Where did the cow that turns into a hamburger come from? For the last 40 years or so, we have gotten our beef (and poultry) from large, almost factory like farms. One might say so what? I cant tell where my burger came from.

Let’s consider a couple of questions. What do cows do naturally? I mean when you see cows doing what cows do, they are usually eating grass or hay, in a field or someone’s yard. This seems like a pretty good deal to me. The cow is happy, the field is being kept, all is well with the world. So what’s the story with factory farms? Not a very good one. Cows are basically turned into hormone enhanced, antibiotic fed beasties. The stress level of the lucky cows is high and this is bad for nutritional value and quality of life for the cow.

I like beef, and I’m not naive enough to think we can supply ourselves without the large farm methods. There is an alternative and it gets more popular every year, it is grass fed beef. This is a very full subject, but the short version is that cows are fed primarily grass and hay. Any grain used is all natural, not pumped up with additives. The cows typically never have antibiotics or other intrusions. Most of the producers are smaller operations, sometimes even family based farms. I bet if you look a little bit in your area, you’ll find someone doing this.

Tags: factory farm, beef, cow