They are fed grass for he first 18 months or so, then finished on corn for the last 6-8 months.
A lot of livestock are given sub-therapeutic antibiotics as a precautionary tactic, which becomes more or less necessary when they are in crowded feedlot conditions. Diet isn’t the primary factor.
Even the most sustainable grass fed cattle can be taken to slaughter in 3 years.
The other big issue is that it takes a lot more land to raise exclusively grass fed cattle, and it takes even more if you try to limit the amount of hay they’re given. The farm we are trying to emulate puts cattle on a small section of pasture for one day, and they don’t return to that piece of grass for another 60 days. That requires a lot of land per head.
In short, there are a lot of different shades of grass fed beef, and the quality of the finished product can be very inconsistent from one farm to the next.
Have no reason to doubt you, LD and I take it you’re a farmer, which is good to hear from someone in this business. I’m sure various farmers are trying different programs. I refreshed my memory by re-watching a few parts of the Frontline investigation, and at the time, Michael Pollan said the American cows he was looking at, anyway, they had seen their last blade of grass at 6 months (10:15 mark of link I provided).
Pollan stated 4-5 years, but again, I’m sure your figure is probably more right today. I looked at the date it originally aired, and that was back in April 2002. I imagine some grass fed cows are having farmers sending them to the feedlot the last few months to get them fattened up at a faster rate. Do you know if they would still get the grass fed label?
Even though in originally aired in 2002, Pollan said grain fed cows are often being led to slaughter at 14 months, and they are working on getting down to 11 months (11:20 mark).
Makes sense to me about the land costs being much more for grass fed cattle.
That’s very unusual. Hell, most calves aren’t weaned until they’re at least 7 or 8 months, at which point they’re classified as “feeders” and put on grass for a year. That’s the typical process.
No, you aren’t supposed to send them to feed lots at all if you want the Grassfed designation. I could be wrong about that, but I have never heard of such.
If you supplement with hay, you can send a grass fed cow to slaughter before their third winter. The only 4 or 5 year old Grassfed cows I’ve heard of are undernourished and kept around so they can be fattened longer. 3 years is considered long.
14 months is certainly done, but it isn’t the norm.
I’m not a farmer yet. We’re putting together the acreage to start very soon, as a side project. One of the biggest tragedies of our time is that it is essentially impossible to cash flow a farm that wasn’t inhereted or purchased at a significant discount. Sometimes conservation easements and grants can help, though.
Yeah, but that’s not necessarily misleading or sketchy in the sense that I was getting at. The “traditional” (i.e. GIA graded) diamond market aims for a perfectly clear and inclusion-free diamond, and inclusions, tints or other divergences from perfect clarity are considered defects.
These LeVian guys are in essence, producing their own market. Brilliant, really. For now, they can get these brown diamonds for (likely) almost nothing, and are trying to sell them for a premium. If they take off though, the price will likely rise
Sketchy in this instance would be if Jared (jewelry store) came up with their own non-GIA diamond grading scheme, and where relatively cruddy diamonds get a grade designation similar to, but not exactly the same as better GIA diamonds.
This is not necessarily true (depending on where you live). In the EU, ‘free range’ is a regulated term and denotes continuous daytime access to an outdoor, vegetation-covered area, as well as imposing limitations on population density per unit area.
When Oust came on the market the commercials stressed how it does a much better job at killing airborne germs than Lysol does. The blink-and-you’ll-miss-it disclaimer noted Lysol is a surface disinfectant.
Next Tide will brag about how much better they are at cleaning clothes than Palmolive is.
Probably that palm (and coconut) oils were long shunned because they’re nearly 100% saturated fats. More recent research suggests that saturated fats are not a significant health risk - it was, as Cecil nailed long ago, the trans fats created largely by hydrogenation. But on other levels they’re still pretty unhealthy stuff to eat, so boasting that you use completely organic food garbage is a little misleading.
Meh. There are other reasons people want to choose the organic version – environmental concerns being a chief cause. Fewer/no pesticides, that sort of thing.
If they’re trying to differentiate it from other popcorn, then yes, all popcorn is whole grain. But if you want to be more charitable, you’d say that they’re trying to compare themselves to other junk food like chips or crackers, which are not necessarily whole grain. They’re just reminding you that popcorn is a great whole grain snack.
Another concern with regard to palm oil; in Indonesia, rain forest is being bulldozed for palm oil tree farms. So while claiming to use 100% organic palm oil might not be marketing bullshit, it doesn’t appeal to some consumers.
…which doesn’t necessarily correlate to the symbols that show up on your phone.
I remember at least one device I worked on that showed 3G for one carrier, and 4G for another…when in fact you were getting the same technology and speed.
I believe that grass-fed has to be during the beast’s entire life. I used to have a source for cattle fed grain only during the last 3 weeks of life, and not in a feedlot. Not priced like grass-fed, and most of the benefits, such as conjugated linoleic acids. Sorely missed.
I was recently at fault for a minor auto collision. When I called my insurance company to ask if my premiums would increase as a result, the reply was, “Of course not! We would never raise rates on a customer because of one minor accident.” There was then a slight pause and the rep continued, “Of course, you will lose your 15% safe driver discount.” :smack:
Maybe not marketing per se, but definitely sketchy BS in my book.
