Paleo Diet and Paleolithic Diet Questions & Answers

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Basically: How much worse is 'grass finished (3 months) but grain fed' beef in terms of nutrients, and O3 content. Can those last three months salvage the a good cow?

The farmer is really awesome, and all of his meat is high quality... except for the grain. I was hoping on using this farmer for suet.

flag	asked Apr 9 2011 at 0:50 CJ 21●2

tartare · Answer 1 · 2011-04-23 04:21:20Z UTC

well , if this is true, grass finished but grain fed is far far better than just grain fed. After 3 months I believe with what I've read that it's almost as good as pure grass fed. People seem surprised here but it DOES make some sense. A grass fed cow will take about 2 years or thereabouts to mature to slaughter weight whereas a grain fed cow takes about half that long. Maybe this is some attempt to speed the process but retain the better fat profile? theoretically if this is true speaking.

Michael · Answer 2 · 2011-04-23 02:33:01Z UTC

One test should be if the cows ever receive antibiotics. If the cows don't ever need antibiotics, then they aren't eating enough grain to mess up system. My preference is to go with 100% grass fed beef. But grass finished may be good enough depending on the situation.

Kim The Nourishing Cook · Answer 3 · 2011-04-09 02:05:01Z UTC

So the animals are pastured but the farmer supplements with grain? Did they say why they have to supplement when they're already on pasture? Normally they would just supplement with hay (dried grass) not grain if they're already on pasture. Especially since they can get a higher price for 100% grass-fed beef.

Our locally owned health food store with butcher inside has this same type of beef (grain fed, grass finished), and I've never understood why farmers would do it this way. I ended up buying 100% grass fed from a local farmer instead. The taste is much better, as well as nutrient profile.

Celton · Answer 4 · 2011-04-09 01:18:16Z UTC

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I know.. thats what I said. But I know the farmer pretty well. I also should have mentioned that the cows are pastured while being grain fed.

But still, what part of a cows life determines the nutrients in its fat?

answered Apr 9 2011 at 1:18

Celton
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This is a very odd farm you are dealing with. – Glenn Apr 9 2011 at 1:49

With a mix of grass and grain throughout its lifetime from start to finish...these animals probably have less fat than grain finished. But the animals are still eating neolithic food it was never intended to eat and thus will still have the characteristics of CAFO beef. And it is hard to keep grain fed animals healthy without lots of antibiotics. If this farmer doesn't use antibiotics at all..then you are probably buying an animal that is finished quickly and thus you may see some savings over all grassfed. The fat nutrients are determined by its genes and what it was recently fed. – Dexter Apr 9 2011 at 2:01

Glenn... remember that the general population doesn't think the paleo way. You should have heard him. He was essentially saying he grass finishes them because thats 'the best way to do it' and 'tastes the best'. ugh. Why doesn't he just grass feed them the whole way? And then he said that it was so lean that you needed to add 'vegetable oil' when cooking it. Well, what can you say? – Celton Apr 9 2011 at 3:22

Dexter · Answer 5 · 2011-04-09 00:55:24Z UTC

Usually it is the other way around....a grassfed animal is raised on grass til about 500-600 pounds and then is sold off and shipped off to a feedlot to be grain finished. That process takes about a year to a slaughtered animal...whereas a totally grass fed animal takes about 18 months for it to get to slaughter weight of plus or minus 1200 pounds...thus the higher cost for grassfed.

Being grain fed first and then grassfed to finish...I can't imagine farmer doing it this way.

Grass Finished but grain fed?

5 Answers