Many of you are probably already fully aware of the wonderful health benefits of grass fed beef. Grass fed beef is naturally higher in Omega-3 fatty acids, CLAs (Conjugated Linoleic Acids), beta-carotene, and Vitamin E than conventional grain-fed beef. It really comes down to the old saying; "You are what you eat". And that saying is just as true for cattle as it is for humans. Virtually all the beef that you buy in a store or eat at a restaurant or fast-food joint comes from cattle that have been fed a high grain diet in a feedlot for many months.

Cattle are ruminant animals and have four stomachs which are designed to digest forage, not grain. When fed a high grain diet, the rumen (the first stomach) of a beef animal becomes unnaturally acidic which contributes to a variety of cattle health problems. Acidosis, liver abcesses, a weakened immune system, which contributes to a higher incidence of respiratory diseases, are all common problems in feedlot cattle. That is why it is normal for feedlots to add sub-therapeutic levels of antibiotics to the feed in addition to the routine use of higher doses of antibiotics to treat sick animals. We have never once in 10 years had to treat any of our grass fed cattle for respiratory disease and obviously do not put any antibiotics in the feed because we never feed any grain.

Aside from the animal health and animal welfare issues associated with cattle being in feedlots, grain-fed cattle deposit fat that is greatly impacted by their unnatural diet. There are many informational sites that explain and document these differences. One of the best is www.eatwild.com,  authored by New York Times bestselling author Jo Robinson.