Coming up: Gallery of Thanksgiving Sides – get ready to share your real food Thanksgiving side dishes! And Tuesday Twister is tomorrow!
Every Monday, I pull out a meaningful quote from one of the great books or articles I’m reading (or re-reading) and share it with you.
Last week, we talked about calders, and I was not surprised in the least that Sylvia knew all about it. 
She’s a fortunate woman to have grown up in the country under the tutelage of her Mother who did everything from scratch in age-old methods.
Funny thing happened last week. One day, we had soaked oatmeal for breakfast. The whole day passed into the next and I never did get that oatmeal put away – so the next morning, our oatmeal was calders! The oatmeal was not spoiled, and not too sour. It didn’t go past that day, though, so I don’t know what would have happened after that…
Now on to today’s quote. It is from Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon. I reread the introduction to the Beef & Lamb section this weekend, and what I read made me say, “Oh” – as in, “Oh, I knew that, but I forgot;” as in, “Oh, that’s important;” and as in, “Oh, what a relief.”
“Fortunately, organically raised, pasture-fed beef is now becoming more available. Cattle and sheep should spend most of their life on the open range. However, it is entirely appropriate for these animals to be fattened on grain during their last few weeks. Such practices imitate natural processes, as ruminant animals get fat on seeds and grains in their natural habitat during summer and fall. Grain feeding is an ancient practice that ensures that red meat contains ample amounts of fat. It should, however, be carried out in healthy, uncrowded conditions.”
Quotes like that make me breathe a sigh of relief. Beef and lamb don’t have to be 100% grass fed! (But they shouldn’t be feedlot fattened either.) The key is that they live their lives on uncrowded diverse pastures that offer a smorgasbord of grass, weed, grain and legume choices. From this, I conclude that a little grain supplementation is okay, as long as it doesn’t replace the major component of the diet – pasture.
What do you think? Please share in the comments – and feel free to share something you read recently. Be sure to state the title and author, and/or give a link if appropriate.
Jami – I have not officially blogged about it yet...
Makes sense to me. I can’t think of one animal that has a diet of strickly one thing. I could be wrong but I can’t think of any. Funny about the calders!
Like most things I’ve been looking for lately, grass-fed beef is hard to find here. Seems the only answer for us is to grow our own. We need to do fencing first which will have to wait until spring now.
Thank you so much for posting this. It was a great reminder to me as well. We spent $780 on an entirely grass-fed cow – raised in the most wonderful conditions – but sadly, it is quite disgusting. My husband and I feel just awful about how much money we’ve spent, but literally every week, as I try a new method of cooking it (I think I’ve tried EVERYTHING), it is just too tough. I recently learned this is because of the sllloooowwww finishing process my cow went through. We’ll be buying grass fed when the cow runs out (cross fingers, hopes it’s soon), but won’t be so strict about 100% grass fed!
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Megan, I think it is true that with grass-fed, you have to adjust to a wilder, leaner, tougher meat. One way we’ve done that is by getting most of ours ground.
What methods have you tried for cooking it?
oh, thank you for reminding me of this information. i recal reading it and thinking it made sense. the truth is, i don’t always like the 100% grass fed meat i try but usually find the grass fed and grain-finished beef to be much more marbled and tasty.
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I believe this to be true, and have been told by my beef rancher that the meat tastes better if the animal is finished on grain.
It’s good to be reminded of these things.
Thanks
I DISAGREE with this author’s statement. We raise 100% grass fed Black Angus cattle. Cattle are not meant to eat grain. It sours their stomach and lowers the nutriet levels of the meat drastically.
Grass fed meat is alot lower in fat. Due to this cuts like steaks should only be cooked rare or medium rare. If overcooked it will be dry. All of our customers give rave reveiws about our beef.
If you live in central or northeastern Illinois I would love to make you a convert!
Oh, yes, and I too have eaten day old oatmeal that sat out on the counter! I love that you were willing to share that with us!
thanks again,
Tiffany
I’m really glad everyone’s chiming in here!
Colleen – I would love to try your beef! From your perspective, would allowing even small amounts of grain sour the stomach and lower the nutrient levels? Or is there a certain point where this happens?
To everyone:
The 100% grass-fed beef that we buy is delicious, and tastes wonderfully seasoned, but is more lean and tough than conventional meat (from our experience). However, as a family, we don’t like steak’s texture anyway. I want to say that so everyone understands that when I say we get most of our beef ground, it doesn’t necessarily mean the meat is tough. I should have said that before.
Taste is an issue, but in my opinion, of the utmost importance is the health of the animal and ultimately, the maximum nutrition of the meat. That’s why I’d like to understand whether even a amount of grain is allowable or not. This passage suggests that traditionally, some would be part of their diet regardless. Is Sally Fallon right? If she is, then the question left is: how much is okay?
Keep sharing your thoughts – I think it is great to discuss this!
We belong to a beef CSA and get 10+ pounds of 100% grass fed beef each month. I have never been disappointed in any of our cuts. We’ve had hamburger, roast, steaks, stew meats, liver, and tongue. It is all amazing. I wonder if where the grass feeding occurs can affect the taste and texture? I know the grass here is Wyoming is alot different than the grass that we were used to in Oregon.
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When I was researching this issue, I was surprised to read that Solomon (in the Bible) had both free-range and stalled cattle. The Bible also uses a comparison to a heifer allowed to eat grain (he’s ecstatic – lol). For me, that resolves the legalistic issue where grain-fed beef is concerned. The farmer I buy my raw milk from feeds his cows grain while milking. I talked to another farmer who never gives his dairy cows grain. The price was twice as much and would mean we couldn’t buy it.
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Oh, YAY! Your back. Your Feed & Link were so totally down today.
Have I told you, I really like your Monday Quotes section.
Read through the comments.
Just a thought on Megan’s tough beef….it could possibly be the breed. Some tend to be more tough no matter how they are raised over another breed. Now I can’t quote here one breed or another as to which would produce a more tender meat….I am just going on what I’ve heard over the years listening to the farming men in the family. And I am sure this is very true since I’ve had many a tough piece of meat over the years.
One thing that I have found that is a great tenderizer for meats is granulated garlic…seems to work every time. And it beats buying any of the nasty tenderizers on the market that are full of everything you want to avoid.
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Pamela, I am surprised to hear that my feed was down today. All day? This morning from 5:30 to 6 am (my time-West Coast) my host was doing a server reboot, so the site was down. But I didn’t know the feeds were down.
How do you use the garlic with the beef – in a marinade/soak or do you pound it in or what? I’m speaking totally from ignorance here as I have never used a tenderizer of any kind.
Mel – Do you have those passage references handy? I will look for them anyway, but if you have the references handy, that would help!
I’m really happy to hear what you all think. Keep the thoughts coming…
We bought a quarter grass-fed beef last November, and had mixed results. The roasts were always awesome (crock pot). The ground beef and steaks however, were awesome only when grilled. When I cooked them on the stove or in the oven, I was never happy with the smell or flavor. The texture was always fine. The smell and flavor were overwhelmingly strong. Initially I thought it was because it was so different from the corn-fed, grocery store meat I was used to. Even though I knew how much better it was for us nutritionally, I didn’t love it.
Then I came across a blog post about the flavor of grass fed beef (can’t remember where now), and a farmer chimed in to say that if you’re not happy with the flavor, you should try a different farm next time. He said that the type of pasture, time of year and age of slaughter, and aging of the beef can all effect the flavor and texture of the beef.
I took that advice, and we ordered from a different farm this year. We now LOVE our grass fed beef! It is so much more mild, and there is almost no smell when cooking the ground beef now. It tastes amazing, and believe it or not, is so tender. We will definitely be sticking with this farm next year. So my advice is with that farmer’s advice: if you don’t love your grass-fed beef, try a different farm!
Thanks for the tips and info, ladies. I have tried absolutely everything from slow cooking (at lower temps), to searing, braising, sauteeing – the works. We don’t have a grill, so now, a year later, I’ve given my Dad a few steaks and told him to start grilling but I can’t imagine that would really be the magic bullet. If I could ever convince my husband to try again (and once/if we ever finish the 100 pounds in the freezer), I will DEFINITELY try a new farmer. =)
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…subscribing to comments b/c my pregnant brain can’t remember where to look when I want to follow up…
Megan´s last blog post… Homemade Smartfood…or, When Cheese Takes Over Your Life
[...] week, we talked about whether or not a small amount of grass-finishing is appropriate for grass-fed pastured herbivores such as cattle and sheep. Sally Fallon, in Nourishing Traditions, says that since they’ll eat [...]
Wardeh, a similar topic was brought up in the Traditional Foods forum at Mothering magazine’s website. Here’s an interesting comment that I really wish I could find a citation for… speaking of an Australian farmer talking about how they move pastured beef to feed lots for grain for the last 4 months before slaughter. The farmer suggested that it takes but a fortnight for Omega 3 : Omega 6 ratio to change from that of a grass-fed cow to a grain-fed cow.
(Here’s the link to the comment, if you’re curious: http://www.mothering.com/discussions/showpost.php?p=14632581&postcount=27 )
I really want to know if that is true. If it is, then I’d be very hesitant to do any grain feeding, you know? I’ve done a bunch of internet searches but haven’t found any specifics.
Steph – So interesting! That is the kind of information I’d like to have. If it only takes a week… then yes, I’d hesitate to do any at all. I think – upon reflection since posting this – its entirely possible that people who grain-finish are giving much more grain to the cow than the cow would get in the wild. But I don’t know for sure… Thanks for sharing what you heard and the link!