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Apr
29
Written by:
Kelsey Blackwell
4/29/2010 4:03 PM
A few years ago, if you asked someone the difference between grass and corn-fed cattle you’d likely get a shrug. Today, as the public plugs in to where their food comes from and how it’s raised, grass-fed cattle has become the option for ensuring a more sustainable, healthy cut of beef. The trouble is, there’s not enough of it. To meet increased consumer demand, Panorama Meats, the nation’s largest producer of U.S. Department of Agriculture certified beef and 100-percent grass-fed and finished beef issued a release this week trying to enlist new ranchers to its program. Does anyone else find this strange?
Why, if grass-fed is better for the environment, produces healthier meat and yields higher profits, aren’t more ranchers getting on board? The answer is logistics. In order to avoid cross-contamination with corn-fed animals, producers must find slaughterhouses that will accept and process just a few animals at a time—already we have a slaughterhouse shortage. If cattle don’t have access to feed year-round (which is hard when grass is seasonal) ranchers must sell all the beef from their cattle in one season. Additionally, ranchers must adopt sustainable, humane practices and work in concert with nature—which let’s face it, is a completely different mindset then shoving animals into CAFOs and injecting them with hormones.
So what are we to do? Should retailers encourage the production of more grass-fed beef by offering such options preferred store placement--maybe even making the move to only carrying grass-fed? Will this only exacerbate the shortage? Should we as consumers severely limit our beef intake only indulging infrequently on high-quality options? Will this further hurt ranchers? Maybe cattle shares are the best option? I suspect a multi-pronged approach is needed, and soon. What do you think?
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12 comment(s) so far...
Re: Where are all the grass-fed cattle?
The best way to make grass-fed cattle more available would be to convince McDonald's to start offering it. That sounds like a sarcastic response, but it's not. If we want grass-fed cattle to be the standard, then it's going to take efforts on both sides of the supply chain -- retailers and consumers -- to raise expectations.
By Jeff Weidauer on
5/1/2010 8:23 AM
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Re: Where are all the grass-fed cattle?
The problem is that we are farmers and not sales people. Grass-fed beef producers are across each state. My best advise is for people to find a Slow Food in your areas (Slow Food stands for good, clean, fair food).
By Trish Strawn on
5/3/2010 6:05 AM
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Re: Where are all the grass-fed cattle?
What do 100% grass-fed cows eat in the winter when no grass grows?
By Johan M. Bergfjord on
5/5/2010 10:52 AM
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Re: Where are all the grass-fed cattle?
Thanks for all the great comments! As to your question about what grass-fed cows eat in the winter, that can be a challenge for some ranchers. During colder months when grass is scarce, cows may be crop-fed on hay and grasses that are brought in. In some areas, winter wheat and rye grasses can be enough to sustain a herd.
By Kelsey Blackwell on
5/5/2010 11:03 AM
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Re: Where are all the grass-fed cattle?
Yes, we should all limit our beef consumption, for many reasons. I get tired of protecting the industries that are doing the wrong thing. Inhumane treatment of animals is never right, and the ranchers who are doing this need to switch over, or be forced to.
By Cindi Trautmann on
5/5/2010 11:10 AM
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Re: Where are all the grass-fed cattle?
Not only should we have grass fed beef, but dairy from grass fed cows, it makes a BIG difference.
By Maggie Mahboubian on
5/5/2010 11:16 AM
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Re: Where are all the grass-fed cattle?
in my freezer lies the remains of a split side of organic and grass fed beef. my friend and i split a side every spring.
By josef rosenfeld on
5/5/2010 12:23 PM
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Re: Where are all the grass-fed cattle?
My sons and I raise and sell a few grass-fed steers every year. What I find is still a general ignorance among many consumers concerning what they are getting if they don't buy grass-fed. It seems the factory farms, the ag schools and the slaughter industry still highly promote the conventional feed-lot method of farming.
Synthetic Hormonal treatments, Antibiotic appetite stimulants, Animal fats with BHA/BHT, broiler manure and chemical fertilizer (urea) were never intended to be part of a steers diet.
There is a huge difference between using the above mentioned ingredients and offering a little natural grain ration beside grass as some natural farmers do.
By Rick Hess on
5/5/2010 1:03 PM
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Re: Where are all the grass-fed cattle?
This is a MOOOOving topic, what's wonderful is that consumers are waking up and producers are paying some attention. The GOMT will have to be swept along with the momentum, since it is coin operated.
By Mark Burcaw, D.C. on
5/5/2010 2:43 PM
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Re: Where are all the grass-fed cattle?
We have fourteen thousand pounds of USDA inspected grass fed beef in the freezer ready to sell if anybody is interested. Look at our web site www.alaskameat.com
Thanks,
Bob
By Bob Mudd on
5/5/2010 7:11 PM
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Re: Where are all the grass-fed cattle?
I find this story strange as I have been busy selling grass fed beef to key national retailers and demand seems average for this time of year, however our product is organic, but it comes from USA.
I have 10,000lbs of organic grass fed black angus available now. If you know of any buyers please contact me at: john@eliteintlprod.com or www.eliteintlprod.com
By John Molinaro on
5/6/2010 10:54 AM
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Re: Where are all the grass-fed cattle?
I live in the Los Angeles area and ever since the Time magazine story of early this year (bit.ly/8cNnzg) there has been a huge uptick in the request for grass-fed beef. The one supplier at the Burbank Farmer's Market, after the Time article, sold out everything he had. He won't return until he has more to sell in June. He is selling out whole cows at this point instead of individual cuts, and I suspect will sell out everything in two months this year, instead of 12. Since he comes directly to the market and doesn't charge you shipping on top of the price of the beef, it is more cost effective that ordering over the Internet where the shipping (due to keeping the meat cold) is very expensive. Unfortunately, not many stores down here carry grass fed -- which I hope changes.
But, the issue is two prong: 1) if you eat beef, then yes they should be grass fed and humanely treated but 2) you should also be eating less beef.
I'm doubtful that are are enough grasslands to sustain free roaming cows, as they were intended to be for their health, for all the hamburgers that are sold across the world every day. So the greater problem is culture, in my opinion. We have westernized so much of the world into eating so much beef, that the only way to change this unhealthy and unsustainable appetite for red meat would be to cause a shortage of cheap beef and a massive campaign of semi-vegetarianism (without GMO soybeans).
By Terra wellington on
5/10/2010 8:55 AM
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