grass fed beef

[navlys]

I don't find grass-fed beef to be tasty. I'm starting to fear that it's going to be the only beef the supermarkets will be selling in the near future. It's cheaper and maybe healthier but it's not my cup of tea.

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[Mike Nolan]

I tend to agree with you on the taste issue, and I'm not sure it's really cheaper, it takes a lot more land and other costs go up while carcass weights go down. Grass-fed beef tends to be tougher, too, because the cattle move around a lot more.

Anyway, this article may be the real future of beef.

Editing to put more text to see if that helps the link to work better.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Hi,

Sorry it's been a while since I've been online. I've been slammed with work. I missed you all.

Not sure where you're buying beef but here in CT and Boston grass fed beef carries a premium. It's usually about 25-30% more expensive than conventional beef. But it also depends where you buy your meat. At Whole Foods even the conventional beef is somewhat grass fed. The farmers switch to grain in the last six months because it's less expensive and this is when the cattle eat the most in their lifecycle. This isn't true of the other places around here. Costco has the least expensive beef but it's a bigger commitment than I can handle as we only have one refrigerator/freezer and we can only eat so much at one time.

As Mike points out, it's less expensive to feed cattle grain as it's more nutrient dense and you don't have to drive cattle to pasture. And cattle are dumb enough that they will eat all the grass at their feet and not move so they need cowboys to move them to different pastures. This means you need lots of land for grass fed cattle which also makes them more expensive.

I notice the taste difference more in ground beef than in steaks. My boys eat both and have not complained one way or the other. Our doctor said grass fed is supposed to be better because it lacks Omega 6s.

Your mileage may vary.

[BakerAunt]

It's good to hear from you again, Aaron.

Beef is more expensive here in northern Indiana than it was in the lower panhandle of Texas, even at Walmart. My husband and I do not eat a lot of beef and tend to wait for specials. I've bought our last three pounds of ground beef at the farmers' market. It's local, probably not grass fed, as I doubt that anyone has that kind of land for cattle here in corn and soybean country, but it is hormone-free and processed and packed in a USDA plant. We think it tastes better than what the grocery store carries, and it's even slightly less expensive at $4 a pound.

[RiversideLen]

Occasionally I buy grass fed ground beef. Really can't say I can taste a difference but it is supposed to be healthier. I think I recall reading that grass fed beef is less likely to contain e coli. The higher e coli found in grain fed beef is because cattle evolved eating grass, and the grains are somewhat detrimental to their digestive system which causes it to produce more e coli (don't really know if that is scientifically proved).

Mike, I can't click your link because when I move my cursor there the box pops up showing who "liked" your post, lol. Even if I approach it from above.

[chocomouse]

Has anyone tried Wagyu beef? I don't know if it is grass-fed or not; a farm near here is now raising the Japanese beef and selling to local meat markets. They say the marbling is 20%, compared to more typical beef that is 8%, and it is higher in Omega 3 and 6. The price is also higher!! $43 a pound for strip steak that is typically $18-$23/lb, and $10 for hamburg that is typically around $5.50. It will be a while before I buy that.

[Mike Nolan]

According to a number of sources, a lot of what is being sold as Wagyu or Kobe beef isn't. I've had both at places that I'm pretty sure were serving the real thing, I don't honestly think it's worth the price.

But I'm not convinced that Prime is that much better tasting than Choice, either.

My mother liked her beef on the tough side, she said if you didn't have to put some effort into cutting it, how did you know you were eating it?

I fixed the link up-thread.

[BakerAunt]

Mike--Whatever you fixed has now created the same issue for me that Len was having with the link--I now just see who liked it.

[Mike Nolan]

Looks like it's an issue with the plugin that generates the like button. I changed some settings, but that didn't seem to fix the problem, so I've disabled the like button for now. :sigh:

• This reply was modified 5 years, 8 months ago by Mike Nolan.

[BakerAunt]

Thanks, Mike. As I read the article, I thought about how manufacturing meat conflicts with the local food movement and the emphasis on "natural." I do, however, get the point about the amount of resources that are needed to raise animals.

And would they also manufacture eggs if they get rid of the chickens?

And what of county fairs and 4H clubs? It would certainly be a cultural shift.

The ground beef that I'm getting at the local farmers' market is exceptional, and at $4 a pound, a bit less expensive than what I can get in the groceries around here.

[RiversideLen]

That is interesting. I'm thinking manufactured meat might be more accepted in areas in the world where animal protein is hard to come by and too expensive for the masses.

[aaronatthedoublef]

What will the countries that ban foods with GMOs say about manufactured meat?

[navlys]

Here in Md. the local supermarkets sell grass fed beef from Australia and it seems to be on sale more often then grain fed beef.
Also my husband & I attended a class on Genetics at the local library. Since nothing is ever free I figured we'd be sold on getting genetics testing. Nope it was a biology lesson on GMO's and how the modified plants are not harmful and curb the use of pesticides. So we bought into that idea.

[chocomouse]

The Wagyu cattle being raised on a farm near here are grass-fed, as are most of the local beef animals. Interesting that in a recent survey of favorite french fries served in the Upper Valley, The Worthy Burger placed among the top restaurants. They cook their fries in Wagyu tallow!

[Mike Nolan]

My son was telling me about some triple-fried potatoes at Morimoto's restaurant in Orlando. Basically they're pomme frites (twice-fried potatoes) fried a third time in duck fat and then served with a Peking duck sauce.

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