Grass Fed

I have been hearing more and more about <a href="http://www.billingsgazette.net/articles/2006/08/04/news/business/20-grass-beet.txt">grass fed beef</a> and the potential there is for profitability there. I'm not opposed in any way, shape or form to people doing this. I think it's great for the cattle business as a whole.It takes many more acres of ground to get a critter to slaughter weight on just grass so there are less total cattle in the country which helps raise prices for all Cattlemen. Works out good.<br />n<br />nI do think people really need to watch out what grass fed really means though. With new rules being proposed by the <acronym title="United States Department of Agriculture, Bought and Paid for by The Big Meat Packers">USDA</acronym>, it might not mean what you think.<br />n<br />n<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/26/dining/26grass.html?ex=1154836800&en=d9bef117c68f95c3&ei=5070">Grass-Fed Rule Angers Farmers</a><br />n<br />n<blockquote>THE Agriculture Department has proposed allowing animals to be labeled grass-fed even if they never saw a pasture and were fed antibiotics and hormones.<br />n<br />nWhen Martin E. O’Connor, chief of the standardization branch of the department’s livestock and feed program, explained the proposed rule at a conference of the American Grassfed Association in Colorado Springs, Colo., on Friday, members were angry.<br />n<br />nProducers of grass-fed animals have waited for years for the department to develop certification standards and procedures, like the organic certification and seal, to distinguish grass-fed animals from conventionally raised animals. When department officials asked for input four years ago, association members replied that the rule should require that an animal be fed on pastures except in emergency circumstances where its life would be threatened, and also that the animal should be free from antibiotics and hormones.</blockquote><br />n<br />nSo, if you think that grass fed means cattle peacefully grazing on only pasture, organically. You're wrong. I think this is the picture most people think of with grass fed beef and the new rules just don't require that. They can be stuck in a feedlot just like other cattle being fed grain it's just their ration needs to comprise 99% grass, legumes and forage. It doesn't need to be harvested by the critter itself to make it grass fed, it just needs to be fed to them.<br />n<br />nI think the consumer gets bamboozled sometimes by things like this. A label that is used claims all-natural or something similar and they think its good for them. Arsenic is all natural, but it's not very good for you. Same thing with grass fed. They think it means grazing cattle on pasture when it really doesn't. Buyer beware.<br />n<br />nI personally think the grass fed beef demand growing is just like other things in the food industry, it's a fad. It will grow quite a while, peak out and then fall back off. I am not going to start raising grass fed beef for sale. My production numbers would go so low it wouldn't even be funny. This dry country out here doesn't support enough numbers to make it worth my while. The way the drought is going across the country I am not sure anywhere can support it. More power to the Cattleman that are raising grass fed beef and profiting from it. Take advantage of the fad and reap the money before some rich sucker like Ted Turner comes along and wrecks it for you like he did the Buffalo markets. That's all that's going to happen and the late comers will lose their shirts in the process.<br />n<br />n<strong>My concern would be that we launch off on pashmina politics where we end up adopting the fad just about to go out of fashion. Iain Duncan Smith</strong>