100% Grass Fed versus Grain Finished?

[Otterella]

Talk to me about the difference between beef that is 100% grass fed versus "grain finished", where it's grass fed right up until a few weeks before slaughter, then fed grains. My FIL is raising cows for us to split, and the man who sold him the cows as calves talked him into doing grain finished, because it makes for nicer marbling in the meat. I've heard some people are against that, but I don't know reasons why.

[Alyantavid]

They finish much faster on grain than straight grass. And yes, there is more marbling (marbling is fat btw) than you'd find on a grass fed animal. But its not really necessary, all cows will have some amount of marbling. Finishing on grain makes the animal gain weight very quickly too so you'll be paying for all that extra marbling.

We don't finish ours on grain, just grass and while it does take longer to finish a steer, it's cheaper and healthier for us. We don't feed any grain to our cows because they just aren't made to eat/digest grains. It isn't healthy for them or for people who later eat the meat.

[laohaire]

I don't think the marbling is any "nicer." I think it's more that most Americans are used to it, and use cooking methods suited for it. Using the same cooking methods for grain-fed versus grass-fed can give different results (dryer meat, for example). But it's not because the marbling is any better, it's just about using the suitable cooking methods.

I can't say more about the cooking method differences because I've never cooked grain-fed beef (went from vegetarian to grass-fed), but I do know there's a difference and I think it's that people used to grainfed tend to dry out their grass-fed steaks. But they certainly aren't inherently dryer

Grass-fed is definitely healthier for the steer and for you. It means more omega-3s, for example.

[verde]

A cow's digestive system is not made for grain, it's made for grass. That's why grain-fed cows fart so much and make so much methane. That means that the whole time the cow is eating the grain, it's feeling a certain level of queasiness. If you want to get lots of info about this read The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan.

So ask yourself this question: do you think the meat is healthy if it comes from a cow that was sick?

[californiajenn]

Just a few weeks of feeding grain to cows greatly increases the e.coli count in the entire animal. Plus, the omega 3 to 6 ratio changes making the meat more inflammatory to the eater.

Plus, they just aren't meant to eat grains. Evolution/god figured it out already, we should leave well enough alone. :-)