Grass vs Grain

Just listening to the CBC, talking with a large farm operation about 40 minutes from here. Farmer going on about his grass fed beef being a healthier product. HOLD THE PHONE! I am all for being informed, but that was a blanket statement that, in my opinion, conveys great misinformation to the unknowing public.

First, who gets to be the judge and jury on what determines 'healthier'? That is a debateable topic on which no one has the definitive answer. Second, who or what is healthier? Is the cow healthier? Are people healthier if they eat this cow? Is he saying that grain fed cattle are sickly? It was, to my way of thinking, an irresponsible statement.

We all like to promote our way of life and our choices. But fadism (and yes, the farming industry is as much a victim as the fashion industry) is not about transparency, but about justifying ones choices. Convincing the public you are right is not the same thing as informing the public about differing views. I smelled a whole lot of convincing going on in this interview.

I think it would have been fair, honest and informative for him to say "WE CHOOSE to grass feed our beef as WE PREFER the leaner carcass you get from a grass fed animal." That statement, to me, conveys information and makes it clear that farming is open to many different interpretations and styles.

I know many people on this site grass feed their beef. That's how my daddy did it to. UP TO A POINT. It was raised on pasture, but finished on grain. And that is what I want on my plate when I eat a prime rib and if it says 'grass finished' I pass it by. That is my preference. I like my beef with some white marbled fat. But the radio interviewer did not suss out for the listener that there is more than one way to raise and finsih a beef. That this fellow has chosen one way, while the guy down the road might have chosen another that is just as valid and his cattle are just as healthy. It was pretty bold and I say dishonest to claim his cattle are healthier than grain finished. There are too many variables from farm to farm to make that a statement that can stand on its own.

I had a problem with another CBC interview about a chef who only buys his beef from Joe Blow because he knows how the animal is raised, how it is cared for and what it is fed. To me the interview left out the most important part HOW IT IS SLAUGHTERED! That you can ruin a fine beef by shipping it 400 miles and running it through a slaughterhouse in a state of stressed panic. That killing methods have been made far less humane when the CFIA stuck their fat face in and made it illegal to kill on site. What's good for employing bureaucrats is BAD for animal welfare. (yes, I DID contact the CBC and they did a follow up story about slaughter)

So...while I am 100% for the small family farm, I am not for dividing the flock where the grass feeders march around saying they are healthier than the grain finishers. They are DIFFERENT, but no one can claim to be better. There are valid reason for each farmer to chose his own way, but the consumer needs to know the reasons for both ways and not be told, falsely, that one is better, because to my way of thinking, it just ain't so.

Well said, Uno. I couldn't agree more.
It drives me crazy when people use misleading statements like that to promote their own farming practices, or make claims that their methods produce better/healthier/tastier results.
According to what data?
It would have been interesting to hear the response if the interviewer has asked that question during the interview.

Well Uno you sure strike some good points here. I really hope and encourage you to send this letter, as is, to the producer of the show that you were listening to. It's filled with valid points that many listeners probably agree with but could never articulate as well as you do.

I wish I could not touch this... but I cant.

I AM one of the people that finishes beef on grass. I do not know where you get the idea that there is no marbeling on a grass steer. I am going to geuss that you have never had a true grass finished animal. I should EXpresspost you some of our heifer from last year. 100% fat on grass. More marbeling than any $25 steak you can buy from anywhere else

The statement that grass raised is healthier, I have no idea. I CAN say that cows are not designed to chew on nothing but grain. Cattle in feedlots are fed a mix of grains and silage, which is also almost all grain. They are kept in small areas and fed grain which their bodies are not designed to eat. The animal in itself is less healthy than an animal that can roam and graze good fresh grass. The statement of what meat is healthier, who knows. but the animal definatley is healthier.

To me.... a steer that is fattened up in a corral or feedlot on grain etc is no different than a young teenage kid that eats McDonalds 3 times a day, and and plays video games all day long. The kid doesnt excersize, neither does the steer. They both eat fattening food and pack on weight. Now, in a human, that is considered very unhealthy. But why is it so sought after in a steer?

The animals themselves are healthier if raised/finished on grass. I am NOT making any claims as to which MEAT is healthier... that is to each their own. I have my opinion, but others have their own.

Wondering if the statement meant feed corn, that seems to be one of the main arguements
we are hearing about.

DoubleSS, you bring up exactly what I was getting at! There is home raised grass fed, home raised grass fed and grain finished, then there are feedlot animals which is something else altogether. HOw can those differing products possibly be compared? Then to further muddy the water add the different breeds of cattle, some that do well on grass, others that do not do so well. How is an uninformed public going to make informed choices when Joe Farmer is saying "my way is the best way". Joe Farmer ought to know better! HIs way is just his way, nothing more.

However, I do not think a fat cow is unhealthy. I think a grossly obese cow is unhealthy, but I have never seen any of those. I find it far more alarming to see skinny livestock, which to me signals a health problem with the animal. The inability to put on and maintain generous, animal appropriate weight is an alarm bell. Bring out the wormer, bring out the supplements, call the vet for blood work.

The MacDonalds fed, Nintendo playing couch potato is not living a healthy lifestyle, from a longevity point of view. However, when it comes to who I'd rather eat the fat slow kid or the fast, toned athlete...the slow fat ones are easier to catch!

Least we forget these large feed lots were started to feed the mass's and also increase the profit line of the first farmers who devised this method .Grass feed , pasture feed ? whatever the means it's the steriods that are missing in the cattle and that is what's important .No growth hormones , just natural growth the way nature intended it to be ! We always had our butcher steer on the farm and it feed on grass's all summer long till about two months before butcher and then into a correl it went to ""Fatten""it up .....which meant grains and bales .Free range is decieveing , on a chicken farm ( production ) they can be called that even though they will never see green grass ! just that they aren't confined to a cage .Piglets are taken away from ther mothers at day seven I believe and given a steriod diet that at three months old it is the same size as a naturally grown pig ? but about half a year earlier ??, and the sows are old after two to three years ?? Young calves have steriods injected ,plus the feed has growth hormones ?? all justified so that they can feed the mass's ! and they wonder why there are more health issues ?Grass feed . organic , is the way to go ! all of you who are doing this I can only hope that you are teaching the next generation this as well.That way they will always have us to deal with !!

I don`t think I will get to deep into this debate because I think people believe what they believe whether the information is correct or not.
What I will say is that I prefer grain finished beef! There is so much grass fed stuff in Australia and on a whole (being very general here) it is tougher and I hate the yellow fat! It has a very peculiar taste to me. I loved so much to come back to Canada and have the beautiful, grain finished beef back on my plate. The beef here is very consistant the way it is finished I find. I hate a tough, prime cut steak!

I grew up eating grass fed beef that was brought in several weeks before slaughter and finished on grain (chop?). They LOVED it. And they died with their face in a bucket of it, they never even saw the gun that killed them. No trucking over vast miles, just a happy cow (steer) with a mouthful of cow goodies. On the plate, superb!

The great thing is that the buying public can now choose from an array of different meats. Traditional breeds finished the traditional way by independent family farms OR mass raised, mass slaughtered feedlot beef OR newer breeds (to this country anyway) being raised in whole new ways. There is a market for all of these and no one farmer should make the claim that his way is the healthiest way, which was my original 'beef' right from the start. I am interested in every farming practice that people on this site pursue, for whatever reasons they are complelled by. But if you wanted to learn something about the differences in beef raising philosophy, you sure didn't get it on the CBC this morning. You got ONE side of the story. One choice. Bad reporting.