Is it grass fed beef? All your questions answered.
What is it about Grass Fed Beef? Why are our customers seeking out our grass fed beef? What makes grass fed beef unique?
I am a child of the 80’s and 90’s. With a grandfather who was facing series heart health issues, we learnt that fats were to be avoided for our health. What we now know is that low-fat products were often loaded with sugar. So in a sense, we were jumping out of that “fat” frying pan and into the “sugar” fire. Replacing one so called unhealthy ingredient with another. We have now learnt that there are different types of fats. Good fats. Fats to avoid or limit.
We began by talking with our friends, when we started considering connecting with customers to sell our beef and lamb farm direct to Adelaide Hills and Adelaide Metro customers.
There was lots of interest in whether or not our beef is grass fed.
One friend commented that they were looking to buy grass fed beef. It was more important to them that the meat they purchased for their family was grass fed, than the meat being organic.
What is so good about grass fed beef?
Grass fed or pasture raised meats contain Omega 3’s & CLA (Conjugated Linoleic Acid) from the animals eating grass or pasture.
In other words, Grass fed and pasture raised beef contain good fats.
Omega 3’s – healthy fats
CLA (Conjugated Linoleic Acid) Cancer fighting fat – CLA is a fatty acid with potent anti-carcinogenic properties[i]
“Beef and lamb fat contain fat-soluble vitamins and small amounts of essential fatty acids,
especially if these animals have been allowed to graze on green grass.
These fat-soluble vitamins are what your body needs to utilize the minerals in all foods.
In animal studies, beef fat has a cholesterol-lowering effect.
Lamb and beef fat are rich in conjugated linoleic acid, which has strong anticancer effects: both lamb and beef fat contain palmitoleic acid, which protects us from viruses and other pathogens” Fallon [ii]
Customers are often asking us
“Is it grass fed?”
“Is it grass fed and grass finished?”
What customers are really asking us is, will they get the health benefits from eating meat that has been raised on grass and/or pasture on our farm?
We can confidently answer yes. Beef and lamb purchased from us through our Peppermint Ridge Farm Co Farmer to Fridge Online Shop is grass fed and grass finished. Our cows and sheep are grazing in our paddocks on grass and pasture, with hay offered at times due to seasonal condition.
Customers are talking with us about the tallow they will make with the suet fat that they buy with their beef from us. And how they will be using the tallow in cooking.
Tallow is an animal fat which contains Omega 3, the healthier fat.
Seed oils are to be avoided as they are an easily oxised polyunsaturated fat. Seed oils are linked to inflammation in the body.
Gillespe lists a range of risks linked with overconsumption of polyunsaturated fats – cancer, childhood cancer, heart disease, eye health, Parkinsons disease, rheumatoid arthritis, MS, allergies and asthma, cognitive function and male fertility.[iii] That is quite an overwhelming list.
Customers are telling us about the amazing flavourful bone broth that they are making with the bones included in their beef purchased from our farm.
One Mum told me of the bone both bubbling away on her stove from the beef we delivered that morning. Her children walked in to the kitchen after school and said they wanted to have some bone broth now, as it smelt so good! But she had to tell them that they needed to wait for the long, low and slow cooking to extract all the nutrients and flavour in the bone broth that she was making from our beef bones from cows born, bred and raised on grass and pasture on our farm.
David Gillespie’s book “The Good Fat Guide” explains the benefits of eating fats from pastured animals, over the health detriments caused by seed oils.
“Today, around 40% of Australia’s total beef supply and 80% of all beef sold in the major supermarkets is grain-finished . . . The chances are that if you are buying beef in the local supermarket, it is probably grain fed”
We offer the gold star of convenience with grass-fed beef delivered to your doorstep, meaning that you can nourish your family with grass-fed beef for many many months from the convenience of your freezer.
Click here to join OUR FLOCK and learn more about grass fed beef from our farm. You will receive our FREE PRINTABLE Lamb Recipe when you join.
Email me if you are interested in finding out more about making or cooking with tallow at home.
Love to you all,
Misses Farmer X
References
[i] Conjugated Linoleic Acid Effects on Cancer, Obesity, and Atherosclerosis: A Review of Pre-Clinical and Human Trials with Current Perspectives. Read here
[ii] Fallon, S. (2001) Nourishing Traditions.New Trends Publishing Inc. p. 330.
[iii] Gillespie, D. (2019) The Good Fat Guide : How to add healthy fat to your diet and avoid the fats that cause cancer and other disease. Pan Macmillan Australia.
[iiii] Gillespie, D. (2019) The Good Fat Guide : How to add healthy fat to your diet and avoid the fats that cause cancer and other disease. Pan Macmillan Australia.
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