Grass-Fed Beef

Written by Jonathan - February 19, 2008 3 Comments

I just got off the phone with Ted Slanker at Slanker’s Grass Fed Meats. You can visit his web site here: http://www.texasgrassfedbeef.com/

I like this stuff an awful lot. We mostly order the ground beef, roasts, and stock & soup-making bits; frankly, grass-fed steaks are a real challenge to cook well in my view and they tend to be somewhat tough if you overcook them by even a small fraction. I love the flavor of grass-fed beef; it’s meaty, mineral-rich, and deep without being gamy in the slightest. There is a lot of variation of flavor and toughness given that the animals roam around and that they’re leaner than feedlot-raised cattle, and this is another reason why we don’t eat as many of the steaks. Still… I think we might be headed toward a full conversion to the grass-fed lifestyle.

There’s little question in my mind that this stuff is better for you than commercially-raised, grain-fed, speed-fattened, commercially-processed beef. Slanker’s site has a lot of nutritional analysis that’s interesting to read, though given his fervor one might want to take some of it with a grain of salt. Other research seems to back up his claims that grass-fed beef does indeed contain a lot more Omega-3 fatty acids, a lot less Omega-6 fatty acids, and a stronger nutritional profile all around.

More importantly, perhaps, I was thinking about the commercially-slaughtered beef we all eat a lot of, and about the slaughterhouse in Chino, CA found to be torturing animals and slaughtering “downer” cattle, a clear and important violation of rules intended to prevent Mad Cow disease, as well as an obvious disgrace for so many other reasons. I suspect – though obviously I have no evidence to support this view – that this is far more common than we’d like to believe.

Grass-fed cattle live a better life. I couldn’t say with certainty that they die a better death, though I hope they do. Nevertheless, I am not a vegetarian and I have no plans to become one. Eating some grass-fed beef might be one small step toward better health and perhaps even toward change in a food industry that seems to have run amok.

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3 Outstanding Responses to "Grass-Fed Beef"

  • Robin

    Great post. I was just talking to someone about this today, most people have no idea about factory meat production. I stopped eating meat years ago after I saw a similar undercover video, but the choice is not for everyone. Most people are horrified by the abuse and agree that the animals we raise to consume need not be treated with such cruelty.

    I am skeptical about changes in the food industry because it would be very difficult to generate the amount of meat people consume without feedlots. There is an intense market competition to supply for that $.99 burger and unfortunately until people want to pay more for their meat (never), we can expect more of the same. And I think you’re on to something; grass fed beef is apparently an acquired flavor. I doubt consumers will accept a radical change in taste. But free range cattle do have better lives. They’re allowed to raise their young, form social groups, etc. More people like yourself are turning to the niche market of free range for both environmental and ethical considerations. Bravo!

  • http://www.texasgrassfedbeef.com/ Ted Slanker

    By a fluke I stumbled across this Web site today and Jonathan’s comments. Wow! Very nice and thank you. Yes, I’m pretty strident about the grass-fed message, but our Web site has links to “real” fundamental peer-reviewed scientific research upon which my message is based. I’m a student of science and I take great pains in “getting the story right.” In this case the story is getting pretty old well researched. For over 25 years now scientists have been concluding that when man invented grain farming he made a very serious error because of what grain does to all animal bodies.

    It is very clear today that the foundation food for all animal life is the green leaf. The green leaf is the first sustainable life form and in some very critical aspects all animals must follow the nutrient line of the green plant for optimal body function. When animals eat grain, which is not a sustainable living thing, they will damage their immune systems and hinder cell function. This leads to body failure over time. All chronic diseases are body failures so it can be said that every chronic disease known can be traced to eating grain!

    I do not know the real story behind the Chino, California packing plant fiasco. I say “real story” because with most of these cases of animal abuse in the meat packing industry the problems lie with rogue employees doing incredibly stupid things when management and USDA inspectors are not around. I’m not here to boost the industrialized grain-based beef trade, but other than feeding grain to livestock it has few flaws.

    For starters grain-fed meats are more consistent than grass-fed meats from critter to critter and from month to month. They are more tender. They have little flavor which Americans have come to expect in their meats. And wouldn’t you know it, cattle love to be on welfare. A feedlot is welfare. The feed and water is right at hand and it never runs short. It’s a sweet feed (grain) that is real tasty. So all the animal has to do is eat, drink, poop, and sleep. Animals love it. I know it’s not their normal environment, but living in a big city is not man’s normal environment either. How you city folks do it is beyond me. Consequently, in my point of view if you live in a city I guess you can’t think it’s bad for a steer to live in a feedlot.

    Little do the animals know, but just like all Americans, their feedlot food is killing them slowly. Grain destroys their health. But fortunately for them they are slaughtered before they fall victim to all the body failures that people fall victim to when they eat the same ration.

    The meat processing industry of the United States is about as good as it can be. Not only do the plants focus on treating animals properly, but so does the USDA. The rules are very strict and only an idiot would violate the rules. Fortunately, in the meat trade idiots are a minuscule minority but just the same some show up now and then. The penalties for their actions and stupidity are severe. So they get weeded out pretty fast. The popular media doesn’t report this though. That’s because there’s no news in good people doing their jobs correctly.

    When truckers bring cattle to most meat plants as they pass through the gates they are handed printed instructions on how to conduct themselves in terms of animal welfare. For instance, if they rock their load by braking to fast that can get them expelled from the plant premises. That’s just one example. Inside the plants animals are handled with “kid gloves.” Excited animals don’t make for good eating experiences. So everything works like a Swiss watch. For much more on cattle handling I suggest that everyone visit http://www.grandin.com. Temple Grandin is a leading authority on livestock handling and she’s a person everyone should know about. She’s a great lady and an incredibly famous person in the livestock business. Our cattle working facility was designed by her and throughout the United States way more than half of all the cattle will at one time or another pass through one of her systems.

    The Chino, California meat plant specializes in killing old cows and bulls for ground beef. As a rule it does not process young steers and heifers for the steaks and roasts trade. The younger animals are much stronger than old worn out cows and bulls. Consequently since they are stronger they travel better and there are far fewer problems with moving them off trucks, through pens, and to the processing point. But old animals can be so feeble that just the trip to town causes them to lay down and refuse to move. Also, they can die in transport from the stress.

    Old cattle are a valuable meat source. Owners of old cattle want to sell them and get something out of what is a very good meat product. But sometimes it doesn’t work out and problems occur. The public doesn’t understand a damn thing about the livestock business. They have no idea why a cow may not get up. Usually it’s not from being sick, but stress. The stress in most cases is not from man beating up on them, but a change in environment can hit them hard. They may fall in the truck and other cattle will step on them. The list bad things that can happen goes on and on. Wreaks happen in the livestock business that are not under the control of the people in charge. That’s just the way it has always been and will always be. It’s a tough business.

    But what about the cows that are “down.” Are they processed into meat? Once again the rules on this are very clear. Unless a critter can walk to the killer, they can not be processed. They must be put down and sent to a rendering plant. This is true for tiny custom kill plants scattered all over the United States as well as for the big boys. No one wants to violate this law because to do so means that their businesses will be shut down. Violations of meat packing regulations are not like misdemeanors. In many cases they are automatic death sentences. Very few businesses in the United Sates operate under such stringent standards.

    For those who doubt this, how would you like it if the local sheriff stationed an officer in your house full time every day of the year to see if you violated any laws that might be on the books? That’s the reality of the meat packing business in spite of common knowledge.

    As for the public turning toward healthier foods, well that’s not going to happen soon. People hate change even if what they are doing is killing them slowly. Only the most intelligently-aware, motivated, and independently-minded people will change back to the diet of man.

    The Real Diet of Man is Very Simple: http://www.slankersgrassfedmeats.com/the_real_diet_of_man.htm

    People worry about eating living things. But unless they eat living things they will have poor health. Living things are green plants and animals that ate green plants and/or ate animals that ate green plants. That is the way it has always been and the way it will always be. And yes, if man does convert his diet to “real foods” over time there will be no problem with the meat industry being able to feed everyone. That’s because all grains come from annual grass plants. So if we put livestock on all the grain producing land they would have all the grass they need to grow big and fat and there would not be any grain. That would be a big win win.

    Americans are so disconnected from their food sources today that they don’t have any idea about where it comes from. Consequently they don’t know how the food industry works except from their experiences shopping in grocery stores and from eating in restaurants. Consequently the American public is very naive and in this age of information – misinformation rules the day.

    Ted Slanker

  • Jonathan

    Hey, great to see that Mr. Slanker found the site! Thanks for the comments – you’re right, I know next to nothing about slaughterhouses and meat processing. Many years ago I worked in a Kosher butcher shop as a college job, and tried to learn as much about the business and its sources as I could. So while I was aware of the strict standards and supervision over cattle processing operations then, I certainly wouldn’t claim any detailed knowledge at all.

    I share Ted’s views about food and my family and I are pretty diligent about eating consciously. We first ordered grass-fed beef from the Slankers when we lived in Illinois and we loved it. My diet consists almost exclusively of fresh vegetables, fruits, and lean proteins, with very little grain products (I have a real weakness for bread but I stick to the Ezekiel flourless, sprouted-grain bread) and not much dairy. This diet works for me, but it’s expensive and time-consuming, and those are the two big challenges.

    I think about people who are less-fortunate than us, who live in environments where the fresh fruits and vegetables are in minimal supply, and where frankly, it’s so much less expensive to eat utter junk that they just don’t perceive many options. Kids who grow up eating nothing but ultra-processed convenience food seem, in my view, not to have much of a chance to grow up healthy. Here in Texas, where we live now, more than 1 in 5 kids are overweight or obese, and you sure don’t have to go far to see them. A lot of these kids are obviously living in or close to poverty, and I doubt that their parents have the money or time (or maybe knowledge) to provide them a healthy diet. Their school lunches are doubtless filled with white flour-based junk, high-fructose corn syrup-laden sweets, and loads of other processed nonsense.

    I appreciate Mr. Slanker’s comments, his web site, and mostly, the really great products he provides (we’ve got a chuck roast defrosting in the fridge as we speak and even our 3 year-old daughter is super-excited about a wonderful pot roast in a couple days). He sure is right about city life being unnatural, and as a suburbanite, I’m thinking suburban life is even more removed from the “real world.” We try to stay connected, and it’s not easy. So as I said in the original post, eating grass-fed beef is one small step we can take. We’re very lucky people, my family and I, and very grateful indeed for our many, many blessings.