• Food with less nutritional value.
• Animal stress and abuse
• Air, land, and water pollution
• Widespread use of hormones, antibiotics, and other drugs,
• The loss of  small family farms

Take a closer look at how grass fed affects the nutritional value of what we eat.

More Omega-3 Fatty Acids

Every day we hear about the importance of Omega 3 fatty acids.  Eat more fish, especially salmon.  Research reveals that every cell and system in the human body relies on omega-3s. Our brain, for example, is largely composed of fat, and omega-3 fatty acids are the most important of those fats. If our diets have an adequate amount of these nutrients, we are less likely to have high blood pressure or irregular heart rhythms, are less likely to experience a heart attack or a stroke, and are less vulnerable to cancer. You can't manufacture them in your body, so you must get them from your diet. This is why omega-3 fatty acids are one of the few fats to be classified as "essential fatty acids."  Omega 6 fatty acids are also classified as “essential fatty acids” and the ratio of 3’s to 6’s has been the focus of a lot of recent research.  The “eat more fish” is a dictate based on the fact that our modern diets have too much omega 6 compared to the amount of omega 3s we consume. 

Omega 3 fatty acids are found in greens whereas omega 6 fatty acids are most abundant in grains.  When animals are sent to the feedlot and switched from grass to grain, they have an abrupt shift in fatty acid balance:  more omega 6s and fewer omega 3s.  This is the recipe for obesity.  The cattle put on weight more rapidly on a high-grain diet than they will on a pasture diet, even when they consume exactly the same number of calories.  The reason?  The omega 6 rich grain diet causes the animals to create more of an enzyme that leads to the creation of fat

In a Canadian study, grain finished animals gained 1.55kg as opposed to 1.3kg on grass fed diets, even though they were given exactly the same number of calories!    Meat from grain fed animals was high in omega 6s rather than the omega 3s. , In humans a diet high in omega 6s is linked with a greater risk of diabetes and obesity, just as it is in livestock. 

The graph above shows that an animal fattened on grain has 14 times more omega 6 than omega 3 fatty acids in its meat.  The grass-fed animal has a ratio of 2.5 which is considered ideal for human health.

[As an aside, while the main ingredient is grain, to further cut costs, the feed may contain “by-product feedstuff” such as municipal garbage, stale cookies, poultry manure, chicken feathers, bubble gum, and restaurant waste.]

Less Fat

One OF THE main reasons that cattle are sent to the feedlot of course is precisely because they get fatter quicker.  Not only does the grain radical alter the omega ration, but when feedlot and grain fed cattle have spent their requisite four to eight months in a feedlot, their meat has four to six times more total fat than meat from grass-fed cattle. Significantly, it has twice as much saturated fat. Grass-fed cattle have about the same amount of fat as wild game or a skinless chicken breast. When red meat is this lean, it actually lowers your cholesterol levels.

More CLA (Conjugated Linoleic Acid)

Grass-fed Beef is one of the richest known sources of another good fat called "conjugated linoleic acid" or CLA. Although the research is in its earliest stages, CLA shows promise of reducing the risk of cancer, obesity, diabetes, and a number of immune disorders.   Animal studies suggest that CLA enhances bone formation.  Chicks fed CLA rich butterfat had greater bone growth than animals fed other fats.  Researchers attribute the stronger bones to CLA’s ability to block excess production of inflammatory substances.  Grass-fed dairy meat and dairy products have from 2-5 times more CLA than ordinary products.

New research shows that older dairy cows produce more CLA than younger cows.  Specifically, a cow that has gone through four lactations produces more CLA than she did when she was younger.  Grass-fed cows can remain healthy and productive for as long as 13 lactations, as opposed to the typical two lactations of factory cows.  In New Zealand, where virtually all the ruminants are raised on pasture, dairy cows live so long that they wear out their teeth.  These hard-working cows are so highly prized, however, that they are fitted with dentures rather than being sent to the hamburger factory.

The typical dairy cow raised in a confinement dairy is injected with hormones to increase her milk production.  Then after only two year’s on the job, she’s slaughtered and turned into hamburger because she’s either sick, lame, fails to breed, or is a less than stellar producer.  The average cull rate in the dairy industry is 30 percent.  That means that each year, almost a third of our dairy cows are slaughtered and replaced with new heifers.  A cow that’s treated well, spared the hormones, and raised on pasture can be expected to produce milk for ten years or more.  The cull rate in a grass-based dairy can be as low as 7 percent.  The money that a farmer saves by not having to replace a third of the herd every year helps offset the fact that a cow free of artificial hormones produces less milk. 

Affects on The Environment. Raising animals on pasture is better for the environment than raising them in confinement. In a conventional feedlot operation, for example, cattle deposit large amounts of manure in a small amount of space. The manure must be collected and transported away from the area. It costs money to haul it away, so it is dumped as close to the feedlot as possible. As a result, the surrounding soil is overloaded with nutrients, resulting in ground and water pollution. When animals are raised on pasture, their manure is a welcome source of organic fertilizer, not a “waste management problem.”

The Art and Science of Grass farming. Raising animals on pasture requires more knowledge and skill than sending them to the feedlots. In order for the meat to be succulent and tender, the animals need high-quality forage, especially in the months prior to slaughter. This requires healthy soil and careful pasture management so that the animals are grazing the grass at its optimal stage of growth. Because high-quality pasture is the key to high-quality animal products, many people who raise animals on pasture refer to themselves as "grass farmers" rather than ranchers.

Back to Pasture. In recent years, thousands of ranchers and farmers across the United States and Canada have stopped sending their animals to the feedlots. Instead, they keep the animals home on the range and feed them food that is as close as possible to their native diets. They do not implant them with hormones or feed them growth-promoting additives, because they are content to let the animals grow at their normal pace. Animals raised on pasture live such low-stress lives that they are superbly healthy.

When you choose products from pastured animals, you are eating the food that nature intended. You are also supporting small farmers, safeguarding the environment, promoting animal welfare, and eating food that is nutritious, wholesome and delicious.

Courtesy www.EatWild.com