Good topic! In the process of advertising some grass fed steers right now. I hope folks don't mind a little longer post OT on the beef business.
Many years ago there was no feedlot industry. Cattle were grown out slowly on grass and brought in for sale around 3 years of age. They went directly to the big packing houses. Recall Rowdy Yates and the boys loading cattle on the boxcars after the end of a long trail ride (Rawhide). Eventually modern transport took over but still up to WWII, a lot of beef went directly to market.
Beef industry started changing after WW II. The feedlot industry started plus modern genetics produced a "beefier" type animal that grew more quickly. The combination totally changed the industry. Feedlot finished beef is about half the age of the old knobby headed three year old steers and older cows that used to go to market. As such its much higher in cholesterol and a much fatter kind of meat (young animals are higher in cholesterol...its critical for the growth process.) I doubt most Americans would even want to eat those old lean, leathery steers.
Cattlemen really don't have a stake in the feedlot business...except the really large vertically integrated ranches. They just want a steady reliable market. Animals that go to the feedlot typically are sold around 600 lbs. That's what I shoot for. About 9 or 10 months old. An animal ready to butcher is about 1000 to 1200 lbs. Depends on the breed, frame size, sex, and other things. To get that animal to that size, feedlots shove heavy doses of corn at these animals. Only because its the cheapest way to get a good, moderate protein feedstock into the animal. There is a quite a science involved in maximizing growth rates per pound input...smart people put a lot of time into that. Huge amounts of money and profit margins involved. Modern feedstocks now use gmo corn...the roundup/gmo seed combination is throughout modern farming. Soy is used some too but is more for hogs. (By the way, you could write the same story here for pork production in many respects. In the old days pork was much more widely grass fed as well.)
Grass feeding requires much more time to finish the animal. Average gains in the feedlot with the proper breeds and a male animal are around 3 1/2 lbs or more per day. I get about 1 to 1 1/2 lbs/day. So a feedlot can move an animal from 600 lbs to a 1000 in 4 months. It takes me about 8 for the ones I keep back for my customers. And there's the deal...the cost factor. A knucklehead steer out in my pasture hanging around for an extra 8 months is eating grass I could be using for another cow which would bring me another calf and about as much money as I get extra for holding the steer back. There's the trade off. And when we go into a butt kicking drought out here, I don't have the grass for those grass fed steers. So I limit what I produce that way. I don't totally grass feed either. The last month or two I bring them in by the barn and finish out on hay and a modest ration of cottonseed meal. Sometimes an animal out in the field is eating some weeds and so on that can leave a very nasty taste in the meat so I like to make sure they purify a bit the last 6 weeks or so plus I add a little more fat with some extra feed. It's kind of a compromise. The grass feed purists fuss at me but I remind them the old line in the bible "feeding the fatted calf". Farmers have always done that...special feed for the animal that's about to get processed.
Over and over again what you get with corporate agriculture is inhumane conditions, high use of chemicals, lots of antibiotics and much poorer taste. I'm appalled at the way animals spend their lives in dairies, on hog farms (modern farms now keep a sow in a box like crate their entire lives!), and in feedlots. To ward off disease and deal with the lousy way these animals live, they are constantly getting antibiotic injections, etc. It's crappy. It's also cheap. Most Americans couldn't afford beef if we were to try to do everything the grass fed route. There isn't enough land out there now, herd size would be much reduced and the per animal costs would have to go significantly. I'm guessing $8 for a lb/hamburger and maybe $16 for lb/good steak. This is if we lived in a world of no feed lots. I sell my direct raised beef for $5.25 a lb but you got to buy half the cow...covers burger plus T bones.
My beef is far higher quality. I won't eat supermarket meat. I just read a long review today on grass fed vs. feedlot beef. The real deal is not the feed so much. Grass fed tends to be much leaner. So you have to cook it different...slower, let the meat fibers break down. But when I have it processed it hangs for 20 days. This is expensive. Shrinkage takes about 15% of the carcass...dries up. Many years ago Americans ate a lot of dried beef. Very intense flavor. But the packers discovered they could charge you for that moisture. So you don't get aged beef unless you deal directly with the butcher. Commercial meat producers are allowed a certain % water in their meat...here for beef its 20%. You can believe in the cheaper class stores you will be getting 19% water. Commercial packers age their product right in the package. It's vacuum sealed and sits in the package (in water and a little left over blood) and supposedly ages. Too me it tastes watery. But, you folks who grill and stuff and get good cuts can still get a good tasty meal. Part of that is my own taste. With proper cooking, a lot of that water gets evaporated off. (But you did pay for that..up to 20%!)
I read a very detailed review today on the difference in taste between grass fed and feedlot and the difference in taste with Angus vs non-Angus. Angus do have a little better marbeling in some cases. The Angus association has done a masterful job of marketing and a lot of consumers have bought the story. Meat is meat as long as its a beef type cow. The experts in this long study were surprised to discover that in most cases their tasters couldn't really tell the difference between grass fed and feedlot beef...now this was top cuts and very carefully prepared. Which surprises me a bit. But, the bottom line is the difference in quality is somewhat the feed. But also the more natural conditions of growth, longer hang time in the cooler in the local custom butchers to dry out properly and so on. The grass fed or local direct to consumer approach does avoid much of the chemical background you get exposed to in corporate ag...like roundup and gmo feeds and antibiotic injections. Steroid use has recently been outlawed so that is not likely to be such a big difference in the future. The general consumer movement of demanding better food products and better conditions for animals in the food chain is all to the good, I think.
Anyway, that's a short summary. Hope folks don't mind a long OT post.
lh |
