The Beautiful Truth About Grass Fed Beef
Did you know when you eat grain fed beef you're probably eating an animal with heart disease, diabetes or even cancer?
Seriously, a carbohydrate laden diet isn't only bad for you . . . It's bad for herbivores, too.
| Healthy Animals Yield Healthy Food Sources
From the beginning, fifth generation farmer John Wood believed that there was a better way to raise cattle. The way his ancestors raised cattle was far superior to how commercial outfitters were raising them. In the old days, cattle grazed in pasture until the last four months before slaughter, then they were put in confinement and fed grain to fatten them up. This produced a healthier animal, which meant a healthier and more nutritious food product in the end. So here's what John did: Higher in omega-3s and CLAs, U.S. Wellness Meats are recognized for their exceptional, taste, quality and health benefits by chefs, health experts and professional athletes around the world. |
Science has proven herbivores that forage on open pastures provide significant health benefits that grain fed animals can't provide. Animals with the split hoof that chew their cud are even blessed for human consumption in the bible. Grazing animals are gifted with a unique digestive system, which allows them to breakdown grasses and absorb the valuable vitamins, minerals and cofactors.
Another name for these animals is ruminant. Ruminants digest grasses by initially softening it within their first stomach, and then they regurgitate the digested grass, called cud, which they chew again. That gives a whole different meaning to “seconds,” doesn't it?
Ruminant comes from the term “ruminating,” which is what the cud chewing process is calle
d. This includes cattle, goats, sheep, giraffes, bison, yaks, water buffalo, deer, alpacas, wildebeest, antelope, pronghorn and nilgai, to name a few.
Humans can't digest these grasses and roughage because we only have one stomach. A cow has a 45 gallon capacity fermentation tank called a rumen where digestive bacteria convert cellulose fibers down into protein and fats.
Bottom line is grass fed beef from free range cattle are much healthier and provide a better food source for us. However, cows that are fed grain become very unhealthy and their meat quality and nutritional content reflect this fact.
Truth is the culinary and nutritional differences between a grain fed cow and a grass fed grazing cow is like night and day.
Traditionally, cows were free grazing animals until the commercialization of the beef industry. That's when they started using grain to fatten them up in the feedlot just before selling them. Imagine if you stuffed yourself with grains for several weeks. You'd bloat up, too. Problem is cows can't manage grains well. They create extra sugars causing severe bloating and a highly acidic environment inside their complex digestive system.
Cows can quickly die from being corn fed because the starchy sugars lack roughage, which ultimately shuts down their rumen, trapping enough gas to stop their lungs from being able to breath, literally suffocating the animal.
Cows that eat the most grain have the most health problems and need the most antibiotics or other medications. All these drugs and hormones can be passed up the food chain to you.
Because grain fed cows fatten so fast, they can hit the slaughter house floor in about 14 – 16 months at 1800 pounds. In the old days, it took 4 or 5 years.
The problem is corn turns their rumen's pH acidic instead of neutral. The result is a cow with heartburn and acid indigestion. The symptoms aren't pretty: they stop eating, pant, drool and sometimes they actually die from it. The poor animal's immune system can shut down completely, leading to liver disease, ulcers and what they call feedlot polio. On the other hand, grass fed beef from cows make wholesome and healthy beef products.
Our animals eat right so you can too.
Here's 7 more healthy sustainable products to help you live well:
1. Grassland Veal
2. Grassland Lamb
3. Free-Range Poultry
4. Grassland Bison
5. Gourmet Rabbit
6. Sustainable Wildcaught Seafood
7. Raw Organic Ice Cream
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