On organic beef v. grass fed beef

I had to remind myself to be polite when talking with a farmer at the farmer's market the other afternoon. I asked him, a beef seller, if his beef was free-range, grass fed beef. Immediately he started spewing all this stuff about how it's not economically feasible to raise cattle on grass, how it's more tender, and how his beef isn't given any steroids or antibiotics and they are raised on organic feeds and that is the best. I disagreed with him on all points.

Organic feeds really only guarantees that the beef you are eating is not itself eating feed that was genetically modified or sprayed with chemicals. It can even mean the animals are eating animal by-products from another organically raised animal (in the case of cows, that'd most likely be chickens).

Organic meat does NOT mean the animal was raised free-range, or even non-confined. It does NOT mean the animal was feed a species appropriate diet. It does NOT mean the animal was treated humanely through out its life and death.

Do I have to say more to convince you that buying merely organic meat is not enough? Just in case...

Cows are a particular case. They are ruminants, meaning they eat grass, a substance that is largely non-digestible to most animals, and it is digested in one of the cows four stomachs, called the rumen. Cows are herbivores that do not naturally eat animals, except for the rare bug that doesn't get out of harms way. They are not intended to eat grain (although cows would naturally eat small amounts of seed heads while grazing, this does not make up the bulk of their diet). Yet that is just what industrial organic cows are fed: organic soy and corn. They are also fed an industrial by product slurry, called silage (often corn), which is a fermented grain product. Grains, and especially silage are too acidic for the rumen and cause ulcers: ulcers so bad that cows can have them on the outside of their bodies when it comes time to slaughter them for market. Not only is this terrible and horrendously cruel to the cows, it also has signigicant impact for the animals who eat them, namely, humans. The acid rumen becomes a breeding ground for e. coli 0157, the strain that is responsible for most out breaks of e. coli poisoning. E. coli is a bacterium we live in relative sybiosis with, it lives naturally in our lower digestive track where it does no harm, and when we eat strains, the acid level of our stomach kills the bacteria before it can go on to infect our systems. But e. coli 0157, having been raised in the ultra high acid of the rumen of a grain-fed cow, is resistant to our stomach acid and is from there able to enter the blood stream and cause infection. So you see, eating grass fed beef is not only more humane, it's also in the interest of public health.

Also, the average lifespan of a dairy cow that is grain-fed is 5 years, a grass-fed dairy cow can live to be 20 years old. The grain-fed cow literally dies because it is fed food it is not meant to digest.

Back to my encounter in the farmer's market, grass-fed beef is more expensive, but it is economically feasible for the farmer. Grass, when grown on a biodynamic farm, grows on its own. Here in the Corn Belt, I have been told (by farmers) that farmers do not irrigate, as they do in my native Pacific Northwest. It rains enough through the warm months to grow fields without the need for irrigation. Many grass-fed cattle ranchers refer in half-jest to themselves as grass farmers: simply rotating the herds and following the cattle with pastured chickens keeps the fields fertile without much need for human work. Pastured cattle need fewer antibiotics and have much lower vet costs. The only thing I can figure is the cost of keeping them longer. Most confined cows are ready for slaughter in about half the time as their free counterparts - around15-18 months for confined cows, and around 30-40 months for free-range. Of course the free-range have lower maintence costs and feed costs, but they do consume water, and you do have to over winter them for more winters. I think the real reason for saying it isn't economically feasible is that you simply can't raise as much beef in one year on pasture as you could on grain. Instead of having a farm that brings in money from multiple sources, you have to have a lot of cattle to make it as your only income. That is why buying grass-fed meat costs more: the farmer has to make a living, and can't sell it at the low prices brought to you buy the grain industries and factory farming.

Free-range beef not necessarily less tender or more gamey. The feed only really effects the tenderness by about 10%, but was really effects tenderness is the chemicals coursing through the animal's body at slaughter. If adrenline is present from fear at slaughter, the meat is much tougher than that of the cow that "didn't see it coming". Organic factory farmed cattle are subject to the same horrific slaughter conditions that other factory farmed cows are exposed to: ineffective means of killing on the conveyour belt, cows being skinned alive. Even just the smell and sounds of the factory slaughterhouse is enough to instill fear in the cow. On the other hand, most grass fed cattle are killed more humanely because small numbers are butchered at a time (ie three cows a day instead of 30). When a processor is small they also take more care to keep a clean environment, making the meat less likely to harbor contaminates (like e coli!).

There is something else that is special about grass fed cattle. Cows that consume grass convert the fats to an omega-6 fatty acid called CLA (conjugated linoleic acid). While CLA does exist is small amounts in other grass eaters, like pigs and chickens (who eat an omnivorous diet and not that much grass), it is only found in significant quantity in the fat of grass-fed cows. In fact, it has shown to be present at 500 times the amount in the fat of confined cows. Why is this good news? CLA, unlike other omega-6s, which are generally not good for humans, acts like an omega-3 and is good for the brain, burns fat, builds muscle, but here's the kicker, it fights cancer. Could it be that part of the reason our cancer rates have risen since we shifted to feedlot cattle raising practices is because we inadvertently removed our one good source of CLA from our diet?

I haven't even mentioned the environmental costs of confined cattle raising (organic or conventional, you still have all that manure, that runs off and pollutes water ways), and I'm not going to really go into it.

Feeding a cow organic corn and soy does not change the fact that they are not meant to eat corn and soy. Seeking out locally-raised, grass-fed beef (and dairy) is better for the environment, for the economy, for the cow, and for the eater. When it comes to beef, organic is just not enough.

(check out some other interesting posts by clicking on the food renegade pic)