I grew up on a small farm in the midwest. In the spring we would buy
yearling calves from local farmers. The yearlings were usually Angus
and Angus crosses with Hereford or Shorthorn. They would eat from the
pasture (mix of grass, clovers, and weeds) during the summer with a
small treat of sweet feed. As the weather got cooler we'd increase the
sweet feed a little at a time to as much as they'd clean up at a
feeding. They got the grain before and after school. They always had
pasture blend grasses and hay. The steers had a much larger and
cleaner area to roam during the feeding process than they would have
ever seen in a feed lot operation. Dad had his own sweet feed formula
and would have it mixed at the grain elevator by the 1/2 ton. When the
weather was cold, and Dad felt that the time was right, he would call
the slaughter man out to the farm to kill, skin, and quarter the
beeves. Mr. Whiteside would arrive at the house at the same time we
would have fed the grain mix. Within 2 hours all (2 to 6) would be
rinsed and wrapped in wet bed sheets and the hanging 1/4s dropped off
at the (locker plant) butcher to age and be processed (cut, wrapped and
frozen) into the packaged cuts of meat. We would keep the organ meats
to process ourselves.
That was about 35 years ago. The county/state changed the rules,
Livestock had to be slaughtered at the same location as the meat
processing, vet inspected, and privately owned meat could not be in the
same hanging locker as meat for resale. Probabably protection from the
unscrupulous that would slaughter a downer (sick or dead animal) and
take it in to be processed anyway.
That was the last year we farm raised and fed our own beef. The meat
quality was significantly lower. Transporting, handling, diet changes
all stress the animals and has a direct impact on the flavor and
quality of the meat. It was significantly more expensive and the
logistics for a small farmer astronomical. Dad also doubted the
integrity or professionalism of the new processing operation as the
quality of the meat would be significantly different from package to
package of the same cuts of meat. There was too much variation in the
size and mass of the bones, meat, fat texture, color and the marbling
was different.
I remember one date I went out on. It was a real event, nice
restaurant and concert. My date recommended the prime rib. I never
ordered beef out before, and recall the meat being fatty and mushy. No
flavor or texture. I would rather eat a pot roast from home. Not his
fault, but what he was accustomed to eating, and I'm sure it must have
been "good", just different from what I expected from beef. Of course,
I was only 17 at the time, fresh off the farm with no clue, thinking
"this is slop, I've thrown better meat away than they are over charging
for in this place". BTW, I did not tell my date that, but it was the
only time in my life I ordered prime rib.
"When you think of a cow in its natural environment, doing what it
naturally
does, you likely will picture it grazing. Is it grazing on stalks of
corn?
Of course not! It's grazing on GRASS.
Grass is a cow's natural food. Corn and other grains are not."
Cattle will eat what they want, if it is available, in season, and if
the variety is there. I've seen them eat dandelion, lambsquarter,
ragweed, wild carrot, onions, fallen fruit, nuts, while standing knee
deep in grass and clover. They will also try to escape the fences
(also not natural) to ransack a corn field or vegetable garden. You
can not confuse the "pictures" with real life. Those bulls on the
"happy cows" commercials aren't. They are black steers with big horns.
You can recognize the sillouette of a bull from a mile away without
seeing the testicals to know it is a bull.
