Grass fed beef

Here is the email I received from the  owner of James Ranch.  I hope your all not tiring of this subject…I’m finding it pretty interesting.

Hi Lisa,

Thanks for writing.  You caught me on a day I am here.  I look forward to
sharing what we know.  First, the best website to visit, if you haven’t
already is eatwild.com.  The Westen Price Foundation has also done a
fabulous job of bringing the message about grass finished to the front.
Check their website as well. So, to answer your questions:  Apparently you
can’t feed any grain with out suffering the consequences of decreased Omega
3 and CLA.  How does grass finished/grass fed taste?  When we were selling
our beef at 18 months and weighing about 1000 lbs we had people comment that
the beef had a wild flavor.  Since we have changed and sell them at 24-30
months we have not had one comment like that.  We eat it ourselves and find
no such flavor, and we eat lots of Elk so we know the gamey flavor for sure.
I answered the question on time to get them to sale weight above.  Our
prices are on our web page – jamesranch.net.  Just bring up the order form,
print it and send it in with your deposit.

This is LisR again….I put this post up initially to find someone to share a quarter of a cow with, but started researching and got very interested in the topic.

There are two points I would like to make.  I completely disagree that what you buy in the store is no better or worse than buying grass fed beef from a local rancher that doesn’t use hormones or antibiotics but may finish his meat w/grains.  Of course the second choice is better for several reasons.  It is a very complex issue and there are many factors besides the gluten issue.

Also, unless the beef in the store says grass finished, there is a good chance your getting beef that has been fed grain at some point.

The message below is from Lisr.  From what we understand, as little as ten days of grain finishing  negates all of the reasons we should be eating grass fed beef as it relates to gluten.  The glutens are passed to us from the grains fed to the cattle.  So if you want grass fed beef, you must have grass fed, grass finished beef.  The finishing fattens up the cow just prior to slaughter.

So, the moral of the story is, if you want grass fed, don’t get grain finished.  The same applies to farm raised fish.  If you want gluten free and the benefits of eating this way, eat only wild caught fish.

The real estate in your body destroyed by gluten can take more than ten days to regenerate (villi and microvilli).  So cheating once a week with gluten products will NOT make you gluten free.  How closely you adhere to your nutrition plan is up to you.  Just make sure you know your food and fitness goals and eat accordingly.  Good fuel in means good performance out.

The beef you are considering is no worse, or better, than what you can purchase at the grocery already.

“So the beef I’m looking at getting is grass fed, but grain finished.  From what I understand this is what you are getting MOST of the time you buy beef that is labeled grass fed, especially if you buy it in the stores.  Tina’s beef is 100% grass fed, but won’t be ready until Sept. and I wanted something to get me by until then.  I have researched this and found a couple useful links below.   I also have a call into Tina…my main question is …if you feed them grain for the last 100 days (grain finished), how much does this change/impact the nutrition of the beef.  I know that is is leaner and the flavor is different when they are 100% grass fed but I’m more concerned with the nutritional value.

I think Pacie going to split the 1/4 with me, but it looks like we could find a home for another quarter.  I’ll make a post once I talk to Tina.
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/312544

http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_588.cfm”

4 replies
  1. Lisa
    Lisa says:

    i just chatted with kristen at ducketts and she verified that what they sell is grass finished (no grain at all), as some of you guys probably knew, but she did say the many other ranchers are labeling their beef as grass fed, but not changing anything they do. this is what makes me mad about our labeling.

  2. lisR
    lisR says:

    ya. i just met the owner of this ranch while i was at mt, film and emailed him with some questions. neat guy and trying to do things the right way.

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