The new consumer is voting for what exists in the world by how they spend their dollars.  Many people come to grass fed because it is healthier and safer.  Many consumers choose grass fed because it represents more humane care and treatment of the livestock.  Some consumers like the idea of supporting American family farms.  Another huge segment chooses the grass fed model of production because on the environmental concerns associated with factory farming.

Mintel, a marketing research group, recently published results of consumer surveys that reflect this idea.  As more and more Americans are moving toward greener purchases the production of green products have increased over 200% in the last 5 years.  Mintel noted a trend in consumers’ growing interest in products that are not just organic or natural but address their environmental concerns.  More than ever shoppers want to purchase goods that help protect and preserve the world around us.

In this vein the green lifestyle has welcome arms around the solar based, environmentally friendly grass fed model of production.

As grassfarmers you have probably heard me say that what we do is grow grass, right?  We then use cattle to harvest our crop.  Why would we want to burn pasture?

September and time to renovate some of our finishing pastures for winter grazing.  We use a no-till drill to plant grass seed into the ground.  This allows you to plant without having to disturb the soil by tillage.  In our steep to rolling hills the potential for soil erosion is significant.  A great advantage to this no-till planting is to conserve soil and decrease any erosion.

Another advantage is that we try to time the planting shortly after a rain.  Conventional methods of tilling would require for the pasture to dry out before disking.  Since you don’t remove the top layer and the soil is not directly exposed to the sun the soil retains moisture longer.  This promotes the germination of the grass seed.

REPORTER: There are many suppliers who claim grass fed status.  Who are the real McCoys in your opinion?

DR. WHISNANT:  Without a legal definition in place for grass fed many operations, especially those larger entities that purchase cattle from various producers and market under a “corporate” business model have grass-raised the ruminant and yet grain finish to speed the finishing process, this is often done in confinement.

In this unique time, when we are still in an atmosphere without a legally binding standard for grass fed, there is opportunity to borrow traits of factory farmed livestock production and speed the rate of finish.  Over the last 5-6 years the demand for grass fed beef has continued to increase.  Since grass fed beef is marketed at a premium this offers opportunity to large corporate farms.  Many are currently spending multi-millions in developing a brand name before the rules go into place.  Specifically, I mean that several of the new brand names are finishing on corn and yet can still label as grassfed. 

As many grass fed producers who finish their animals on grass we have come to understand the importance of breed selection in the quality of the beef we produce.  Many fellow grass farmers are returning to heritage breeds in beef, poultry and swine as they journey back to the basics in livestock production. 

Beef characteristics such as tenderness, cut out, disposition, birth weight, age at maturation (finished weight) and even loin size all affect the finished product.  At American Grass Fed Beef we have returned to the shorter-legged English types that reach puberty earlier and finish faster on grazing conditions.  Further, we select for those animals that do particularly well in our specific environment, those momma cows that maintain their body weight through the winter and through the lactation period on our hill country.  In many cases this has meant a return to the cattle that are the breed types of pre-WWII (pre-feedlot) era.

Eric Schlosser was our keynote speaker at the American Grassfed Association conference in Colorado Springs last month.  He was a delight to get to know and held our group of 250 grass fed producers in rapt attention.  It was thrilling to us as producers to hear him speak to the benefits of raising animals on grass the way nature intended rather than opting to enter the world of industrial meat industry with its behemoth feedlots and mega-processing plants. 

I had read Fast Food Nation years ago and found it a good read.  Thoroughly researched, it was as provocative in message focusing in light of the modern meat as Upton Sinclair was in writing about the meat industry in the early part of the century.  Eric has followed through in writing Chew on This which is the kid’s version of his earlier book.  It is required reading at my house. 

It will be exciting to see the reactions to the movie version of Fast Food Nation which will be out this fall.  If you would like a sneak preview peek here:

http://www.fastfoodnation-movie.com/trailer.php

Super Healthy, Not Super Size
Fast Food Nation's Eric Schlosser talks to Epicurious about
getting kids to eat healthy

The movie Fast Food Nation will be released on October 20.
With Americans — and their kids — super sizing themselves, and with one in five public schools in America offering brand-name fast food in the school cafeterias, we are reaching a health crisis. It is particularly alarming in the youngest and most vulnerable segment, our children.
"Since the early 1970s the rate of obesity among adult Americans has risen by 50 percent," writes Schlosser. "Among preschoolers it has doubled. And among children aged six to 11 it has tripled."

American Grassfed Association

100% Grassfed Ruminant Program ~ Measuring, Standards & Requirements

1. SCOPE

These requirements apply to all farms and ranches approved by the American Grassfed Association (AGA) for the production of Certified Grassfed Ruminant animals and products destined for certification by the AGA. Only farms and ranches using the AGA’s Certified American Grassfed™ logo are certified following these herein Grassfed Ruminant Standards practices:

1.1 Grass-based animal production.

1.2 Grassfed Ruminant animal access wholesome and nutritious grass-based forage.

1.3 Holistic approach to farm/ranch management.

1.4 Responsible animal care that supports humane, animal welfare.

1.5 Considerate handling, transport, and slaughter of Grassfed Ruminant animals.

I am often asked to speak to various groups of cattlemen concerning grass fed beef production and marketing.  The following represents one of these meetings:

Though my education and experience are in the field of livestock production my only credentials in coming to you tonight is “Our Story”.  The story of our family farm would parallel that of many of yours and it is in this story that lays the true passion for what we do.

I heard it remarked a couple of decades ago that you needed to decide if you were in the land business or in the cattle business.  I will admit that for years we were in the land business and did not depend on our farm to exclusively support our family.  Not so today.  We are tied to the land by love and respect but also depend upon it for our income.

For years we have sponsored a Christian retreat at our farm.  Folks from all over the country and Canada have attended.  Many of these folks seemed to enjoy the weekend or week on the farm as much as the spiritual renewal.  City folks who joined our family in farm chores made us appreciated anew why we felt privileged to live on a farm.  One evening a lady from Atlanta, who had attended one of these retreats, called and wanted to buy a cow!  I remembered her quite well as she and her husband were allergic types and had to stay inside most of the time for our Missouri hills played havoc with their sinuses.  As the story goes, she had been a vegetarian for over 14 years and had recently shown signs of deficiencies for which her doctor advised she seek out better protein sources, mainly red meat.   Being a computer research analyst she did her homework and came to the fact that the healthiest, safest and most humanely produced red meat was grassfed beef.  It was from this collaboration between a computer guru and a family farm veterinarian that American Grassfed Beef was born.