..and I've had plenty of high $$ corn fed out of US feedlots that was tough as a boot. It's not just about the grass, you have to know when to harvest, insist on proper handling on the way to the plant and before slaughter and getting enough hang time after the kill.

Oh, and there's that little thing about their low-stress treatment too.

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Never a dull moment at Berry Hill Farm.

man i love good garden pictures! very cool.

i guess initial start up cost is high if you're digging out a new garden, but once started, the labor really is nothing. we have a little farm stand nearby that sells started veggies as well as seed, super cheap. we get tons of veggies each year and freeze/can them so the money saving lasts well into the winter and next spring. just this past tuesday i planted 10 tomato plants (16 total), and 12 green & red peppers. we've got a 20 ft. row each of string beans, snap peas, and onions. pumpkins and squash go in next, watermelon too. cabbage, carrots, spinach, lettuce, beets, potatoes, that's not all of it, you name it chances are we put it in our garden. and if you keep up with weeding and use a stirrup hoe, there's barely any work after planting.

the blueberries, strawberries, blackberries, raspberries, and grapes we have are all taking care of themselves, with a little trimming back here and there. the apple trees, peach tree, pear trees, and cherry tree take care of themselves as well, with a little trim and prune here and there. anything we don't just walk out and eat off the tree gets frozen and eaten later or cooked/baking into something to freeze (home made apple sauce!).

it's easier and cheaper than you think.

R Leo, that's a great service to provide, and healthier and better for the environment.

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1985 300D - 1984 Euro 280E AMG Clone (SOLD) - 1978 280CE (SOLD) - 1983 300D (SOLD) - 1981 300D (SOLD)

When I was in Asia, beef was quite often air flown New Zealand beef and I mostly had tough meet. Here, I have had some meat where I swear they substituted with shoe leather. Not very often though. I would say that on the whole, the corn fed beef out of the feedlots have been good for the most part.

What would change in that case?

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Supermarkets are pretty scary anymore. Just pick a box at random and read the ingredients. Sugar, salt, starch, artificial everything, additive, process, process, chemical..... It's weird stuff.

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Valid question.

Yes, just because it is grassfed there's no guarantee of a quality eating experience. But remember, the same holds true for grain-fed; less than 5% of the commercially produced (grain-fed) beef in the US grades out at USDA Prime. Which means every night there is a lot of less than perfect beef placed on restaurant tables, eaten and paid for.

I don't know zip about New Zealand grassfed beef other than what I've had has been excellent. Same with Australian. Those were steaks in restaurants so you know there was additional quality control in place. And, I've eaten both good and bad grassfed here in the states. Granted, stateside I have more opportunity to sample beef from small producers and thus exposed to more variation in product with less controls.

And, because grassfed's now considered earth-friendly/animal-friendly/healthy/green/you-name-it, there are a growing number of US producers that keep their cattle on grass to maturity and and sell it to an end user as "grass-fed" rather than taking calves to the auction barn. Because of the decades-long evolution of the US feedlot-based beef industry, damned few of those animals have the genetics to properly finish on grass which means your grass-fed steak may be great and it may be something less than great.

There's a lot more to finishing beeves on grass than simply turning them out on a pasture; you must have the proper genetics and, you must have the proper annual and perennial grasses to provide the protein and carbohydrates in the timely manner needed for proper finishing. Right now, the Argentinians are probably the best at grassfed. Argentina is remarkably similar to the US in climate and so they have the most viable production model for grassfed here in the US. I'm still studying their methods.

Is BHF there yet? Not by long shot! We make up the difference with low-stress handling, proper processing techniques and aging. This year will be the first harvest of animals from BHF for retail sale; we'll see how we're doing. I know from my research and from actual taste testing (Beef 706 at TAMU July '08) that it is possible to produce grassfed beef that rivals USDA Prime in flavor and eating experience. So, for the moment, accept the fact that grass-fed isn't always boot leather.

Here are some additional reasons for grassfed. First, grassfed beef is significantly higher in Omega-3 than feedlot beef...some studies claim higher in Omega-3 than salmon but that's probably marketing BS. Second, cattle are grazers not grain-eaters. Corn and grains are not part of a steer's natural diet; to survive in a feedlot eating grain shoulder to shoulder with 400 of their closest friends, they are shot full of antibiotics which ultimately wind up on your plate in your steak. Third, take a look at a feed lot and tell me that you honestly believe those animals are being treated ethically. I happen to like cows; it bothers me to see them in a feedlot breathing dust and cow*****.

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Never a dull moment at Berry Hill Farm.

Oh, I agree. That is why I said that if the price is better, I take it, if it is more expensive, it will have to be worth my while from a taste standpoint. So far, from what I have seen, it is a push, tastewise. The best of the grass fed is comparable to the best of the grain fed if you want to compare apples to apples. At least it is, IMO since I can't tell the difference blindfolded.

Haven't tried that yet but will someday.

BHF???

Perhaps it is that I am used to the way it tastes with grain fed or like I said, I haven't been able to do a blind test and know the difference. I don't mind sampling all kinds and doing comparisons. Usually, I will have the steak grilled with butter on it along with another one and have the wife feed it to me blindfolded. If I cannot taste the difference, that beef gets ranked with the rest of the beef as similar.

While some are afraid of the antibiotics, I guess I am one that isn't too worried about where it ends up, or what form it ends up after being cooked. Not really sure if it will do much to me.

While my business doesn't revolve around cows since Nam doesn't have much in cows, more in poultry, I can't say for sure that I know much about them. HOWEVER, extrapolating from what I have seen, I would agree with you about their living conditions. I know how it is going to sound but while I don't care about cows, I have a soft spot for dogs and the puppy mills. I guess I am more bonded to dogs than other species of animal. Unfortunately, cows aren't on the same list as dogs with me.

If you were closer, I'd buy some meat from you just to play with it and see if I can tell the difference.

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Note sure if this is true but since we have included Beef in this discussion I thought I would toss it out there.

I heard/read/saw somewhere that the growth hormones being used in livestock is affecting the growth of our youth. As an example they spoke about the breast size of young women. Not sure if this in anecdotal or not but I do not remember the girls in my school (25 years ago) looking like my nieces and other girls do now. Just saying.

If true, that is enough to cause me a bit of worry.

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But will it have the effect AFTER it is cooked? After all, we eat the food cooked for the most part and will the cooking heat destroy the hormones?

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I like my meat rare, practically uncooked on the inside. And anyway, my manboobs are big enough without the help of growth hormones.

BHF = Berry Hill Farm...our place where we grow the grass fed beef.

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Never a dull moment at Berry Hill Farm.

these are chemical compounds that do NOT cook out with high heat, as living bacteria do. hormone levels do not change with heat, nor disappear after death. farm vets test hormone levels to help diagnose cause of death on downed animals that have no obvious cause of death. those hormones stick around.

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1985 300D - 1984 Euro 280E AMG Clone (SOLD) - 1978 280CE (SOLD) - 1983 300D (SOLD) - 1981 300D (SOLD)

it really depends on who you ask, and who is profiting from the answer. i work in natural/organic foods and the agreed upon standard is that they are in fact affecting puberty and growth rates in children. mostly it's growth hormones being used on dairy cows as well as chemical/hormonal mixtures used at every process of raising the animals (fertilizer, feed, anti-biotics, etc.), and then being passed along in milk. breast sizes are going up, average puberty ages are going down, breast cancer rates go up, allergies are more common, chemical imbalances (depression, ADHD, etc.) are all being linked to what we put into the animals we eat.

food for thought...i just wish you could get a truly unbiased study done in the states. again, it's those who profit who sponsor the tests.

but, regardless of what you believe, it's easy enough to grow some of your own food, limit your processed meat intake, buy natural and organic pasture raised meat when you can (and if it's affordable), and pay attention to the studies that do come out and follow the money trail to see who put them out and why.

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1985 300D - 1984 Euro 280E AMG Clone (SOLD) - 1978 280CE (SOLD) - 1983 300D (SOLD) - 1981 300D (SOLD)