by Monica Johnson
Grass-fed is the latest buzzword that is being used to deceive consumers.
In this video, Jessica Cadman of Shady Grove Ranch, shares what typically happens to cows, even what is ultimately labeled, “grass-fed,” and compares it to their operation in East Texas, a true grass-fed cattle ranch.
“There’s a lot of deception in the grass-fed concept, because it is actually true that 100% of cows, pretty much, they eat grass the first year or two of their lives. These local farmers, you know “mom and pop,” they raise their cow-calf operation and then they bring the calves to the sale barn when their a year old and their weaned and they sell them. And then a transition feedlot buys them and they start to transition them from the grass, which is their natural feed, to an unnatural feed like corn and various other things. Eventually, that animal is moved to a true feedlot and finished exclusively on corn with a little bit of other stiff mixed in their, so that it fattens well and you don’t have to – t’s a really cheap way to produce beef. Even though that cow ate grass, that last six months of its life changed its fat profile tremendously and also created a lot of health problems [for the cow],” states Jerica Cadman.
Monica Johnson is a freelance writer, co-owner of Hudson Farms, in Deep East Texas and founder of Sacred Seed, a non-profit that focuses on sharing the the importance of food with children.