Grassfarmer, when I saw this article, I thought of you and wondered what you would think of it. Sometimes in trying to define something even more confusion is caused.
Grass-fed beef
04.sep.06
Associated Press
Libby Quaid
WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Agriculture Department has, according to this story, proposed a standard for grass-fed meat that doesn't say animals need pasture and that broadly defines grass to include things like leftovers from harvested crops.
Patricia Whisnant, a Missouri rancher who heads the American Grassfed Association, was quoted as saying, "In the eye of the consumer, grass-fed is tied to open pasture-raised animals, not confinement or feedlot animals. In the consumer's eye, you're going to lose the integrity of what the term 'grass-fed' means."
The story explains that all beef cattle graze on grass at the beginning of their lives. The difference generally is that grass-fed beef herds graze in pastures, while conventional cattle spend the last three or four months of their lives being fattened with corn or other grains in feedlots.
The story adds that people buy grass-fed beef for many reasons: They want to avoid antibiotics commonly used in feedlots, they think it's healthier, or they like the idea of supporting local farms and ranches.
The story goes on to say that a survey by the National Cattlemen's Beef Association found that half of consumers had heard of grass-fed beef, but only 28 percent believed it came from cows that grazed on grass their whole lives. Sixty percent thought the cows also ate other things, such as oats, corn, hay and alfalfa.
Leah Wilkinson, food policy director for NCBA, was quoted as saying, "The awareness is there, but yet I think there is confusion. We want them to come out with something that won't be misleading to consumers."
William Sessions, associate deputy administrator of USDA's livestock and seed program, was cited as saying the department is reluctant to regulate a cow's time spent grazing because some parts of the country might suffer weather extremes that stress pastures.
So officials provided leeway by proposing that only 99 percent, rather than 100 percent, of a cow's diet come from grass forage, and by defining forage more broadly to include things like leftover corn stalks from harvest and silage, which is fermented grasses and legumes.
Grass-fed beef
04.sep.06
Associated Press
Libby Quaid
WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Agriculture Department has, according to this story, proposed a standard for grass-fed meat that doesn't say animals need pasture and that broadly defines grass to include things like leftovers from harvested crops.
Patricia Whisnant, a Missouri rancher who heads the American Grassfed Association, was quoted as saying, "In the eye of the consumer, grass-fed is tied to open pasture-raised animals, not confinement or feedlot animals. In the consumer's eye, you're going to lose the integrity of what the term 'grass-fed' means."
The story explains that all beef cattle graze on grass at the beginning of their lives. The difference generally is that grass-fed beef herds graze in pastures, while conventional cattle spend the last three or four months of their lives being fattened with corn or other grains in feedlots.
The story adds that people buy grass-fed beef for many reasons: They want to avoid antibiotics commonly used in feedlots, they think it's healthier, or they like the idea of supporting local farms and ranches.
The story goes on to say that a survey by the National Cattlemen's Beef Association found that half of consumers had heard of grass-fed beef, but only 28 percent believed it came from cows that grazed on grass their whole lives. Sixty percent thought the cows also ate other things, such as oats, corn, hay and alfalfa.
Leah Wilkinson, food policy director for NCBA, was quoted as saying, "The awareness is there, but yet I think there is confusion. We want them to come out with something that won't be misleading to consumers."
William Sessions, associate deputy administrator of USDA's livestock and seed program, was cited as saying the department is reluctant to regulate a cow's time spent grazing because some parts of the country might suffer weather extremes that stress pastures.
So officials provided leeway by proposing that only 99 percent, rather than 100 percent, of a cow's diet come from grass forage, and by defining forage more broadly to include things like leftover corn stalks from harvest and silage, which is fermented grasses and legumes.
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