What did you eat today?

Exactly. Cows are meant to only eat grass -- not grain, corn, soy or anything else.

Plus, it should also be mentioned that factory farms have taken to adding other stuff to the feed, like GMO soy, parts of other dead animals, and even gummy worms... all to fatten them up and increase output.

 

striploin on the bbq and a nukular potato

 

Lazy. Plus, I like butter (a well-known fact).

 

Thanks for the info. Don't get me started on GMO'S! They're finally starting to label them here, but it's still far from being mandatory for all food. No way of knowing if a potato you're buying is genetically engineered.

Striploin, yum. That's my favourite cut of steak.

 

I wasn't aware of that fact, but we all have our quirks I suppose.
Whenever I see that kind of, what seems, quality meat, I really love a good sauce to go with it.

 

Twinkies? That's just a ridiculous comparison. It's not the corn in twinkies thats bad, it's the sugar and all the artificial colors and preservatives.
Cows do fine finished on organic corn, it doesn't make them sick, (maybe a little gassy at first from the change of diet) if you've got a reputable citation supporting your claim I'd be glad to counter it.

 

GMO-corn is bad, but especially when it's in the form of corn syrup. Still, cows were never meant to be fed corn.

As this article states:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/meat/interviews/pollan.html

 

Checking out the article, I see this cat Michael Pollens creds are weak at best.
Former editor at Harpers, author of several books " examining the intersections between science and culture" the guy bought a cow and followed it through the cattle industry for the article for NYT mag.

I don't dissagree with much of what he's saying, but the first thing is modern dairy and beef cattle are highly bred for their purpose, they are far removed from their ancient heredity. Comparing the way modern beef and dairy cattle are fed to their ancestors eating purely from pasture "the way they've done it for millions of years." is ludicrous.

 

I don't think she was saying the corn in twinkies are bad (although hfcs is really bad for you), I think she was saying twinkies are to humans as corn is to cows because twinkies are not a natural part of the human diet.

 

Right. And, we can eat a few of them here and there, but a diet consisting entirely of this processed, sugary, food would not lead to good health.

 

All cattle are grass fed, it is about the finish. You will end up with a gamey flavored leaner beef with grass finished. Yes grass fed grass finished beef is slightly healthier but only marginally. Corn or Grain finish beef cattle gain marbling at the feed lot, the grain cleaning the gamey flavor from the fat, for a more traditional flavor. Grass fed, organic corn finished, with a never ever antibiotic or hormone (not a withdrawal program) and you have the best of both worlds.
Most USDA Antibiotic and Hormones programs are withdrawal programs ( they withdraw the antibiotics and hormones 120 days or so before sale) and not true natural programs. Certified Angus Beef Natural is the only grass fed corn finished with a "never ever" program. You can get this information from the USDA.gov website.

 

This morning I cooked pancakes and bacon for my wife.

Actually, that's a lie. She doesn't eat pork. The bacon was all for me.

There was also a pot of coffee in there somewhere.

 

I don't eat meat for this reason. Slaughtering any cow, no matter what it eats, still causes excess suffering, undue waste of resources, and pollution. The only thing I can offer here is that the way an animal is treated during it's life should far outweigh the taste of it's flesh. Feeding a cow a bit of grain might give it a more "traditional flavor," but I would just as soon get used to a different flavor if they made the cow less likely to be made sick from an unnatural diet. Small sacrifice.

By the way, I'm trying to start an ethic argument here, just giving you my point of view on the subject.

 

not much of anything hardly.
candybar, slice of pizza, slimjim.

 

Fair enough. The domestication of any animal is inherantly cruel IMO including horses and dogs but thats another topic...
You don't eat meat for a variety of reasons and thats your chioce, but the idea that feeding them grain is unnatural and makes them sick is just hyperbole. Cattle are highly inbred and there will always be culls. Unscrupulous ranchers pump them full of antibiotics in an effort to reduce the culls and increase their bottom line.

I like to get my beef and dairy from organic ranches that raise what I call 'happy cows' They are raised in open spaces, not the kind of over crowding you see in commercial lot's, and the ranchers really do care about the animals well-being throughout life. These are the kind of ranchers that practically treat their cattle as pet's. They are concerned about the slightest changes in the weather and such things that will effect the cows psyche and general comfort. There are at least 2 natural organic beef and dairy farms within my area that produce the most delicious milk cheese butter and beef you've ever tasted! Happy cows make better food period.

 

Feeding cattle grain is unnatural. I don't see where you're getting the idea it's not is coming from. The fact is, grass-fed beef isn't just a little healthier, but vastly healthier than grain-fed beef. One is high in anti-inflammatory omega-3 fatty acids, while one is high is pro-inflammatory omega-6 fatty acids. So the difference is pretty huge.

Most of the bad rap that red meat receives comes from studies done on people who eat conventionally-raised beef.

 

Domestic meat production is unnatural, period. But very convenient! :cowboy:

 

So if you perceive domestication of an animal as inherently cruel why do you have a dog?

 

This looks so, so good on a rainy Sunday afternoon.

 

I have to agree with Bird, I have nothing against butter (unless it was fed candy of course!), but that lump of butter looks strange to go with it.