Organic Families

Have you ever put real thought into the meat that you consume? Whether it is a McDonalds Cheeseburger or from the meat case at your local grocery store have you given much thought to where that meat came from, what that cow ate while it was alive, or even how long it lived before it was butchered? Do you want to save money on meat and eat healthier? I’ve done some

research lately mostly spurred by a video that a few college students produced in Iowa. Based on corn growth and where most of the corn in the Midwest goes when it’s grown.

Did you know that most cows are raised in small confined spaces; they are bought from people that raise breeder cows. These breeder cows of course give birth to calves and those are then sold to the farms that fatten them up and butcher them for meat for America. The calf’s are taken to the confined farms, only allowed to eat corn and corn byproducts( stalks, leaves, husks, all mashed of course) this allows the calf’s to grow fat as fast as possible, usually making their lives only about 150 days long after they arrive at these farms. Feeding cows a corn based diet literally kills them, their stomachs can not process this type of feed, so although they gain weight fast they are also not healthy from this. Which is why they are butchered at such a young age. The meat obtained from these cows is highly marbled and fatty. Cows were meant to be farm raised as free range animals eating grass and other fine grains. They should be raised to be at least 3-7 years old before slaughter. This ensues that these cows reach a good weight in healthy way before being butchered. Now saying that my story is that for years I’ve bought my meat on sale at the grocery store, fatty meat that was more grease than meat. Until this year. We bought half a cow (a friend bought the other half) we got a bigger freezer and now have enough meat for at least the next year. This simple thing has made my life so much easier.

We got an extremely good deal , but I was told this is about average for buying a cow in my area (roughly $2 a pound) we got 119 lbs of hamburger, as well as roasts, steaks, etc. A lot of meat. Now I don’t know if you are a coupon cutting momma or a by it when you need it type of guy, but I was a sales paper shopper. If it was on sale I bought in bulk and still had to go to the grocery store once a week. I hate grocery shopping. Now this is one more huge thing I don’t have to worry about, my freezer is full. organic cows, the kind that are farm pasture raised is the best meat, there’s hardly any fat on this meat, which makes it last a lot longer and go a lot farther, it’s hard to explain the feeling if you’ve never handled a piece of meat not from the grocer store. Here’s the main difference, if you patty up a pound of grocery store bought hamburger to grill with, you have to spend another 10 minutes washing all the fat off your hands, with pasture raised hamburger there is VERY Little fat. If you buy a 3 lb roast at the grocery store and throw it in the crock pot at the end of the day there’s barely enough to feed a family of 4. With pasture raised meat there’s always enough leftovers for sandwiches the next day.

So now you are asking how do I find my own farm raised cow? Very simple call a local meat locker. Ask your friends, ask your neighbors. Ask around. Odds are you’ll find someone that can point you in the right direction in your area to get a good organically fed cow. You can also do this with poultry and pork. You’ll save a lot of money and feed your family better at the same time.