You Are What Your Animals Eat
by Jo Robinson
Printer
Friendly Version
In my investigation into pasture-based farming, I've
stumbled upon an alarming state of affairs: few animal scientists see any link
between animal feed and human food. "Feed animals anything you want," say the
experts, "and it makes no difference to their meat, milk, or eggs." Because of
this mindset, our animals are being fed just about anything that enhances the
bottom line, including chicken feathers, sawdust, chicken manure, stale pizza
dough, potato chips, and candy bars.
Here's a glaring example. A 1996 study explored the
desirability of feeding stale chewing gum to cattle.(1)
Amazingly, the gum was still in its aluminum foil wrappers. Wonder of
wonders, the experts concluded that bubblegum diet was a net benefit---at least
for the producers. I quote: "Results of both experiments suggest that [gum and
packaging material] may be fed to safely replace up to 30% of corn-alfalfa hay
diets for growing steers with advantages in improving dry matter intake and
digestibility." In other words, feed a steer a diet that is 30 percent bubblegum
and aluminum foil wrappers, and it will be a more efficient eater. With a nod to
public safety, the researchers did check to see how much aluminum was deposited
in the various organs of the cattle. Not to worry. The aluminum content was
"within normal expected ranges." As always, there was no mention of the
nutritional content of the resulting meat.
When I first read the bubblegum studies, I assumed that no
one would actually feed bubblegum to their animals, despite the
"positive outcome" of the research.. Then a professor of animal science drove me
by a Beechnut gum factory in upstate New York where dairy farmers bought
truckloads of bubble gum to feed to their cows.
The view from the other side of the fence is just as
sobering. Most experts in human nutrition are equally blind to the feed/food
connection. To them, beef is beef, eggs are eggs, and milk is milk. Thus, when
the USDA says "eat less red meat," the edict applies to all red meat, whether
it's a fatty steak from a grainfed cow, or a lean steak from a grassfed cow with
its invisible bounty of omega-3s, vitamin E, beta-carotene, and CLA.
I've spent the past four years trying to forge the missing
link between animal and human nutrition. It's been tough going, especially when
it comes to pasture-raised animals because virtually all the studies focus on
feedlot animals. To fill in the gap, I've searched through yellowing journals
published before the advent of factory farming, pieced together small studies
financed by farmers, and combed through the research from Ireland, Australia,
and New Zealand—parts of the world where animals are still kept home on the
range.
Finding the amount of vitamin E in grassfed meat has been
one of my biggest challenges. I began tthe search when I learned that grass has
20 times more vitamin E than corn or soy. Given the magnitude of this
difference, I reasoned that meat from grassfed animals must have an
extra helping of vitamin E.
At long last, I located one American study that broached the
subject. The impetus for the study came from disgruntled Japanese buyers who
complained that American beef spoiled more quickly than Australian free-range
beef. Knowing that vitamin E helped prolong shelf life, the American researchers
investigated the amount of vitamin E in the two types of meat. Lo and behold,
they discovered that the meat from grassfed cattle had three to four times more
vitamin E than feedlot beef, thanks to all that vitamin E-rich grass.
Now, what did the researchers do with this finding? True to
form, they began studying how much synthetic vitamin E to add to synthetic
feedlot diets. I doubt that it even occurred to them to investigate
pasture-based ranching.
Why this lack of interest in the natural model? Much of our
animal research is funded by commercial interests—specifically the grain,
chemical, pharmaceutical, farm equipment, and meat-packing companies. Together,
these vertically integrated behemoths have a multi-billion dollar stake in
perpetuating factory farming. The USDA, meanwhile, aids and abets the feedlot
industry by focusing virtually all of its efforts—and our tax dollars!—on
tweaking the system. For example, the USDA Meat and Animal Research Center in
Lincoln, Nebraska, is more willing to spend $100,000 researching how quickly
feedlot manure seeps into the water table than to spend a similar amount of
money investigating pasture-based ranching, the holistic model that keeps the
contamination from happening in the first place.
What will it take to draw more scientific attention to
pasture-based ranching? Pressure from an enlightened public. And what will it
take to enlighten the public? The national media.
I have a fantasy how this might happen. First, a prominent
media source such as "60 minutes" or The New York
Times will decide to spotlight pasture-based farming. Building on this
ground-breaking work, an award-winning TV producer will create a documentary
that deepens the discussion. The program will conclude—as it must—-that raising
animals on pasture is better for consumers, the animals, the environment, and
small farmers. Before long, dozens of news shows, newspapers, and magazines will
follow suit.
As the momentum builds, grassfarming will become the talk of
the town. Serving organic meat won't win points in Los Angeles anymore unless
it's grassfed as well. Meanwhile, Ted Turner will stop sending all of his bison
to feedlots to be fattened like cattle, and by 2005, his "Turner Reserve
Grassfed Bison" will be the thing to serve at celebrity gatherings.
Propelled by this groundswell of interest, private and government institutions
will finally devote more time, money and energy to exploring pasture-based
farming.
Will grassfarming ever become the darling of the media? Only
time will tell. But even if the media misses the boat, the good news about
grassfarming will keep spreading on the grassroots level, one satisfied customer
at a time!
Jo Robinson is a New York Times bestselling writer. She
is the author or coauthor of 11 nationally published books including Pasture
Perfect, which is a comprehensive overview of the benefits of choosing products
from pasture-raised animals, and The Omega Diet (with Dr. Artemis Simopoulos)
that describes an omega-3 enriched Mediterranean diet that may be the healthiest
eating program of all. To order her books or learn more about grassfed products,
visit http://eatwild.com.
1) Wolf, B. W., L. L. Berger, et al. (1996). "Effects
of feeding a return chewing gum/packaging material mixture on performance and
carcass characteristics of feedlot cattle." J Anim Sci 74(11): 2559-65.
Note: I wrote this article in 2000. Since then,
pasture-based farming has been featured in:
- The Smithsonian
- The New York Times
- The Washington Post
- The Wall Street Journal
- The Dallas Morning News
- Mother Earth News
- Wine Spectator
- The Oregonian
- The LA Times
- The San Francisco Chronicle
- CBC News Marketplace
- Delicious Living
- House and Garden
- The Atlantic Monthly
- The National Review
- National Public Radio
