a lovely idea you have of agricultural nirvana, but you left out the most critical, and unpredictable resource on the face of the planet: water.
Now go back and rethink this, figuring that there are droughts every 5 years at a minimum from the midwest on west.
Where is this e coli bs coming from? The last reported case I can remember was over a year ago, and it was from contaminated spinach grown on a - get this - organic farm.
You overlook cyclical rainfall amounts. The midwest is not truning into a dust bowl. If it is, that is the wettest damn dustbowl I have ever seen.
This makes no sense at all. If there is rain, There is grass. If there is grass, there are cows. The cows eat grain grown by a farmer somewhere. The cow gets killed. No global impact. No need to save my steak for the sake of the children.
Your vision of the family farm died decades ago. I personally do over 200 Farmers tax returns. Of those - 6 are “corporate farms”. The individual has figured out how to become more efficient with the inputs he has, and can grow much more than his grandfather who plowed the back 40 with his trusty mule, Dixie.
Your arguments about inputs and such would be better placed in a rant against modern farming practices - which are, by far, the most efficient in the history of mankind.
Everyone benefits from government farm payments, so don’t use that as an argument.
You are wrong. Cattle consume only a fraction of the grain stuffs that are grown and sold in the US. We export far more grain that cattle consume.
This is the site I was looking at. They have an analysis of the fatty acid profile and their information looks good. I am not saying it is good because of this but it looks promising.
thoughts?
rainjack, I definitely understand the price of 100% grass fed free range beef is not that profitable for the farmer. I know an old family of farmers that tried it and the steaks were great. They ended up stopping the practice because they didn’t make a profit off of it.
I would like to at least get the best possible steak out of this thread I can.
Yes even when dieting I eat steak! I am doing a keto diet and it’s like my cheat to eat a nice steak.
I don’t understand why people are so worried about E Coli. It is in all of our digestive tracts. The problem arises with a certain strain E. Coli O:157 H7 is the most common.
I am not sure but doesn’t the problem arise when bad slaughtering practices are employed. I would think it has NOTHING to do with what they were fed or how they were treated.
[quote]jehovasfitness wrote:
you’re not going to be able to tell a difference in taste.
question though, does vegetarian diet mean it’s grass-fed? after all, the grain crap they feed them isn’t meat, so it sounds like a marketing loophole[/quote]
[quote]BillO21 wrote:
I don’t understand why people are so worried about E Coli. It is in all of our digestive tracts. The problem arises with a certain strain E. Coli O:157 H7 is the most common.
I am not sure but doesn’t the problem arise when bad slaughtering practices are employed. I would think it has NOTHING to do with what they were fed or how they were treated.[/quote]
E-coli is related to the corn-fed diet. Feeding corn to cattle causes their stomach to become highly acidic. Once that happens a new breed of ecoli evolved, which could withstand the stomach acid in humans. That’s why if you ingest E. coli 0157:H7 you’re screwed and will get sick. A cattle fed grass has a much lower stomach acid level than corn fed and that strand of e.coli can’t evolve from a grass fed cattle.
I did try the “naturally-raised” sirloin. It did have a bit of a gamey aftertaste and fairly lean. I do think conventional ones have better taste, but I imagine the one I ate was a bit healthier.
[quote]Digity wrote:
E-coli is related to the corn-fed diet. Feeding corn to cattle causes their stomach to become highly acidic. Once that happens a new breed of ecoli evolved, which could withstand the stomach acid in humans. That’s why if you ingest E. coli 0157:H7 you’re screwed and will get sick. A cattle fed grass has a much lower stomach acid level than corn fed and that strand of e.coli can’t evolve from a grass fed cattle.
[/quote]
This is a moot point, and one that makes great propaganda. If you store, and cook your meat properly, there is no danger of getting an infection. It occurs almost exclusively in restaurants.
[quote]rainjack wrote:
Digity wrote:
E-coli is related to the corn-fed diet. Feeding corn to cattle causes their stomach to become highly acidic. Once that happens a new breed of ecoli evolved, which could withstand the stomach acid in humans. That’s why if you ingest E. coli 0157:H7 you’re screwed and will get sick. A cattle fed grass has a much lower stomach acid level than corn fed and that strand of e.coli can’t evolve from a grass fed cattle.
This is a moot point, and one that makes great propaganda. If you store, and cook your meat properly, there is no danger of getting an infection. It occurs almost exclusively in restaurants. [/quote]
You sure like to use the word propaganda. He asked about e-coli and I told him. A corn-based diet gives cows acidosis, which causes heartburn and in some cases can kill the animal, but usually just makes them sick.
With time the acid builds and eats through the rumen wall allowing bacteria to enter into the bloodstream. This leads to an infection of the liver. This corn-based diet causes these animals a great deal of discomfort…but I guess you think that’s a moot point too.
That’s why cattle are given so much antibiotics…to counter the effects of the diet, which lead to a lot of infections. If you think that’s more propaganda then go research it yourself.
[quote]Digity wrote:
You sure like to use the word propaganda. He asked about e-coli and I told him. A corn-based diet gives cows acidosis, which causes heartburn and in some cases can kill the animal, but usually just makes them sick.[/quote]
And that has what to do with the safety of our food?
Acidosis is very easliy remedied with Rumensin and Tylosin.
You have your vet medicine wrong. If it eats through the rumen wall, it infects the peritoneum. Very, very few cattle die in the feedlot of acidosis - less than 1/10th of 1%. Bloat kills more cattle than acidosis.
[quote]That’s why cattle are given so much antibiotics…to counter the effects of the diet, which lead to a lot of infections. If you think that’s more propaganda then go research it yourself.
[/quote]
You have it wrong again. Where are you getting your information? Simple feed additives help prevent acidosis. Anti-biotics are given, in my experience, well over 99% of the time for respiratory infections in new cattle due to the long trip in the truck to the feed lot. Very rarely is an older animal sick.
Please cite your sources. I don’t need to research it because I have been in the business fo years.
And yes. Passing on inaccurate information in an attempt to scare the intended audience is propaganda.
E-coli is related to the corn-fed diet. Feeding corn to cattle causes their stomach to become highly acidic. Once that happens a new breed of ecoli evolved, which could withstand the stomach acid in humans. That’s why if you ingest E. coli 0157:H7 you’re screwed and will get sick. A cattle fed grass has a much lower stomach acid level than corn fed and that strand of e.coli can’t evolve from a grass fed cattle.
I did try the “naturally-raised” sirloin. It did have a bit of a gamey aftertaste and fairly lean. I do think conventional ones have better taste, but I imagine the one I ate was a bit healthier.[/quote]
Where is the study showing E. Coli O157 H7 evolved because of an acidic condition in a cows somach?
I like a good dibate and I know I can be worng BUT, that is just amusing.