5 Reasons to Add Grass-fed Beef to Your Grocery List

I come from a long line of Farmers.I have raised a family as
"Green" as i could.I have tried to be a true "Steward" of our
land,and our animals.Our animals are part of our family,and are
treated with love and compasion,but they have a purpose here just
as we do. They produce food for us and we thank them by treating
them well.But that is there purpose in this life.I have heard from
Vegitarians that these animals should be left to live out there
lives free and not killed for food.As dreamy as that may sound it
is not practical. Most farm animals could not survive in the wild
or on there own. They would all die a slow death,with no
purpose.

I respect those who choose a vegetarian lifestyle. However,
thousands of acres of mono culture soy and corn farming, even
organic, is much less earth friendly than thousands of acres of
pasture-land. We are all responsible for the loss of animal life
whether through habitat loss for cash-crop farming or our
ever-expanding neighborhoods or directly for our food source.
Respecting each other's choices and reasoning for preserving
healthy life on this planet is more important than attacking each
other for our different ideas about how to take care of our earth.
I would also argue that hundreds of thousands of years of our
ancestors seeking out nutrient dense animal foods to eat grow and
reproduce is as good proof of the healthiest way to eat than some
studies done in the past few decades that may or may not always be
interpreted correctly.

I would like to see you do comparisions on grain finished beef
from small farms and not just say all grain finished beef is bad.
We are not a feed lot, we are a small farm trying to provide a
superoir product and to do so in a wat that protects our
enviorment. We graze our cows, which were born on our farm, on open
fields until a month before they are to be processed. In the last
month, they are put in a smaler paddock and fed hay cut from our
farm, whole grains and clean water. This increases marbling and
provides a more tender, flavorful product. Our cows are never given
steroids or antibotics. We also raise our lambs this way.

Although I try to respect the right of everyone to have their
own opinion, when MEL begins, with articles such as this, promoting
the killing of animals for human consumption, my opinion is that
this entire premise is inappropriate and hypocritical, considering
the source. My former opinion of MEL and the magazine was that the
publication espoused earth-friendly, green living standards. When
it comes to eating, MEL should be promoting vegetarianism, which is
both earth-friendly and proven to be the healthiest life-style.I
absolutely believe that beef cattle, and all cattle, should be
grass fed....and left to enjoy a natural, full life, not cruelly
killed to satisfy the human palate.

My husband and I have about 45 cows and breed grass fed beef on
our beautiful farm in the Tamar Valley in Tasmania. We sell our
beef locally and people love to see where their food is grown.On
Bonny Brae Farm we treat our cattle quietly and calmly on only
mineralized paddocks and the 'proof is in the pudding' with
succulent tender beef as the end product. We are only a small
business (done mainly for the love of our environment) and are
presently battling big business who want to put a pulp mill close
to our farm which will belch out dioxins and flurins over our
property. This may pollute the food we have so carefully tried to
keep clean and free of chemicals to feed our stock.We are
despairing and our pleas are falling on deaf ears as far as
government is concerned - at all levels! If readers have any
concern for our planet and the safety of our food chain, please
join forces and help us stop the Gunns Pulp Mill which is proposed
for Longreach on the banks of the beautiful Tamar River in Northern
Tasmania.

I live in rural Colombia. All the beef here is grass fed. On
Monday I saw the butcher hauling a your steer along the road with a
rope. When I bought my tenderloin the next morning it was still a
little warm. Totally Fresh, wholesome, and natural. A big advantage
of living in the Third World.

Typically I find your articles interesting and informative;
however, this one bends several truths - especially reason #5. Here
in the US, there has been a ban since 1997 against feeding
mammalian protein products to ruminants (including cattle).
Secondly, E coli is present in all digestive systems. When
contamination of a product (meat, spinach, etc) occurs, it is from
the processing or handling (or lack of) where the contamination
occurs. Cooking to proper temperatures eliminate this risk. Your
article also forgot to mention that grass fed beef is higher in
saturated fats and trans fatty acids vs. corn fed beef. (The
complete article and study can be found in the international meat
science journal). Although higher in calories, corn fed beef will
have better flavor (what the general population is accustomed to),
and be higher in marbling and monosaturated fats than grass fed
beef. I am not against promoting grass fed beef; however, I
disagree with promoting items that distort facts in order to
promote themselves. There are many cattle breeders, myself
included, that raise all natural corn fed beef without hormones
(implants) and antibiotics. Both beef products which do not use
hormones and antibiotics and are attempting to raise the most all
natural and environmentally friendly food source deserve equal
praise, attention, and promotion. If you have a "beef" with the
feedlot industry, it would be better addressed somewhere else and
not utilized to promote a fine product.