Grass fed meat and your health

We raise grass fed beef and lamb for many reasons. The primary reason though is our families health. As long as I can remember red meat has had a bad reputation for a variety of health related issues. The problem is I realy like beef. Nothing is better than a BBQ steak or even a burger during the summer.
Grass fed beef allows us to consume the foods we want without the health issues. As I mentioned I love beef. But consumeing high priced cuts of beef upset my stomach. Fat is difficult to digest, especially in a high consentration. Besides the basic physiological bennifits of eating leaner meat, there have been many studies that conclude that grass fed beef can be a good addition to a healthy lifestyle.
Bennifits include;

• Two to four times the heart healthy omega 3 fatty acids
• Three to five times the CLA (Conjugated Linoleic Acid)
• Over 400% more vitamin A (beta carotene) and vitamin E
• Higher in the "good" unsaturated fats and lower in "bad" saturated fats

Cattle, sheep and goats are all ruminants. Ruminant animals were not developed to eat high amount of high energy foods like grains. Their bodies have developed over thousands of years to turn high fiber grasses into meat. It has been less then a century since man started pumping high amounts of grain through them, in an effort to grow fast cheap meat.
Fat content has been the main health issue with red meat. A "good" steak can be anywhere from 35%-70% fat. Most of which is saturated fat. Part of the problem is the meat grading system being used. The higher grades, triple A or choice, are also the fattest. However more recent studies have found that fat content does not always give better tasting steak. Properly cooked grass fed steak is just as tender as fatty steaks and has a fat content less them skinless chicken breast. Grass fed beef has been proven to actually lower your LDL cholesterol levels. Because grass fed beef is lower in fat, it is also lower in calories. Fat has over 200%the calories of protein. The average person consumes 66.5lbs of beef. By switching to grass fed you could save 17733 calories.
Omega 6 and omega 3 fatty acid ratio is also very important in maintianing health. Ideal ratio would be no more then 1:1. However many grain fed beef cuts have ratios of up to 20:1. A ratio 4:1 is the majic number where health issues begin to show up. Grass fed beef can have a ratio as low as 0.16:1. That is simular to the ratio found in fish. Omega 3 fatty acids are particularily important for growing children. Mothers consumeing grass fed meats has shown to be very good for babies during breast feeding. Omega 3's are important for every cell in the body. Omega 3's are the heart healthy fat. In fact people consuming ample amounts of omega 3's are less llikely to have a heart attack, or an irregular heart beat. They are also 50 percent less likely to have a heart attack. Studies are also being done now that are showing cancer fighting properties of omega 3's.
Grass fed meat is not the only product with high amounts of omega 3's. Grass fed chickens produce eggs that are 20 times higher in omega 3's.
Grass fed meat is the best known source of CLA. This is important because CLA is one of our best known defence against cancer. In lab animals even if  0.1 percent of calories are derived from CLA, it can greatly reduce tumor growth. A finish study showed that women with the highest amount of CLA in their system had a 60% lower chance of developing breast cancer. Switching from grain fed to grass fed meat places women in the lowest category.
Higher amounts of Vitamin E are also found in grass fed beef. Vitamin E is a powerful antioxident. It has been proven to lower cardiac risks as well and cancer risk.
All this information can be easily varified by doing a quick search for "grass fed beef bennifits".
Our personnal experience with grass fed beef has shown many bennifits includeing;

• Taste- We have found our grass fed beef very lean and much more flavourful. One of the biggest differences is the pastured chick eggs. The taste, texture, and colour are far more intense then store bought eggs.
• Digestion-I have always loved red meat. But Sometimes I found it difficult to digest. Many others that have purchased our meat have expressed the same issues. The reason red meat can be difficult to digest for some is the fat. Because our beef is so lean, I do not have any trouble digesting it. Our beef does have some fat in it. But it is in the form of fine intermuscular fat, not the big chunks or fat found in commercial beef.
• Piece of mind- We have two hard working little girls (9 and 10). They help around the farm, and can be very hard workers when then need to be. Lynn and I have the piece of mind knowing we are feeding them vital nutrients for their growth, and we are not feeding them all the garbage in store bought beef. Our girls can tell, and will complain if we serve store bought beef in our house.
• Clean consious-Since we actually produce the meat we eat, I take pride in the fact that we treat our livestock like nature intended. Our animals are happy and healthy eating and living as they should. Sure a cow in some feeds lot may seem content. Much like a child that lives in a candy store.  All that thigh energy "food" comes at a price. I like to see the cows and sheep grazing, the pigs digging and rooting, and the poultry scratching and pecking. If you have seen pictures of confinement farming you know the difference.