The Amazing Benefits of Grass-fed Meat

Mr. Manning,

Thanks for wrapping the whole thing together into one package. A very informative article for me.

Using your rough CO2 emissions and 160 million acres planted with corn or soy in the U.S., I get a swing of 81 million tons CO2 if half of the planted land goes to pasture, or of order 1% of U.S. total emissions -- a significant fraction of the U.S. share of needed reductions. Nothing to sneeze at. But I can't figure out the 144 trillion pounds, which is more than the total annual U.S. production, 7.2 billion tons (EIA). I suspect a trillion/billion mistake...

Things to remember while you consume the fresh of your grass-fed beef:

http://www.all-creatures.org/articles/foodthought.html

We've conveniently forgotten that hamburgers and leather gloves were once brown-eyed calves; that sausage was once the flesh of a mud-loving pig; or that gelatin is derived from a horse's hoof. And as our society becomes more technologically advanced and further removed from the natural world, forgetting becomes easier and easier. Most of us remain blissfully unaware that the vast majority of the foods we eat, the clothes we wear, and the every-day household products we buy have been derived from an animal that has suffered at our expense-and suffered greatly. Steeped in denial (and possibly a deeply-buried sense of shame), we tell ourselves, each other and our children that we have the right to use animals to make our lives easier, more comfortable, and more convenient. But the animals' suffering is something nobody really wants to talk about. When I first learned the truth about what really happened to the animals on my dinner plate or the animals my shampoo was tested on, I felt infinitely betrayed. Raised to be a compassionate person, I had inadvertently condoned unthinkable cruelties and abuses. Worse, I had been encouraged by my elders and peers to do so. And as our society continues to find ways to justify the use and abuse of animals, the number of living creatures killed for human consumption creeps higher every year. In 1996, nine-billion farm animals were killed (that's more than the number of people on earth) in the United States alone-for sheer profit and convenience.

What makes these staggering figures more haunting is the fact that each and every one of these thinking, feeling animals spends the duration of his or her life suffering at the hands of humans. Slaughter is the end of a long continuum of suffering that begins the moment most animals in our society are born. As babies, they are debeaked, deh

Read more about grassfarming and global warming in a blog post from our good friend, Grit magazine editor Hank Will. (Reduce Global Warming with Grass Finished Beef: www.grit.com/blogs/blog.aspx?blogid=184)

"It is not unrealistic to expect that we as a nation could convert millions of acres of ravaged industrial grain fields (plus millions of acres of land in federal conservation programs that cannot currently be used for grazing) to permanent pastures and see no decline in beef and dairy production in the bargain."

So you're giving up conservation programs to feed cattle? That would further destroy sensitive areas where many species are already endangered.

"The label certifies the beef came from cattle that ate only grass from pastures, not feedlots; received no hormones or antibiotics in their feed; and were humanely raised and handled."

Are the branded? Dehorned? Raped? Slaughtered? Confined at all? Sounds like many of the same inhumane treatments would still be applied.

"Besides, grass-fed beef tastes better. I know because I eat it. However, it only tastes better if it’s raised right."

Rather contradictory and pure opinion (i.e. biased) to begin with!

"It is not as simple as pointing cows at pasture and waiting for results. In fact, a trained eye will notice a similar scene at virtually any modern grass-fed beef operation: a couple of strands of electric fencing running around a bunch of cattle grazing in a clump. In fact, you could argue that the current revolution in grass-fed beef would not be possible without poly-wire electric fencing, which is cheap and easy to move."

Electricity demands. Electric shocks to animals. Sounds really humane and environmentally friendly. It even talks about FORCING the animals to feed where the FARMER wants them!

"It works this way: Graziers use the temporary electric fences to confine a herd of perhaps 50 calves or steers to an area the size of a small suburban front lawn for a short period, often as short as a half a day."

Sounds like they're equally confined as most industrially produced livestock for the majority of their time alive!

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Richard, this is one of the most comprehensive, well written articles I've seen with regard to the benefits of properly raised grass-finished beef. I would love to talk further with you. In particular, I'd appreciate your feedback on some of the programs I've developed to help break the commodity trap in meat and help support producers and, importantly, processors and others between farm and fork) with better, even best practices in husbandry and land management. Since I provided my email when signing up, hopefully you have access to it there. If not, please leave me a comment please and I'll write you back. http://discoverbeef.blogspot.com for reference.