Grass-fed beef is full of Omega 3s, like sardines that moo.

November 25, 2020 11:24 AM

Bill McKibben first wants to establish: I Do Not Have A Cow In This Fight. McKibben then takes us on a short tour, the pros and cons of how we grow and eat meat, and what it costs us.
posted by dancestoblue (9 comments total)

Ah, he's learned about modern range management.
posted by Glomar response at 11:32 AM on November 25, 2020 [2 favorites]

From 2010? Surely new data and analysis since then.....
posted by lalochezia at 11:46 AM on November 25, 2020 [1 favorite]

In NZ all our beef is free-range (within paddocks) grass-fed rotational-grazing, always seems strange to do feedlot - we do increasingly use barns in winter, mainly to reduce nutrient runoff and subsequent eutrophication - feedlot is just SO diesel/energy intensive too. But free-range across unfenced openlands as in US/Australia seems a recipe for disaster and all-very medieval.

Bit simplistic "move your herd or your flock once or twice a day" I don't know any farmers who could afford to do this¹. Most farms here graze a paddock (2 to many hectares) for several days (while monitoring pasture height - increasingly not al grass, sometimes not grass at all), and then open the gate (increasingly with a robot) and the animals just moove to better feed.

¹ Also you need a certain herd/flock size to do it, I have a client who wants to do this (it's useful in changing soil chemistry to reduce weeds and pests) but he doesn't have enough stock to graze the paddock down to the right level in such a short time.
posted by unearthed at 12:44 PM on November 25, 2020 [6 favorites]

Raised on a dairy farm....

Studies done by Chico State re: using sprouts as a food/fodder source

These issues are being approached.

There was a study out of McGill University (I think) that showed that grass-fed animals have a lower probability of EColi as the digestive enzymes to not provide a host for the bacteria to survive. Grain-fed is the opposite.

Cheap beef is not cheep. The beef, dairy and grain industries are heavily subsidized. We pay for it through the backend.

Meats, fish, etc were an urban luxury until the fifties and sixties when mass production came into play and the beef industry began major advertising campaign. I've been told that cuts like tri-tip's began being marketed as prime cut in the late 40's as a means to move a product that was selling poorly do to it's toughness. The dairy industry did the same with skim milk.

The CAFO farms are worthy of the criticism they receive On my family farm, I saw that the animals are now being bread for increase udder size (more yield) at the expense of the animals comfort and health. That said I am extremely annoyed at the documentaries being put out regarding animal treatment on farms. To me they are ideologically driven, strident, over the top and exclude the care that a lot of farmers do take with their animals. (mainly on small farms)

For me the logic is there. Reduce consumption. Support smaller farms. Be willing to pay a higher price for your product. You are paying the real market price for the product and the price will be balanced out by the reduced consumption. And in buying from a smaller farm, you see where your money goes. Buy from the best farm you can find that is making an effort to reduce extraction
(water, soil, and surrounding environments.

Good reporting is also being done by Sarah Mock and Sarah Taber re: how farming politics and how farms are being forced to confront these issues from the perspective of the farming community
posted by goalyeehah at 1:00 PM on November 25, 2020 [14 favorites]

The key part "it’s going to be more expensive" is relegated to the bottom of the article (followed by an explanation of how expensive meat is a good thing, to motivate consuming less of it).

But the whole point of capitalism is to make shit cheaper to produce, then to convince us to consume more of the cheap shit. If it were easy to change this, climate change would have been solved long ago. The fight against climate change is not a technical battle so much as it is a political one.
posted by splitpeasoup at 1:02 PM on November 25, 2020 [10 favorites]

Eh, when I was living in Tulsa, the cost of relatively local grass fed beef from the butcher around the corner from my house was only ~10% more than the "market" beef from the grocery store a little further down the street. Maybe it would have been more if the climate of the area had been less conducive to growing grass or land was more expensive.

Funny enough, before that, I lived next to one of the many farms those cows came from. Every once in a while, one or more of Wendell's cows would decide to ignore the fence and would wander through the yard. Then there were the few days a year when the bulls were allowed to do what bulls do. Even though they were kept far from the house, they could be distractingly loud about it, often in the middle of the night.

The chicken farms were still worse neighbors.
posted by wierdo at 2:38 PM on November 25, 2020 [2 favorites]

Unearthed, when I visited Germany in 2017, it seemed that many herds that were on pasture topped out at about 65-75. The herds were also consistently mixed breeds
posted by goalyeehah at 4:52 PM on November 25, 2020 [1 favorite]

While I highly appreciate Bill's works, I noticed that the article's comments began 10 years ago. Some more recent sources from science ( staying away from the moral question)

Up-to-date on methane from UCDavis

Same source, also 2020: (methane in atmo lasts 12 years), progress being made by CA dairy-ers

Head of UCDavis program explains why 'cows are not killing the climate'

I've avoided meat more as time goes by because 1. my body is happier with less; 2. store meat (and fruit and vegetables) taste shittier every year; 3. beans and nuts.
posted by Twang at 5:15 PM on November 25, 2020 [6 favorites]

"One per cent of the world’s farms operate 70% of crop fields, ranches and orchards, according to a report that highlights the impact of land inequality on the climate and nature crises ... which results in more destructive monocultures" from The Guardian

Capitalism at work. Incentives need to be changed.

The report on which the Guardian article is based is a good read: "how we share and use land is key to the future of people and the planet"
posted by anadem at 3:10 AM on November 26, 2020