# Grass fed beef. **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 2, 2008, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grass-fed-beef/439819 "2008-03-02T05:26:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![copperwindow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4af34b/32.png) [@copperwindow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/copperwindow)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2008, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grass-fed-beef/439819/1 "2008-03-02T05:26:27Z")
I’ve been hearing a lot lately about grass fed beef. Apparently most cattle in this is fed corn and it’s bad for the cattle and bad for us. IIRC, corn is a type of grass, so isn’t all cattle grass fed? ---
**Author:** ![Triskadecamus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b19c9b/32.png) [@Triskadecamus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Triskadecamus)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2008, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grass-fed-beef/439819/2 "2008-03-02T06:01:19Z")
[QUOTE=copperwindow] I’ve been hearing a lot lately about grass fed beef. Apparently most cattle in this is fed corn and it’s bad for the cattle and bad for us. IIRC, corn is a type of grass, so isn’t all cattle grass fed? [/QUOTE] Grain is only a small portion of the plant. Grass fed means grazing on live grass, on open ranges. It also means much less fat content. And while some think that will make the folks who eat the meat healthier, it doesn’t really make much difference to the cattle, who are going to die either way. However, if you raise buffalo on grass, you can provide meat with less intensive methods, since buffalo are more able to convert rough food sources than cows. Tris ---
**Author:** ![Savannah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b3f665/32.png) [@Savannah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Savannah)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2008, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grass-fed-beef/439819/3 "2008-03-02T06:45:36Z")
If I can recall what I read in The Omnivore’s Dilemma, corn is not natural food for cattle, and in fact, makes them sick. They’re given medicine to force them to accept the corn, but in reality, they are grass-eaters. Someone with a more elegant and knowledgeable grasp on the issues will, I hope, expand on this. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Arky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/87869e/32.png) [@An\_Arky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Arky)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2008, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grass-fed-beef/439819/4 "2008-03-02T13:10:07Z")
I think it’s kind of strange that this “grass fed” distinction is what it is, kind of like it’s some special new organic technique for raising cattle or something. Regular folks who raise cattle (in areas where grass is of sufficient abundance) have grass-fed, fairly free-roaming cattle, and they just get grain as a supplement, or just a while before butchering (sorry, grain does make the meat more tender and flavorful!). It’s the big feedlots that are confining them and stuffing them with grain and antibiotics, etc. that have given us cheap hamburger at a greater hidden cost. ---
**Author:** ![Gorsnak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gorsnak/32/7587_2.png) [@Gorsnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorsnak)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2008, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grass-fed-beef/439819/5 "2008-03-02T15:03:24Z")
[QUOTE=Savannah] If I can recall what I read in The Omnivore’s Dilemma, corn is not natural food for cattle, and in fact, makes them sick. They’re given medicine to force them to accept the corn, but in reality, they are grass-eaters. Someone with a more elegant and knowledgeable grasp on the issues will, I hope, expand on this. [/QUOTE] Sure, I’ll expand on it. It’s nearly completely false. I suppose you could make a case for corn not being a “natural” food for cattle, given that it’s a New World plant and cows are Old World animals, but that’s about it. You certainly don’t need to do anything to convince them to eat it. The antibiotics that feedlot animals are pumped full of are purely to prevent infectious diseases, which would be devastating in the crowded feedlots. I do believe there are all manner of regulations with regards to how long after an injection you have to wait before animals are slaughtered, etc. The graver danger here is developing antibiotic-resistant bovine diseases. What can potentially make the cows sick has nothing to do with corn, but has to do with insufficient fiber in their diet. They’re ruminants, they are supposed to have lots of plant fiber rotting in their guts forming cud to chew, and methane to fart. Purely grain-fed cows can develop issues because of this. But any feedlot is going to be feeding supplements besides the corn, if they’re not feeding hay. Think about it. Their business depends on animals gaining weight at the best possible rate. Unhealthy animals will not pack on the pounds. It’s in nobody’s interest to have a lot full of cows with health problems. The cows are going to be fed according to the best current nutritional science, although granted that nutrition will be delivered at the lowest possible cost. That is capitalism in action. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2008, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grass-fed-beef/439819/6 "2008-03-02T15:40:42Z")
Oy. This again. There is no such thing as a cow raised on grain. All cows are raised on grass. They spend the majority of their lives in pastures or on open range, _grazing_ (with maybe an occasional molasses-and-grain range cube or some cracked corn as a supplement). Only at the end of their lives are cows rounded up, put in fattening pens (or taken to feed lots) and fed a grain-heavy diet _in anticipation of slaughter_. (The reason for this is to add some fat to the meat, which tenderizes it. That’s why you look for “marbled” meat - meat with streaks of fat in it - in the supermarket.) It would be wildly expensive (and unprofitable) to try to raise a cow exclusively on grain. ---
**Author:** ![vison](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/e47774/32.png) [@vison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vison)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2008, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grass-fed-beef/439819/7 "2008-03-03T04:51:07Z")
At 600 pounds, or 6 months of age, give or take, most beeves are weaned, put in feedlots and kept there until they reach slaughter weight at about 14 - 16 months. Here is an interesting article: [Rancher selling grass fed beef](http://billingsgazette.net/articles/2007/05/15/news/wyoming/25-cattle.txt) ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2008, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grass-fed-beef/439819/8 "2008-03-03T05:54:09Z")
I think that I am going to need a cite for that. I have driven though a good chunk of the Western US, and I have seen a lot of cows and steers that look to be at least 1000 lbs casually munching on the grass. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2008, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grass-fed-beef/439819/9 "2008-03-03T13:22:54Z")
[QUOTE=vison] Here is an interesting article: [Rancher selling grass fed beef](http://billingsgazette.net/articles/2007/05/15/news/wyoming/25-cattle.txt) [/QUOTE] It’s just marketing. Note the actual distinction is that he’s selling grass-_finished_ beef, meaning that (as with all other cows) his are raised on grass but (unlike other cows) they aren’t rounded up and fattened on grain before slaughter. Just keeps feeding them grass. That’s going to be some pretty tough beef. The fun part of this marketing strategy is that he not only saves himself the cost of feeding his cattle grain, but I’ll bet “Grass Fed!” beef sells for a ridiculously higher price than other beef at your local Whole Foods. There’s a sucker born every minute. I love the rancher’s spin on the toughness of grass-finished beef: > [@](#): > > From a taste standpoint, Tony said grass-fed is different from corn-fed: “There is a different texture. It has texture. Corn-fed is kinda mushy.” > > Grass-fed also needs less cooking. “If you like your steak done medium corn-fed, you’d probably like your grass-fed steak medium rare,” he said. 😃 \<== Here’s what you’ll look like trying to chew that jerky. ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2008, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grass-fed-beef/439819/10 "2008-03-03T18:36:37Z")
Actually if you buy the whole cow it isn’t too bad. They are quoting [$582/lb.](http://www.twincreekranch.com/beef/index.php) for 320-380 lbs. Assuming this beef is choice or better, that is a pretty good deal. The individual cuts are way more expensive, along the lines of what you will pay for grass fed beef at Whole Paycheck. ---
**Author:** ![masterofnone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4bbf92/32.png) [@masterofnone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/masterofnone)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2008, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grass-fed-beef/439819/11 "2008-03-03T18:46:44Z")
[QUOTE=Gorsnak] The antibiotics that feedlot animals are pumped full of are purely to prevent infectious diseases, which would be devastating in the crowded feedlots. I do believe there are all manner of regulations with regards to how long after an injection you have to wait before animals are slaughtered, etc. The graver danger here is developing antibiotic-resistant bovine diseases. [/QUOTE] The gravest danger this poses is the dramatic increase in antibiotic resistant bacteria in the environment, and the increase in antibiotic resistant human pathogens. Scientists have been warning against the misuse of antibiotics since antibiotics were discovered, but farmers are still pumping 80% of the antibiotics used in the US into cows that are not sick. ---
**Author:** ![Lambo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@Lambo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lambo)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2008, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grass-fed-beef/439819/12 "2008-03-03T19:01:06Z")
[QUOTE=spoke-] It’s just marketing. Note the actual distinction is that he’s selling grass-_finished_ beef, meaning that (as with all other cows) his are raised on grass but (unlike other cows) they aren’t rounded up and fattened on grain before slaughter. Just keeps feeding them grass. That’s going to be some pretty tough beef. The fun part of this marketing strategy is that he not only saves himself the cost of feeding his cattle grain, but I’ll bet “Grass Fed!” beef sells for a ridiculously higher price than other beef at your local Whole Foods. There’s a sucker born every minute. I love the rancher’s spin on the toughness of grass-finished beef: 😃 \<== Here’s what you’ll look like trying to chew that jerky. [/QUOTE] We bought an eighth of a carcass of grass fed (locally raised/slaughtered) beef last year, and while definitely less marbled than I would look for in a store, the cuts were (on average) as tender as any corn finished you can get around here in a supermarket. The cost: we paid $4.70/lb for the meat - a quarter to a third was hambuger, with the rest split between steaks and roasts. Of course, this was purchased directly from the rancher, but more and more around here are doing that (there’s been a big ‘local foods’ movement in this area the past decade). ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2008, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grass-fed-beef/439819/13 "2008-03-03T19:40:06Z")
I’m going to need some help on this, and I beg your patience with my thin material. A few years ago, after one of the big E. coli ground beef recalls, a TV news show spoke of a possible way to get away from our E. coli problems. It had to do with feeding cattle hay instead of grain in their last couple of weeks. A little background: Of the many E. coli strains found in cattle, only one or two strains will make humans sick. Also, E. coli is found only in the gut and the poop of the beast. In the quick disassembly of a carcass, there’s a balance between speed and the care needed to neatly separate the poopy part from the meaty part. That’s where contamination happens. Now, according to the news story, the poopy parts of two batches of slaughtered cattle were tested for the presence of the dangerous strain of E. coli. That strain was plentiful in the grain-finished cattle, and nearly absent in the hay-finished cattle. Note the “nearly.” Various bacteria compete in the gut for dominance. The bad strain was only able to thrive and flourish on an all grain diet, they said. Now, does any of this ring a bell with you folks who, unlike me, know a lot about cattle, bacteria, and/or meat? Is there someting to it, or is it, uh, bullshit? ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2008, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grass-fed-beef/439819/14 "2008-03-03T19:44:24Z")
[QUOTE=Rick] Actually if you buy the whole cow it isn’t too bad. They are quoting [$582/lb.](http://www.twincreekranch.com/beef/index.php) for 320-380 lbs. Assuming this beef is choice or better, that is a pretty good deal. The individual cuts are way more expensive, along the lines of what you will pay for grass fed beef at Whole Paycheck. [/QUOTE] $221,160 for the whole cow? I’m in the wrong business. ---
**Author:** ![toadspittle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c0e974/32.png) [@toadspittle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toadspittle)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2008, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grass-fed-beef/439819/15 "2008-03-03T23:25:07Z")
Just for some background, on the whole corn-fed cow thing, Michael Pollan gives an overview of the life of your typical modern Black Angus beef: [Power Steer (NYTimes)](http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C06E5DB153BF932A05750C0A9649C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all) > [@](#): > > It may be foolish to presume to know what a cow experiences, yet we can say that a cow grazing on grass is at least doing what he has been splendidly molded by evolution to do. Which isn’t a bad definition of animal happiness. Eating grass, however, is something that, after October, my steer would never do again. > > … > > So if this system is so ideal, why is it that my cow hasn’t tasted a blade of grass since October? Speed, in a word. Cows raised on grass simply take longer to reach slaughter weight than cows raised on a richer diet, and the modern meat industry has devoted itself to shortening a beef calf’s allotted time on earth. ‘‘In my grandfather’s day, steers were 4 or 5 years old at slaughter,’’ explained Rich Blair, who, at 45, is the younger of the brothers by four years. ‘‘In the 50’s, when my father was ranching, it was 2 or 3. Now we get there at 14 to 16 months.’’ Fast food indeed. What gets a beef calf from 80 to 1,200 pounds in 14 months are enormous quantities of corn, protein supplements – and drugs, including growth hormones. > > … > > In early October, a few weeks before I met him, No. 534 was weaned from his mother. Weaning is perhaps the most traumatic time on a ranch for animals and ranchers alike; cows separated from their calves will mope and bellow for days, and the calves themselves, stressed by the change in circumstance and diet, are prone to get sick. > > On many ranches, weaned calves go directly from the pasture to the sale barn, where they’re sold at auction, by the pound, to feedlots. The Blairs prefer to own their steers straight through to slaughter and to keep them on the ranch for a couple of months of ‘‘backgrounding’’ before sending them on the 500-mile trip to Poky Feeders. Think of backgrounding as prep school for feedlot life: the animals are confined in a pen, ‘‘bunk broken’’ – taught to eat from a trough – and gradually accustomed to eating a new, unnatural diet of grain. (Grazing cows encounter only tiny amounts of grain, in the form of grass seeds.) > > … > > That morning, Hadrick and I gave each calf six pounds of corn mixed with seven pounds of ground alfalfa hay and a quarter-pound of Rumensin. Soon after my visit, this ration would be cranked up to 14 pounds of corn and 6 pounds of hay – and added two and a half pounds every day to No. 534. > > … > > Compared with ground-up cow bones, corn seems positively wholesome. Yet it wreaks considerable havoc on bovine digestion. During my day at Poky, I spent an hour or two driving around the yard with Dr. Mel Metzen, the staff veterinarian. Metzen, a 1997 graduate of Kansas State’s vet school, oversees a team of eight cowboys who spend their days riding the yard, spotting sick cows and bringing them in for treatment. A great many of their health problems can be traced to their diet. ‘‘They’re made to eat forage,’’ Metzen said, ‘‘and we’re making them eat grain.’’ > > Perhaps the most serious thing that can go wrong with a ruminant on corn is feedlot bloat. The rumen is always producing copious amounts of gas, which is normally expelled by belching during rumination. But when the diet contains too much starch and too little roughage, rumination all but stops, and a layer of foamy slime that can trap gas forms in the rumen. The rumen inflates like a balloon, pressing against the animal’s lungs. Unless action is promptly taken to relieve the pressure (usually by forcing a hose down the animal’s esophagus), the cow suffocates. > > A corn diet can also give a cow acidosis. Unlike that in our own highly acidic stomachs, the normal pH of a rumen is neutral. Corn makes it unnaturally acidic, however, causing a kind of bovine heartburn, which in some cases can kill the animal but usually just makes it sick. Acidotic animals go off their feed, pant and salivate excessively, paw at their bellies and eat dirt. The condition can lead to diarrhea, ulcers, bloat, liver disease and a general weakening of the immune system that leaves the animal vulnerable to everything from pneumonia to feedlot polio. > > Cows rarely live on feedlot diets for more than six months, which might be about as much as their digestive systems can tolerate. ‘‘I don’t know how long you could feed this ration before you’d see problems,’’ Metzen said; another vet said that a sustained feedlot diet would eventually ‘‘blow out their livers’’ and kill them. As the acids eat away at the rumen wall, bacteria enter the bloodstream and collect in the liver. More than 13 percent of feedlot cattle are found at slaughter to have abscessed livers. > > What keeps a feedlot animal healthy – or healthy enough – are antibiotics. Rumensin inhibits gas production in the rumen, helping to prevent bloat; tylosin reduces the incidence of liver infection. Most of the antibiotics sold in America end up in animal feed – a practice that, it is now generally acknowledged, leads directly to the evolution of new antibiotic-resistant ‘‘superbugs.’’ In the debate over the use of antibiotics in agriculture, a distinction is usually made between clinical and nonclinical uses. Public-health advocates don’t object to treating sick animals with antibiotics; they just don’t want to see the drugs lose their efficacy because factory farms are feeding them to healthy animals to promote growth. But the use of antibiotics in feedlot cattle confounds this distinction. Here the drugs are plainly being used to treat sick animals, yet the animals probably wouldn’t be sick if not for what we feed them. > > … > > One way of looking at No. 534 – the industrial way – was as an efficient machine for turning feed corn into beef. Every day between now and his slaughter date in June, No. 534 will convert 32 pounds of feed (25 of them corn) into another three and a half pounds of flesh. So, born March 13, weaned in October. In November, the beef is in a pen (not yet at the feedlot) each day eating six pounds of corn mixed with seven pounds of ground alfalfa hay, soon switched to 14 pounds of corn and 6 pounds of hay. January 4, it goes to Kansas (the feedlot), where it is fed 32 pounds of feed (25 of them corn) every day. In June, it is slaughtered at 14 months of age, having spent almost its entire non-nursing life, maybe with the exception of a couple of weeks in October immediately after weaning, eating a diet that is more corn than not (by weight). And Asknott, there’s this: > [@](#): > > Most of the microbes that reside in the gut of a cow and find their way into our food get killed off by the acids in our stomachs, since they originally adapted to live in a neutral-pH environment. But the digestive tract of the modern feedlot cow is closer in acidity to our own, and in this new, manmade environment acid-resistant strains of E. coli have developed that can survive our stomach acids – and go on to kill us. By acidifying a cow’s gut with corn, we have broken down one of our food chain’s barriers to infection. Yet this process can be reversed: \*\*James Russell, a U.S.D.A. microbiologist, has discovered that switching a cow’s diet from corn to hay in the final days before slaughter reduces the population of E. coli 0157 in its manure by as much as 70 percent. \*\*Such a change, however, is considered wildly impractical by the cattle industry. ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2008, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grass-fed-beef/439819/16 "2008-03-04T00:35:54Z")
[QUOTE=An Gadaí] $221,160 for the whole cow? I’m in the wrong business. [/QUOTE] :smack: I forgot the decimal point. $5\*\*.\*\*82 Better? ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2008, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grass-fed-beef/439819/17 "2008-03-04T00:57:07Z")
Interesting article, **toadspittle**. If the picture presented there is typical of today’s beef production (and I would like to see statistics confirming that), the industry has changed since I knew it as a lad. That article makes me think of my dad. He was a hard man in a lot of ways, and not one to be overly sentimental about the animals he was raising. But even he refused to eat veal, on the principle that a calf should be allowed to grow to adulthood in the open air of a pasture. Dad is gone, but I’m sure he wouldn’t approve of a straight-to-the-feedlot system. I don’t either. On the other hand, there should be a happy medium between the feedlot model and the “grass-finished” model. There should be a model in which growth hormones are eliminated, cattle are raised to maturity on grass (as they typically were when my family was farming) and then fattened on corn for a few weeks before slaughter. It should not be a stark choice between “grass only” and “corn-fed beef mill.” Having said all _that_, it should be borne in mind that even in the system described in the article, not all calves are going straight to the feedlot. Those are primarily males, with the females (or large portion of them) and a few bulls being raised to adulthood in pastures and kept as breeding stock. Many cows (females, mostly) live to decrepitude in pastures. ---
**Author:** ![hotcoldhot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/58f4c7/32.png) [@hotcoldhot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hotcoldhot)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2008, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grass-fed-beef/439819/18 "2008-03-04T01:40:12Z")
My grandmother had a very small farm (actually more farmlike) with two cows, two pigs, a horse and a lot of chicken. I was always surprised by what the animals ate. For instance she was in Texas and we had ant mounds and the cows used to graze but they would always go out to the ant mounds and eat the ants. I guess they liked the protein. The cows were fed hay too. I think a lot of bascially herbivores will eat insects too if given the opportunity. The chickens clearly perferred worms to their chicken feed. It doesn’t make them carnivores really, but I think when we try to control animal’s natural diets that it’s hard to. As for cows, they will eat corn without being forced. Cows just put anything in their mouth and then spit out what they don’t like. At least these cows did and as animals go they had a pretty good life. The cows were for milk until they got too old then Granny made pot pies out of them. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2008, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grass-fed-beef/439819/19 "2008-03-04T02:27:28Z")
Cows _love_ corn. Just so we’re clear on that point. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![toadspittle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c0e974/32.png) [@toadspittle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toadspittle)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2008, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grass-fed-beef/439819/20 "2008-03-04T04:26:02Z")
[QUOTE=hotcoldhot] …we had ant mounds and the cows used to graze but they would always go out to the ant mounds and eat the ants…The cows were for milk until they got too old then Granny made pot pies out of them. [/QUOTE] Mmm! Fire-ant milk! 😛 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grass-fed-beef/439819.md?page=2)