Grass Fed Pasture Raised

Imagine if you will that someone kept trying to feed you sea shells instead of people food?  “Well,” they said, “they have calcium and minerals and we’ll throw in a little seaweed for something green. Oh, and best of all you’ll have to stay in the house never to feel the light of day on your skin.”  How do you think you would fare long term on that diet of sea shells, seaweed and no sun?  Not well, that’s for sure.  The sea shells would probably tear up your stomach long before you died of malnutrition and you would be very depressed from never seeing the sun.  Talk about a happy picture.   

So now imagine cows, chickens and pigs being kept in a very unnatural environment that just tears their health down everyday.  No sun, no real fresh air, no exercise, no foraging and for the most part, none of the food that they know is best for them.  And because of their miserable conditions they need to be fed hormones to get them to grow faster so their miserable lives can end sooner and of course they’ll need antibiotics as a preventative measure because in those aforementioned conditions they will most probably get sick.

Now, let me ask that question again. Why should animals be grass-fed and pasture-raised?

Because if they are allowed to grow in an environment that is natural to them eating what is good for them then they probably won’t need to be given drugs, which are passed onto us, to keep them well.  As the famous farmer, Joel Salatin says, “Pigs should be allowed to express their pigness, cows their cowness and chickens their chickeness.”  It’s funny, but true. 

Treat the animals well and the land and our bodies can only benefit from that because we’re eating what they’re eating.

Sunshine, green grass and bugs are a great source of Omega 3’s…really.   I know this is a tough subject, when talking about how the meat we eat is raised and processed because it’s unattractive and who wants to talk about the conditions for animals.  We really are so disconnected from our food these days and we just want to eat the meat and not see the source of that meat because then we would have to get emotionally involved. 

This is why it’s so important to begin a relationship with your local farmer and visit their farm to see the animals and how they are treated and raised. Once you do this you will have great peace about eating the meats you eat because you’ll know their whole story and will feel gratitude for the farmer and the animal that they both have worked so hard to nourish you.