cattle feeding

Cow eating grass

Different cattle feeding production systems have separate advantages and disadvantages. All cows have a diet that is composed of at least some forage (grass, legumes, or silage). In fact most beef cattle are raised on pasture until they reach a year of age. Then for pasture-fed animals, grass is the forage that composes all or at least the great majority of their diet. In corn-fed cattle, forage is supplemented with grain in order to increase the energy density of the diet. The debate is whether cattle should be raised on diets primarily composed of pasture (grass) or maize (corn). The issue is often complicated by the political interests and confusion between labels such as "free range", "organic", or "natural". Cattle raised on a majority forage diet are termed grass-fed or pasture-raised; for example meat or milk may be called grass-fed beef or pasture-raised dairy. However, the term "pasture-raised" can lead to confusion with the term "free range", which does not prescribe the fodder.

In the United States, cattle in concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) are traditionally fed corn, ethanol byproducts, and other grain feed. As a high-starch, high-energy food, corn decreases the time to fatten cattle and increases yield from dairy cattle. These cattle are called corn-fed or grain-fed. In the United States, most grass fed cattle are raised for beef production. Dairy cattle are usually supplemented with grain to increase the efficiency of production and reduce the area needed to support the energy requirements of the herd.

A growing number of health and environmental proponents in the United States such as the Union of Concerned Scientists advocate raising cattle on pasture and other forage. Some claim that the adoption of a grass fed beef production system would dramatically increase the amount of land needed to raise beef. However, the efficiency of grass fed beef could depend on your definition of effective land management. While grass fed beef would take more initial land for foraging, when corn fed beef’s total is squared with the land needed for corn production to feed grain-fed beef, the total is more equitable.^{[citation needed]}

Health and Nutrition

Fats

While grass-fed beef contains less total fat compared to grain-fed beef, grass-fed beef and dairy contain higher levels of Conjugated Linoleic Acid (CLA) and the Omega-3 fatty acids ALA, EPA, and DHA.^[1] While the research on CLA is unclear with regard to humans, it has shown many positive effects in animals in the areas of heart disease, cancer, and the immune system.

Antibiotics

Less intense population density is sometimes cited as a reason for decreased antibiotic usage in grass fed animals. However, bovine respiratory disease, the most common cause for antibiotic therapy has risk factors common in both forms of production (feedlot and pasture finished).^[2]

In dairy herds, grazed cattle typically have a reduced need for antibiotics relative to grain-fed cattle, simply because the grazed herds are less productive. A high-energy feedlot diet greatly increases milk output, measured in pounds or kilograms of milk per head per day, but it also increases animal physiological stress, which in turn causes a higher incidence of mastitis and other infectious disease, which frequently requires antibiotic therapy.

Disease

Meat and bone meal can be a risk factor for bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), when healthy animals consume tainted tissues from infected animals. People concerned about Creutzfeld-Jacob disease (CJD) may favor grass-fed cattle for this reason. However, in the United States, this risk is low already as feeding of protein sources from any ruminant has been banned since 1997.^[3]

Environmental concerns

In arid climates such as the Southwestern United States, livestock grazing has severely degraded riparian areas, the wetland environment adjacent to rivers or streams. People have long recognized that riparian zones and rivers are the lifeblood of the western landscape, being more productive and home to more plants and animals than any other type of habitat. Scientists refer to riparian zones as hotspots of biodiversity, a characterization that is particularly apparent in arid and semiarid environments, where such zones may be the only tree-dominated ecosystems in the landscape. The presence of water, increased productivity, favorable microclimate, and periodic flood events combine to create a disproportionately higher biological diversity than that of the surrounding uplands.^[4]

Taste

Grass-fed beef has a much different flavor and texture than grain-fed beef. A high-grain diet is responsible for intramuscular fat in beef, called marbling. As a consequence, grass-fed beef produces less "juicy" steaks than conventionally raised beef.

It is indeed possible to produce well marbled, juicy and tender beef with a 100% grass diet but it requires more resources and it can be difficult to produce consistent results. Specifically, grass-fed cattle need to be slaughtered at 24-30 months, as opposed to 18 months for typical feedlot beef. Also, after slaughter, the carcass ought to be "dry-aged" for 21 days, which was the common practice back when hanging beef was shipped via refrigerated rail car from, say, Kansas City to New York. Presently, feedlot cattle are taken to slaughter at 18 months and cut, boxed and shipped in a matter of minutes. ^{[citation needed]}

A 2003 Colorado State University study found that 80% of consumers in the Denver-Colorado area preferred the taste of United States corn-fed beef to Australian grass-fed beef, and negligible difference in taste preference compared to Canadian barley-fed beef.^[5]

USDA label

The United States Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) released a revised proposal for a grass fed meat label claim for its process-verified labeling program in May 2006. ^[6] The Union of Concerned Scientists, which in general supports the labeling proposal, claims that the current revision, which contains the clause "consumption of ... grain in the immature stage is acceptable", allows for "feed harvesting or stockpiling methods that might include significant amounts of grain" because the term "immature" is not clearly defined. ^[7]

On October 15, 2007 the USDA established a standard definition for the "grass fed" claim which requires continuous access to pasture and prevents animals from being fed grain or grain-based products.^[8]

See also

• Free range

References

1. ^ http://www.ucsusa.org/assets/documents/food_and_environment/greener-pastures.pdf, p. 58
2. ^ The medicine and epidemiology of bovine respiratory disease in feedlots. Australian veterinary journal Cusack 2003 vol:81 iss:8 pg:480-487 [1]
3. ^ http://www.hhs.gov/news/press/2004pres/20040126.html
4. ^ Kauffman,, J. Boone, Ph.D.. Lifeblood of the West. Retrieved on 2007-08-08.
5. ^ Wendy Umberger, Dawn Thilmany and Amanda Ziehl, Department of Agricultural & Resource Economicse, Colorado State University. 2003. "Consumer Tastes & Preferences: What Research Indicates". http://dare.agsci.colostate.edu/aft/curriculum/3.1_cons_prefs.ppt
6. ^ Agricultural Marketing Service, USDA (May 12, 2006). United States Standard for Livestock and Meat Marketing Claim, Grass (Forage) Fed Claim. The Federal Register. Retrieved on 2006-08-02.
7. ^ Clancy, Kate (presumably 2006-08-02). What's At Stake?. Union of Concerned Scientists. Retrieved on 2006-08-02.
8. ^ http://www.ams.usda.gov/news/178-07.htm

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