1. Lower in TOTAL FAT*

Grassfed beef is lower in TOTAL FAT than grainfed beef.

Grass is a cows natural diet, so they are able to process it better. Grain is fed to cattle to make them quickly gain weight.

Pasture-raised cattle are not given artificial hormones. Most grainfed cattle are given hormones to make them grow faster, forcing them to put on weight quickly, which results in a higher fat content.

The overall total fat content of pasture-raised cattle is usually about 25% lower than grainfed cattle.

Since grassfed meat is lean, it is also lower in calories. Protein and carbohydrates each have 4 calories per gram, whereas fat has 9 calories per gram, the higher the fat content, the higher the total number of calories.

If you have any questions or topics you would like covered email rita@americangrassfed.org.

* S.K. Duckett et al, Journal of Animal Science, (published online) June 2009, “Effects of winter stocker growth rate and finishing system on: III. Tissue proximate, fatty acid, vitamin and cholesterol content.”

Grassfed Recipe: Grassfed Goat Cheese Salad
Provided by: Ed Doyle, Real Food Consulting, realfoodconsulting.com

1 tbsp fresh lemon juice, or to taste
1 small shallot, minced
1 garlic clove, minced
1 tsp Dijon-style mustard, or to taste
1 tbsp minced fresh parsley leaves
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 lb log of grassfed goat cheese, cut crosswise into 6 pieces
egg wash, one large egg beat with one tbsp water
1 cup fine dry bread crumbs
2 small heads Boston lettuce, finely shredded
1 small head radicchio, finely shredded

Make the vinaigrette: In a small bowl whisk together the lemon juice, shallot, garlic, mustard, parsley, salt and pepper to taste, add the oil in a stream, and whisk the vinaigrette until it is emulsified.

Preheat the oven to 400°F. Dip the goat cheese pieces into the egg wash, dredge them in the bread crumbs, and transfer them to a lightly oiled baking sheet. Bake the goat cheese pieces in the middle of the oven for 6 minutes. While the goat cheese is baking, in a large bowl toss the lettuce and the radicchio with the vinaigrette and salt and pepper to taste.

Divide the salad among 6 plates, arrange 1 goat cheese piece on each plate, and serve the salads immediately.
Serves 6.

If you have a favorite recipe you would like us to include in an upcoming issue please email it to rita@americangrassfed.org.

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Football is America’s toughest sport. Its players are renowned for their size, strength, agility and laser-like focus—as well as their ability to give and receive bruising, bone-wrenching, gutbusting
hits and tackles. A professional football game is an hour-long display of strategy, finesse and aggressive brute strength. Conversely, no one would characterize farming as a show of aggressive brute strength and fierce competition. The two worlds—the controlled violence of football and the patient caretaking of farming—seem light years apart.

That’s the point, says Will Witherspoon, a linebacker for the Tennessee Titans and owner of Shire Gate Farm in Owensville, Missouri. Witherspoon relishes the lush green peace of Shire Gate and the respite it provides to him, his wife Rebecca, and daughters Layne, Maya and Shaye, in the off-season. “Shire Gate is a total escape for us,” Witherspoon says. “It’s a place where my daughters and I can
work with the animals and the land. I use the companionship of the animals and the beauty of the land to refocus myself after the demands of playing football. Shire Gate is our retreat from the world.”

Witherspoon purchased Shire Gate Farm in 2007 as a home for his Shire horses, Rocky and Simon. As the farm expanded to include more horses, Witherspoon decided to turn Shire Gate into a working farm and added cattle. After intensive research, he settled on the White Park breed because they are docile, thrive in a grassfed environment, and provide superior milk and meat. His research also led him to Animal Welfare Approved (AWA) and pasture-based farming. “I wanted Shire Gate Farm to be true to nature and true to the way things should be done,”
Witherspoon says. “That means putting the welfare and care of the animals first.”

As a professional athlete in a highly physical and competitive sport, Witherspoon is especially aware of the health benefits of grassfed, high-welfare farming. “I want my kids, and all kids really, to grow up in a way that is more in touch with the natural environment. My cattle are raised as nature intended, on grass, and aren’t fed growth hormones, antibiotics or other unnatural additives,” he says. “As a pro football player, I can’t take over-the counter cold medicine without letting my trainer know about it. Why would I want my kids eating beef from cattle fed hormones or antibiotics?”

Raising his cattle according to AWA standards is how animal-lover Witherspoon shows his commitment to animal welfare on his farm. “AWA and I see eye-to-eye on how cattle should be raised. The great thing about the program is that it offers a wealth of information and provides access to people who can help me raise my herd and build my farm. There’s no way I can go wrong. We’re planning to expand to poultry, pigs, and perhaps even lamb, and AWA has standards for each of these species. I know that AWA and AGA [American Grassfed Association] will work alongside me as Shire Gate grows.”

Witherspoon’s commitment to animals goes beyond his work on Shire Gate. He also owns two dog daycares, another way in which he is able to model the proper care of animals. “I bought a farm for my horses and daycares for my dogs,” he jokes. “So raising my cattle on pasture is a given.” All joking aside, Witherspoon has seen the benefits of pasture-based farming for his cattle. “I’ve only had one calf that has really been sick; otherwise my herd is very healthy. No hoof issues, no pink eye—you can’t argue with success like that.”

Animal Welfare Approved Program Director Andrew Gunther praises Witherspoon’s dedication to raising his animals with high-welfare standards. “When I visited Shire Gate with [AGA President] Patricia Whisnant, it was clear he brings to his farm the same intense attention to detail and preparation he brings to the football field.” In addition to his wife and daughters, Witherspoon’s father, a former military officer, also resides with him at Shire Gate Farm. According to Gunther, “It was clear this is not just an infatuation for Will, but a real working family farm that will grow and prosper.”

Fierce on the field, Witherspoon is equally fierce about the welfare of his animals. “When I decided to bring cattle and other animals on the farm, I jumped in quite readily and I decided if I’m going to do it, I’m going to do it right. AWA is helping me achieve that goal.”
—Amy Rutledge

www.AnimalWelfareApproved.org

However, at a panel discussion hosted by Animal Welfare Approved — a nonprofit organization that promotes animal welfare standards in agriculture — in Washington, DC this week, a group of sustainable food advocates discussed problems associated with the industrial model of raising animals and debunked the myth that sustainable livestock production cannot be an efficient, profitable and environmentally-friendly enterprise.

Of all the panelists, Carole Morison — the former Perdue chicken farmer profiled in Food, Inc. — was the one that had the most impact on me. When discussing her experience as a contract poultry grower, she said that industrial farming techniques necessitated by her contract with Perdue forced her to “be something that was not a farmer.” She did not own any of the chickens she raised, meaning that she could not even eat the animals on her farm. If her family wanted to eat chicken for dinner that night, they had to go down to the grocery store and buy one from Perdue — a prime example of how industrial farming practices divorce some farmers from their animals completely.

Dr. Patricia Whisnant shared her experience as a Missouri rancher and discussed how difficult it is for farmers who want to produce meat in a sustainable manner to get started in the business. The biggest challenge seems to be a lack of infrastructure, particularly processing facilities. When large agribusiness companies either own or control slaughterhouses, they are able to keep smaller farmers out. Without access to processing facilities, these farmers have no way to get their animals from the farm to the market.

Nicolette Hahn Niman, a vegetarian rancher, surprised many in the audience by saying that she supports agricultural subsides, but thinks they should be taken away from the country’s large commodity producers and instead used to “incentivize the kind of agriculture we want.” She suggested the government subsidize farmers who want to transition to pasture-based livestock systems, or from traditional growing methods to organic.

David Kirby, author of the eye-opening book Animal Factory, concluded by reminding the audience that no one knows for sure what pathogens are continuing to emerge on factory farms across the country. Even though the diseases caused by contamination in the industrial livestock model (i.e., Mad Cow disease, Avian Flu, the H1N1 virus) to date have proved to be less serious than some experts have predicted, the next super-bug could be just around the corner.

All of the panelists agreed that the key to a sustainable meat future is consumer choice and education. Because, in the end, change will only come to the meat industry if consumers demand it.

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“It’s not right what’s going on. And I’ve just decided I’m going to say what I’m going to say. I understand why others don’t want to talk. I’m just to the point that it doesn’t matter anymore. Something has to be said.”

Morison had been raising chickens for big corporations for 23 years as a “contract grower.” Contract growers provide land, chicken houses built to company specs, fuel, water, labor, and disposal of manure and dead chickens. The poultry company provides the chicks, feed, and additives. In this vertically integrated system, the company owns the chicks from start to finish (they also own the breeder flocks, the eggs, and the hatcheries). They hire “catchers” to collect the chickens. Then they slaughter, process, and package.

But Morison didn’t want to take away the screened-in buildings her chickens lived in and replace them with airless, lightless warehouses. She struggled to finance the “upgrades” Purdue was constantly requiring. She also wasn’t happy about the waste that was polluting her beloved Chesapeake Bay (the arsenic in the feed doesn’t just disappear), and she didn’t like the fact that she couldn’t bring her grandson to see the baby chicks. (Company regulations prohibit “unregistered” guests, so you can imagine how they felt when they found out the filmmakers of Food Inc. were spending time there.)

“I was being forced to be something that was not a farmer,” she said. After she failed to make the required upgrades and then spoke out about Purdue’s business practices, Purdue terminated her contract.

Morison’s story haunted me until I attended Animal Welfare Approved’s panel last week, Green Pastures, Bright Future: Taking the Meat We Eat Out of the Factory and Putting it Back on the Farm. There I discovered that Morison went on to found the Delmarva Poultry Justice Alliance, organizing a coalition of farmers, religious leaders, workers and others to advocate for better working conditions. She now works as an agricultural consultant specializing in local food systems. The 17-group alliance addresses health issues, unfair labor practices, and environmental pollution stemming from chicken production methods.

Morison spoke about the broad meaning of local and sustainability. “Consumers need to get more involved in their own communities,” she said. “You’re not only sustaining farms, but the communities as well.” She pointed to the economically unsustainable state of family farming: “Why would farmers raise chickens when they have to go out and get another job to raise chickens?”

When asked the common question about whether organic, sustainable farming can be scaled up to meet the needs of the growing global population, she replied “We need to learn to feed ourselves and our neighbors. The global economy doesn’t work for food production.”

That never occurred to me: Why are we trying to feed the world? We don’t even know how to feed ourselves. If feeding the world means spreading a diet linked to obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and cancer, and propagating a food production system that’s killing the planet, maybe we should think twice about it. “We’re putting farmers in other countries out of business,” Morison said. “How is that feeding the world?” (Another panelist, farmer and veterinarian Dr. Patricia Whisnant, president of the American Grassfed Association, added, “And we’re suing them in international court for not accepting our GMO’s!”)

Yet another panelist, Nicolette Hahn Niman, author of Righteous Porkchop, cited a Compassion in World Farming report that proves that, with a modest reduction in meat and dairy consumption in the western world, the planet can, in fact, sustain itself using grass-fed and pasture based system.

After the panel, I had the pleasure of sitting across from Morison at dinner. She was just the kind of company I’d expect her to be: brash, funny, and smart. She gave me lots of good advice about raising backyard hens. I’m so glad this woman has a voice.

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The discussion was lively, and at times contentious. All panelists agreed that the detrimental impacts from industrial food animal production on the environment – our air and water – and on us – in the form of antibiotic residue in the meat we eat – are too great to be ignored. These concerns, coupled with a clear recognition that respecting animal welfare leads to sustainable farming, have driven all of them to speak out against the industrial system. While the concern about environmental degradation was a unifying theme, so too was a hopeful vision of the future in raising animals for food in a manner that affords them fresh air and clean, fresh food (grass!).  They all agreed that sustainable and humane alternatives are real and viable solutions. Nicolette brought up the suggestion that in addition to changing the way we raise meat, we need to eat less meat. This cause has been championed by the Meatless Monday campaign (now catching on all over the world), and Niman pointed out that the message should not only be less, but also “eat better meat.” How do we do that? And how do we get other consumers to do that? The answer is two-fold. What is called for is consumer education about the major differences between the industrial system and sustainable grass-based farms, and education about how and where to find the better meat.

This is where the Animal Welfare Approved program comes in. For a family farm to be AWA certified, they must raise their animals with the highest of animal welfare standards, outdoors, on pasture or range. The certification program strives to be completely transparent and honest, a label that means what it says, and that consumers can trust. This label communicates to the consumer: this meat has been raised in a sustainable manner to the utmost degree. In lieu of getting to know the farmer that raises your meat and visiting their farm, this label is the way to know more about where your meat and dairy comes from when you are buying goods from the store. This allows people to buy food from “a place you’d like to visit” as Nicolette put it.

When asked the last question of the evening, “Can we feed the world with sustainable farming?” all panelists agreed, yes, it is not only possible, but necessary. Carole added, we shouldn’t be so concerned with “feeding the world” anyway, but more concerned with, can we feed our neighbors food that we feel good about, and that we can make a livelihood from? Her point was that too often food aid disrupts local markets overseas, interfering with those farmers’ ability to sell food in their own country. At the same time, we are not feeding ourselves good food. And yes, she has seen fully sustainable, large scale systems in action and can attest that we can indeed produce enough food through sustainable systems.

In addition to boosting consumer education and thus demand for pastured meat and dairy products, Kirby identified that we must at the same time reform the industrial system to protect our air, water, and animals now. He recently wrote an article on the Huffington Post outlining four steps that the Obama administration could take to dramatically reign in this system: Limit subsidies, Bust Trusts, Pass a “Packer Ban,” and Restrict Antibiotics. Reminding us that President Obama promised agriculture reform during the election, Kirby and the other panelists agreed, the time is now.

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