NT says grain finished beef is okay!?!

[attached2mason]

Okay, I am totally confused. After reading several articles on grass fed beef and then reading Garden of Eating and Grassfed is Best I was totally sold on grassfed beef. We are even in the process of buying a 1/4 of beef. Then I finally get a call from the libaray saying NT is waiting on reserve for me. I read the first 100 pages in one night (i have no sense of moderation when it comes to reading ) and, right there in the chapter on protien Fallon says beef finished on grain for 2 or 3 weeks is just fine - even natural.

Thoughts? I can get pastured beef finished with grain (not in feedlot, on a small farm) for WAY less per lb than the grassfed stuff, but I am willing to switch to grassfed and pay more if it is better. Help! TIA

[AJP]

Yet another area where I disagree with NT. Totally natural beef that was finished on (organic) grain but not in a feedlot is a far sight better than conventional beef, but there are studies that show grain finishing significantly reduces many of the good things in beef, like vit. E, omega-3s and CLA, and changes the fatty-acid profile (increasing PUFAs, raising the omega-6 to omega-3 ratios). I'll stick with totally grassfed.

[celestialdreamer]

Originally Posted by AJP

Yet another area where I disagree with NT. Totally natural beef that was finished on (organic) grain but not in a feedlot is a far sight better than conventional beef, but there are studies that show grain finishing significantly reduces many of the good things in beef, like vit. E, omega-3s and CLA, and changes the fatty-acid profile (increasing PUFAs, raising the omega-6mega-3 ratios). I'll stick with totally grassfed.

My thoughts exactly! We met the farmer from the place we purchased a large amount of organic grassfed beef recently. He was saying the exact same thing!

[spughy]

I must have missed that bit. I can sort of see why though - towards the end of the summer/fall cows would naturally have gotten the "leftovers" of the grain harvest, right? (I actually have no idea but it seems reasonable.)

I HOPE it's ok because that's what we're getting too - a friend's brother raises steers and a bunch of us go in on one. They're range animals except for the last little bit. I would personally prefer grass-finished beef because it's closer in flavour and texture to the meat I grew up on (moose) but the group beef-buying is too affordable to pass up.

[attached2mason]

Originally Posted by spughy

I must have missed that bit. I can sort of see why though - towards the end of the summer/fall cows would naturally have gotten the "leftovers" of the grain harvest, right? (I actually have no idea but it seems reasonable.)

That is exactly what she was saying. I would think, though, that getting some grain mixed in with grasses is different than being fed huge amounts of grain in order to "fatten them up", yes? I am still leaning toward grassfed . . .but would love to hear from others here! Sometimes it is just so tough to know what is "right".

[almadianna]

grassfed all the way for us..

[westcoastmom]

I believe I read in Eat Fat, Lose Fat (which was written after NT) that studies show that even small amounts of grain substantially chase the Omega 3 ratios.

[RidentMama]

It's still better than what most people can pick up at their grocery store.

Taste-wise...not much difference. We raised 2 steers over a 2 year period...2 different locations (one was on a friend's lot just down the road from us). Thurston was grained more than Norman just because we didn't have the pasture available like Norman was on. Norman was grained once a week just to get the cattle close in and make sure that they were doing fine.

Couldn't tell any difference between the two steers taste-wise. Fat was the same color...marbling was a little bit more in Thurston, but only if you looked really hard at the two side-by-side.

My take on it? It's much more nutritious and tasty than anything I could pick up at the grocery store.

[Periwinkle]

We do only 100% grassfed/pastured. Not just for health reasons but ethical ones as well. The only time I think it's "natural" to give anything other than fresh grass to a cow is when you give her a little forage (e.g., hay) while milking her to keep her busy or obviously if it's a really hard winter with snow cover and they can't graze then of course they need dried grass (hay) and sometimes grains if that's what you got. In that case, though, I would - if I had the choice - give her a nice lush spring to recover before starting to use her milk again and at least a few months on pasture before slaughtering and eating a cow that has been indoors due to weather.

[almadianna]

Originally Posted by Periwinkle

We do only 100% grassfed/pastured. Not just for health reasons but ethical ones as well. The only time I think it's "natural" to give anything other than fresh grass to a cow is when you give her a little forage (e.g., hay) while milking her to keep her busy or obviously if it's a really hard winter with snow cover and they can't graze then of course they need dried grass (hay) and sometimes grains if that's what you got. In that case, though, I would - if I had the choice - give her a nice lush spring to recover before starting to use her milk again and at least a few months on pasture before slaughtering and eating a cow that has been indoors due to weather.

this is exactly how i feel about it.

[NoTiGG]

in my opinion.. and this is just my opinion... I think the healthiest is actually a small percentage grain fed... but fermented grains rather than plain. Sort of how I read about a farmer feeding his cows raw beer.. the alcohol doesn't affect them and it is actually loaded with certain nutrients.