Note to self. Never talk to a farmer about grass feeding

[MsPony]

That was horrible spelling, papillon*?

I'm talking about canine domestica being a scavenger, thus the intestinal tract/function being slightly different. Not a huge difference, except in chihuahuas. And yes, I've lived with 10+ chihuahuas before, I know what they are all about...unfortunately.

 

[MsPony]

I wish I could edit from my phone, I apologize!

In that article WZ posted, it said wolves eat muscle meat. However, Free has said its too rich for our dogs and to give more tendon/ligament/etc. The thing I see always mentioned and agree with, is organs and bones/marrow. Jax eats raw bones, loves it! He spends hours with his raw bones and completely consumes them with no problem.

 

[dacjohns]

How this thread has diverged. I'm not even sure what I want is even relevant to this thread .

When I see the grass feeding topic I can't help but wonder what all the cattle I see in the fields around here are eating and what the ranchers in the West think. All I saw was grass fed before the cattle got shipped to market.

 

[FarmerChick]

my barn cats eat grass and puke up after

rancid mouse I guess

 

[Buster]

All I saw was grass fed before the cattle got shipped to market.

They aren't shipped to market. They are shipped to CAFOs to finish off. It is very rare that beef cattle are marketed straight from grass, unless they are being marketed to CAFOs.

Anybody tells you any different is feeding you a load of bull****.

 

[FarmerChick]

All I saw was grass fed before the cattle got shipped to market.

They aren't shipped to market. They are shipped to CAFOs to finish off. It is very rare that beef cattle are marketed straight from grass, unless they are being marketed to CAFOs.

Anybody tells you any different is feeding you a load of bull****.

but if the farm ships to a private custom slaughterhouse like I do with my hogs, then that is all controlled

so when buying "grass fed" beef, it sure helps to know exactly if they are processing their own. ALOT of smaller farms do their own with custom plants and they are not "finished" any further than what they did on the farm.

the profit is not in the grass fed beef being sold to the middle man......the profit is made in the retail to the consumer....so many smaller farms like me go for that highest profit from their livestock and process themselves at custom plants.

 

[dacjohns]

All I saw was grass fed before the cattle got shipped to market.

They aren't shipped to market. They are shipped to CAFOs to finish off. It is very rare that beef cattle are marketed straight from grass, unless they are being marketed to CAFOs.

Anybody tells you any different is feeding you a load of bull****.

OK, poor choice of words. Off to the auction. The point I was trying to make is that the cattle I see where I live are raised on grass from calving to full size, market size, or whatever you what to call it when they get shipped off.

 

[Buster]

All I saw was grass fed before the cattle got shipped to market.

They aren't shipped to market. They are shipped to CAFOs to finish off. It is very rare that beef cattle are marketed straight from grass, unless they are being marketed to CAFOs.

Anybody tells you any different is feeding you a load of bull****.

but if the farm ships to a private custom slaughterhouse like I do with my hogs, then that is all controlled

Hence the term "rare".

As in "not always".

 

[freemotion]

It can be very deceptive. There is a dairy nearby, owned by a vet who shows his cows. I thought it was a grass-fed small dairy for years. After doing all the reading I've been doing in recent years, I started to take note of which cows were outside. I drive by there quite often, at various times of the day, on my way to work.

They are always the dry heifers. I've never seen a full udder outside. He got rid of most of his pastures a few years ago and plants corn there now. He has one small pasture for dry cows/heifers that is right up against a busy road, so it LOOKS like his cows spend lovely days outside, eating grass and loafing in the shade of old maples.

It made me sad to discover this and have yet another bubble burst.

 

[Quail_Antwerp]

I'm popping in like a fly by wind....

We grass feed - that's it...mostly because it's free...and we hay in the winter.

I had a local farmer tell me if we don't finish our beef out on grain the meat will be slimy....uh...last one we finished on grass wasn't slimy? I thought she was pretty tasty.

I will say, though, that we have been giving our current ones about 1 cup of grain every evening at 6 pm as a treat - training method. Routine, if you will, so if she ever gets out, she's going to come back for her evening treat