"fatted calf" in the Bible...were they grain-fed?

[caedmyn]

I'm having a "discussion" with someone about whether it's okay to eat grain-fed meat because in the Bible they ate "fatted calves". Is there another way to fatten cattle besides feeding them grain?

[momma4fun]

the fatten on fast growing green grass in spring and autumn........interesting observation!

[Gale Force]

The old ranchers here say they used to fatten them on the dry grass in the fields in the early summer.

[Nikki98]

Interesting question, but in terms of grain I do not think that the fatted calf of the Bible would have access to the amount of grain that factory farm animals have today. They were mostly likely "fatted" from what they normally eat in the pasture, just perhaps more of it-really I'm just speculating. Does the "Makers Diet" have any insight on this?

This was in wikipedia :http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fatted_calf

[Gale Force]

Another issue is that a big part of the "grain" fed to cows today is actually a legume -- soybean. I highly doubt that Biblical calves were fattened with soy.

[SAmama]

If they were eating grain it was mostly sprouted, if that would make a difference. Just watching traditional ways of harvesting grains in Asia, grains are in sheaths in the fields or hanging on racks where they often get wet and sort of sprouted.

[caedmyn]

Originally Posted by SAmama

If they were eating grain it was mostly sprouted, if that would make a difference. Just watching traditional ways of harvesting grains in Asia, grains are in sheaths in the fields or hanging on racks where they often get wet and sort of sprouted.

This has never made sense to me--won't grains only sprout once? So if they sprout in the field, how would they be able to use that grain for seed grain? Is seed grain processed differently? Or is it just a myth that grains sprout in the field?

[tabitha]

it will only sprout once. but not all the harvest was meant or needed for seed. seed grains for the next year would be carefully preserved from moisture. but that meant for livestock like poultry, etc, wouldnt always have to be so carefully stored. we save seed from year to year, but we need very little compared to how much or the produce we grow.

small amounts of grain feeding, particularly sprouted and soaked grains, during the winter are common and not unhealthy- the idea is to keep an animal in good health through a rough winter when grass and hay are short, etc. feeding root vegetables, squash- all sorts of things- can keep animals healthy in the winter. but a fatted calf might never have seen a winter. it would be young, milk-fed still, eating other things too, green grass and more, but not a year old.

[gardenmommy]

I doubt it was grain-fed. It may have seen small amounts of grain in the way of mature grasses, but not anything like the grain that is harvested today. Species of grains grown today are selected specifically for their energy content. They are grown and selected in a much more sophisticated manner than they were even 100 years ago. Much more likely to have been finished on rapidly growing grasses.

[gilamama]

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