You Are What Your Animals Eat...Consider Grassfed

There is the old saying, "You are what you eat." This holds true in the vast majority of cases. Since the inception of factory farming, things have changed a bit. Factory farms generally fed their cattle, pigs and other grazers a mix of corn and grain. These two types of feed are not part of the native diets of most grazing animals, especially cattle and lamb. Now the feedlot farms have taken a new turn and it seems that the old saying can be turned into a new modified version, courtesy of the factory farm. "You are what the animal you eat...eats."

Factory farms are concerned about making money. The most expensive part of raising these animals is the feed that goes into fattening the sedentary beasts. Factory farmers have taken a new turn and instead of feeding them the lesser grains or corn (in comparison to grass), they have decided to cut input costs even more and feed their animals things such as banana chips, yogurt-covered raisin, cookies, licorice, cheese curls, frosted wheat cereal, Tater Tots, Kit Kat bars, uncooked French fries, pretzels and chocolate bars. Some of these "farmers" have even admitted to feeding their animals an entire by-product based diet.

As it happens, the consumer is the only person losing out. The cost of meat products is actually rising but the animal products are no longer a nutrient based option. Grass is the native diet to these animals and it provides them with a healthy base for proteins, antioxidants and omega - 3 fatty acids. Consequently, no one has even measured the nutritional value of the junk fed animals but I can assure that their quality would not compare to the grass fed animal.

Below is the link to an article that discusses the candy fed animals.

http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB117971270570109153-zOC0IHWiWPWox_jaHb4rBiWVpIo_20070528.html?mod=blogs