Thoughts on grass fed beef

The benefits of grass fed beef.  

Here at Stock-in-Trade we are proud to carry all grass fed and grass finished beef. We, as a group and individuals many things, although none of us (at the time of this writing) are scientists, we would like to share some of the information we’ve shared on grass fed beef and why it is so beneficial. 

For starters, grass fed beef tends to mean – but EXCLUSIVELY means in our case, that the cows are pasture raised, allowed to roam around and fed with their overall nutrition in mind and not simply to gain weight. The distinction to make here is that animals that are fed grains (often soy or corn) because they are the least expensive and most fatening foods available on the market. At Stock-in-Trade we are proud to work with farms that pay close attention and take care of their livestock. This results in a better life for the animals. This allows for a healthy and sustained growth that is not comendeared by growth hormones. Growth hormones are proven to cause a number of health issues and lead to discomfort and pain in livestock. Grass fed cows tend to live better lives. 

From a nutritional standpoint, we’ve found in our research that the health benefits of grass fed beef are so numerous and far outway those of grain fed, feed lot style meat.  

Grass fed beef is in general leaner – theres more protein and less fat per serving  

Grass fed beef has Omega 3’s! - here’s where we can talk for hours but the long and the short is – you know those omega 3s that you hear about that you get from fish and are offered in tons of supplements? They’re present in grass fed beef. Particularly DHA. These are the ones that help strengthen cell structure and have been linked to helping heart health and even memory.  

-Higher in beta-carotene (a precursor to vitamin A) - helps you grow big and strong and helps with eyesight. Incidentally beta-carotene is what’s called a fat soluble nutrient which means in lay terms that when it is ingested it is stored in the fat of the animal. Beta-carotene gives things a yellowish hue (it is actually used as a dye or colouring agent on its own). The point of all of this, is that when you see that the fat in our beef has a beautiful yellow color you can be sure that it is indicative of a hight leverl of beta-carotene.  

-Higher in B vitamins, thiamin and riboflavin and in calcium, magnesium and potassium that grain fed beef.  

One more thing to note. In the case of a few of our farms, notably the beef from Blackview Farms, the cows that come to use were raised for longer, often close to 7 years. It is common practice for cows to only be raised to 1 or 2 years old or even less in the case of highly commercial settings. The significance of this is two fold: of course the animals have a chance to lead full lives and secondly, given that cows “keep” a great deal of what they eat in their bodies – when you think of their sheer size and the fact that they only eat grass, it means that they have to eat a heck of a lot of it,  So they have bodies that are conditioned to hold on to almost anything they can in their diet. This is why their diet is so important. It is also why very good nutrients gets passed on in their meat. Conversly toxins and chemicals aren’t something you want to end up in your supper. With this in mind, the cow that has had a proper diet for 7 whole years, has a substantially higher build up of the healthy nutrients listed above.   

We are always learning more about our products and we will always keep you in the loop. Bottom line, its very exciting to be working with farms that treat their livestock well and allow them to grow properly and feed them at diet that is better for them and translates to a better beef.