I follow a guy named Mark Sisson (Primal Blueprint and several other successful books). He speaks to eating more like our ancestors (Grok) and moving our bodies daily.

I took this from his Instagram because it makes some really great points.

Happy Sunday, everyone. There's a war on, folks. A war on meat. More specifically, there is a concerted effort by powerful forces to get people to stop eating meat, or at least seriously curtail its consumption.
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So when you hear someone like Bill Gates buying up farmland and telling you that meat-eating has a sell-by date fast approaching, know that he's serious. When you see Netflix pumping out slick vegan documentary after slick vegan documentary and half your co-workers watch it and decide to "try it out for a few months," know that this is all by design. There is a war on.
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Maybe the worst part is that "everyone knows" meat is bad for you, bad for the planet, bad for animals. This notion has been drilled into the collective unconscious so completely that even someone who's been eating Primal or paleo for over a decade gets a little nervous telling people how much meat they eat. At the very least, the awareness that the average person knows meat is terrible for human and planetary health is always on your mind. Right? 
I believe he is being sarcastic here.
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So these forces who want to change the way the entire world eats have fertile ground on which to play. They have a head start on the psychological battleground. The wind is at their backs. Yet they won't win. Meat eating is in our DNA. It's what our brains are founded on. It's what our bodies need to thrive and survive. Animal agriculture is required for the rest of agriculture to work. Without well-raised livestock, we rely completely on petrochemical fertilizers.
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That's the reality. Life as we know it wouldn't work if all animal agriculture was stricken from the planet. It would be bad. Ugly. Miserable. And that's why it won't happen. Because in the end, on a long enough timeline, reality asserts itself. Reality wins. That which works best ultimately emerges victorious.
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Part of reality winning, however, is you—yes, you—doing your part. Buying sustainably farmed meat and wild caught seafood when and where you can. Informing others. Not getting dejected or giving up. Shopping local. Buying whole cows with friends and family. Hunting and fishing. Growing your own food. Raising chickens. Whatever you can. #LiveAwesome

Solar and I buy our beef from a local.  It is such a better quality than what I can get at the store for about the same price.  Toy

There is a big push on vegan. Notice all the meatless burgers all of a sudden?

.. takes a peek out the window - yep, two Steers, munching away, swatting flies, staring back at me.

They're really SPOILED with all the grain and treats wifey gives them.  Their JOB is to keep that pasture mowed, so I don't have to cut it with the tractor.  We really need 5-6 of them, these 1yr old guys just can't keep up.

USDA is pressuring butchers - or something, 'cause the butchers we relied on to do the processing, are closing down.  The few which still operate, and booked solid since last fall, for all of 2021... and covid19 has not slowed them down a bit.  Where this is ultimately going, I don't know, but wifey keeps warning the kids (me and the 3 boys), the dangers of SOY.   '

In my case, it's either COWs or DIESEL to maintain a fire safe pasture.   There isn't any other choice.

Sounds like you and the boys need to learn how to butcher.

Quote from: Rick on May 24, 2021, 07:37:34 AMSounds like you and the boys need to learn how to butcher.

No thanks - I will leave it to the professionals.

As a child my family butchered their own chickens.  Our job was to defeather them.  The smell is with me even today.  Toy

Quote from: Sick Of Silence on May 23, 2021, 02:25:45 PMThere is a big push on vegan. Notice all the meatless burgers all of a sudden?

Gee I wonder if it would be okay with the gubberment for me to pay my taxes with monoply money?

Quote from: Rick on May 24, 2021, 07:37:34 AMSounds like you and the boys need to learn how to butcher.

Been there, did that for 50+ years.  I don't have "hanging space" or a walk in cooler. 
they butcher, cut, vacuum package, label - it's worth the .40 per lb to us - I don't have the time, my time is worth more building business related hardware.

Quote from: Solars Toy on May 24, 2021, 08:28:27 AMNo thanks - I will leave it to the professionals.

As a child my family butchered their own chickens.  Our job was to defeather them.  The smell is with me even today.  Toy

   my kids useto TIME each other wet/dry plucking.  Most of them could do a Turkey or Chicken in <2min.     
Something about that smell... I'd recognize it anywhere...   Something between a Skunk and Wet Cat.   

This stuff is really good

Use instead of potato chips or tortilla chips

https://carnivorecrisps.com/


The Grassfeed beef needs to become universal.  Grain is no good.

The effect of vegan/vegetarianism is high blood sugar as people get older.

Quote from: rp5x5 on May 29, 2021, 10:08:59 AMThis stuff is really good

Use instead of potato chips or tortilla chips

https://carnivorecrisps.com/


The Grassfeed beef needs to become universal.  Grain is no good.

The effect of vegan/vegetarianism is high blood sugar as people get older.

Thanks, that sounds really good!

Quote from: rp5x5 on May 29, 2021, 10:08:59 AMThis stuff is really good

Use instead of potato chips or tortilla chips

https://carnivorecrisps.com/


The Grassfeed beef needs to become universal.  Grain is no good.

The effect of vegan/vegetarianism is high blood sugar as people get older.

I've been on a farm, or around people who have raised cattle for 60 years.
So, tell me the difference between "Grass" and "Grain"?

Quote from: Hoofer on May 29, 2021, 02:27:36 PMI've been on a farm, or around people who have raised cattle for 60 years.
So, tell me the difference between "Grass" and "Grain"?

Grain is basically a supplement in winter, while these same cattle graze on grass in the spring.
I never noticed any difference, aside from cost, grass is free.
Free grazing is the healthiest way to go, while pen fed stock get fat on grain and whatever the local farms sell off the ground, from dried corn to fermenting fruit, not to mention, just what kind of pesticides were used.

Worst smell ever, fermenting fruit and manure, a smell you can never unsmell.

Unlike Horses, sheep, goats - Cows have a unique digestive system and converts practically everything into something else, milk or meat.  Horses are the biggest wasters of feed, IMO, their manure is full of undigested grasses.

Grains are Grasses.  Feeding cows grass that's "headed out" (seeds on top), is like feeding silage (so fermented, the cows look like a bunch of drunks at a bar).  Bovine feed has changed so much since I was a kid, even the milking parlor "smells" different.  The larger milk producers are profitable at 3.5% milkfat - what goes into the dairy cow can be Peanut hulls, sawdust, corn, Sugar Beet Pulp - all kinds of stuff, just get that 3.5% butter fat... that's what the processors want for drinking milk.  Holstein milk.

Reason I ask what's the difference between "Grass" and a "Grain" - I'd like someone to explain the difference between the two, and exactly how finishing a cow on grass, somehow produces better tasting, healthier MEAT.  We raised and finished our cows on Alfalfa, 18-25% Protein (had it tested, frequently), and I've been eating our own cows, all raised on Fescue - Fescue SUCKS!!!  Alfalfa fed has a "sweet" taste, Fescue has a bitter/sour hint, (same thing for milk & cheeses)  The only way I know of, to change the flavor of meat/milk, is Grain.  The only other variable I can think of, is the breed of the cow, and that's so slight, I don't think it's worth mentioning.

It's what's in the FAT of the meat, IMO, that makes the favor difference.  Why is a fatty Ribeye or Prime Rib so expensive?  There's less meat there than anywhere else, it's so fatty!  The flavor is in the fat.  Just grilled some 88% lean burgers - so bland, I smothered them in BBQ sauce, wifey and the kids covered theirs in ketchup, cheese, lettuce, etc... I think this ground chuck was too lean, it lacked flavor.

I don't know of a single cow, which is RAISED in a feed lot, eating only grain - maybe there is some, but, I bet the cost of that beef is something none of us could afford!  If a cow is finished the last 3 months on grass/grain - the meat is just gonna be well marbled & taste better.
Same goes for Pigs, Sheep, Goats, Turkeys, Chickens, Ducks, Quail, Rabbits, etc., we've raised them all.

We didn't raise cattle for slaughter, these sold for anywhere between thirty grand and well over a hundred grand a piece, they were strictly breeders.
The only time we used the feed lots were to get them beefed up for sale.

John the owner would have an occasional BBQ and he'd say "That steak you're eating is a thousand dollar cut", half joking, but when they had a defect, they went in the freezer.

We raised all of ours for slaughter.  Lately, we buy bottle babies, raise them on the pasture, Fescue and another pasture is Orchard Grass (we bale for winter feeding, bigger leaves, less stalk), here in Virginia.  I tried to grow Alfalfa, the bugs are horrible here, stripped all the leaves - and alfalfa stalks are nasty!  It would be cheaper to import bales from Wisconsin than grow it here.

What we EAT, is usually what we raise ourselves.  We'll feed the sweet feed for the last 3-4 months, because we *want* better tasting meat - period!  Grass fed - Grain fed, some guys are even doing videos on it, I bet they never had Alfalfa fed & finished with Corn/Alfalfa - now that's some really great beef!

IMO, these people who keep saying "grass fed is better" - may as well be working for the Vegans.

I get those darn VEGAN ADs, "Beer & French Fries are Vegan!" - like I have something in common - but, I like my French Fries cooked in BEEF or PORK fat, not Canola Oil or Soy Bean Oil.  Just like McDonalds use to do, they tasted much better than the crap now days.  Vegans are ruining good food.


BTW....  Corn is a Grass.   Look it up... and I detest these Soy Boys who never farmed a day in their life, telling us how we should farm... (speaking for Wifey - 'cause I'm done with farming, she runs the whole she-bang).  Yes we feed our cattle "Grasses" sometimes its Grass leaves & stems, sometimes it's heavier on the seeds - stupid, college educated, morons.