“Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food.” – Hippocrates.
Grass fed beef has many health and environmental benefits that conventional grain fed beef doesn’t. Here, I wanted to take a look at a few of the big ones.
1.) Grass Fed Beef is Healthier For You
How an animal is raised and what they eat has a direct correlation to the nutritional quality of your food and how it supports your body’s overall health. When cows are fed grains and corn instead of grass, the nutritional makeup of the beef changes. Green grass and forage is a far superior energy source than corn and grains, resulting in significantly healthier meat.
The benefits of 100% grass-fed meat are listed below:
Lower in total fat
Lower saturated fat content
Higher in total omega-3 fatty acids (good fats)
A healthier ratio of omega-3 to omega-6 fatty acids
Higher in conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), a potential cancer fighter
Higher in vaccenic acid (which can be turned into CLA)
Higher in vitamin E
Higher in B vitamins
Higher in beta-carotene
Higher in the minerals calcium, magnesium and potassium
Find out more about the benefits of 100% grass-fed meat from the Pasture-Fed Livestock Association.
2.) Grass Fed Beef Tastes Better
100% grass fed beef is by far the most natural type of beef available. It’s raised clean, untainted by the practices of massive industrialized operations that dominate mainstream cattle and cattle-feed production. In most cases, especially when produced on small scale farms, the resulting food is rich in complex nutrients that support a healthy, balanced diet and doesn’t have any artificial fillers or preservatives.
Our beef has an exceptional depth of flavour that is due to the animals’ slow maturing on a varied and wholly 100% pasture diet with no grains, soya, root crops and brassicas . The meat is rich in nutrients, minerals, vitamins and heart-healthy fats.
3.) Grass Fed Beef is More Sustainable
Cattle raised in a holistically managed system is incredibly more sustainable than beef raised in an industrialized system.
Industrial farms are characterized by their excessive size, irresponsible use of resources, reliance on chemicals and utter disregard of their short and long term environmental impact. A beef feedlot operation has a laundry list of environmental disasters, and to top it off, this style of agriculture also relies on massive industrialized crop farms that grow the corn and soy as feed. The amount of resources wasted, land destroyed, and harmful chemicals used in this system is breathtaking.
In contrast, a pasture grazing operation is designed around a single sustainable concept – healthy soil. The grass relies on healthy soil, the cattle relies on healthy grass, and the soil relies on healthy fertilization (cattle). It’s beautiful.
And, many grass fed beef farms like ours work diligently to plan and maintain a holistic system that’s not only sustainable, but actually restores and revitalized damaged grasslands that are vital to the health of the planet.
