Midnight Sun Herbal Health
A Complementary and Alternative Health Practice
GRASS FED IS GOOD
And how to sort out the terms natural – organic – free range
I have bought grass fed meat for my own table since I was able to find it some years ago. It was what I got when I was growing up and during the many years since I have been increasingly concerned with what goes into the raising and finishing of commercial meat. It was therefore a relief to fin I could grass fed and finished meats from a local farmer at my own local farmer’s market.
Grass fed is one thing, but there is another question that may be of concern which is how the livestock is finished. Grass finished or grain finished. It may be a question you want to ask of the seller before you buy. If the cattle is also grass finished it means better and healthier nutrition and far less risk to your body. This give you meat that is far higher in nutritional value than grain fed meat; higher in Vitamin A, E, Omega 3 (CLA-conjugated linoleic acid) and other nutrient and far less risk from things like Mad Cow Disease or E-coli infection and other health risks. The much higher nutritional value is directly due to the diet of healthy grass, a normal diet of cows and other grazing animals. If cattle are grass fed, but grain finished, they are by need sent to feed lots to be fattened before slaughter. It is not a picture that is pretty by any standards. So let us look a little behind the curtain, though it is but a small glimpse.
A farmer that raises grass fed and finished livestock has to know exactly what the animals will be feeding on in his pastures. He/she needs to be sure his pastures are growing a variety of high quality grasses, as well as a variety of legumes, such as clover and alfalfa. He/she also needs to know when to move the livestock to a new pasture, so the pasture just used can recover. This provides Whole Healthy foods for the animals. Even pigs should be able to root in the soil and the chickens should be able to run around and pick at this and that. If you think a cow studies the grass it feeds on to avoid insects and larvae and such, you are out of luck, they just scoop up the grass with their big tongues, make a little yank and chew happily away on whatever comes with it. So thus they get a very, very small amount of animal protein. The cattle has to have access to fresh clean water and appropriate salt and mineral licks. This goes into having healthy happy animals. When the livestock subsequently are taken to the abattoir, some farmers may stay throughout the whole process to make sure it is done right; he/she may bring along livestock not marked for slaughter to keep the herd calm or practice human field slaughter himself to keep the stress as low as at all possible.
Cows, goats and sheep are ruminants, which means they have the ability to eat a variety of grasses and legumes that we would not be able to digest and winnow out the nutrients needed to grow and thrive. They have 4 stomachs, so they can chew and re-chew their food, making the food mass bio-available, absorbable; the proteins, vitamins, minerals, sugars (glucose) and omega fatty acids, etc. in the plants. Plants that grow in sunshine are rich in omega fatty acids which are then absorbed into the animal’s bodies. When we subsequently eat that meat and organ meat we will get the benefit of these nutrients. Eggs from pasture raised chickens for example are also far higher in vitamin D than the commercial eggs.
Grain fed livestock is raised quite a bit differently. Mostly the animals are kept in big lots, closely packed together and are fed some hay with an addition of non organic corn, soy and other feed called by-product feed stuff. The pens are often not very clean. To prevent the cows from getting ill, the farmer uses antibiotics, also as a prophylactic. The animals are generally stressed from the environment and from the feed which is not natural to them. Because the feed is high in calories, think of you eating only grains, the meat highly marbled, the cattle fatter looking. Additionally the animals are given hormones to further increase growth as well as other chemicals. The feed they get is not necessarily sanitary. The grain which has been commercially raised is kept in large barns, or storage containers, such as box cars and has been chemically treated. The storage areas are often full of rodents and what rodents bring; the feed can get wet, may ferment, rot and grow mold. The cattle are usually sent to large slaughtering factories, which causes high stress and even higher levels of adrenalin in the carcass. It has little humanity. The nutritional value of the resulting meat is across the board lower than in grass fed livestock.
Hormone free meat comes from animals that have not been given hormones to increase growth rate. It does not necessarily mean organic or grass fed unless it is labeled as such.
Organic also has many meanings. It does not necessarily mean grass fed, it could equally well mean grain fed, with organic grain. Ask questions.
Natural also is a loaded name. Hay is natural, does not mean organic necessarily. Grain is natural, many other things are natural. The cattle may have been raised on pasture and been grain finished, that can also be called natural.
Free range just means not in a cage or pen. It is not synonymous to having been pastured. Free range chickens usually refers to chickens that run tightly packed in a large barn. It is better than a cage, but still they are packed into a space. It does not mean pastured. Farmers who pasture their chickens will advertize that.
To protect yourself, ask questions. You have the right to do that.
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