Grain can be a supplement but what I was getting at is the cattle in feedlots never lived a “normal life”. They are fed only grains, which is not good for them, pumped up with antibiotics, whether or not they need them(Resistant bacterial, anyone?), stand in their own feces all their life and, more and more, given steroids to “beef them up” and artificially inseminated.(even sex is denied them)
None of this is done on our farm.
I’m no PETA member but one thing I can agree with them is allowing the animals I own as good a life as possible. Our cattle have a 580 acre farm to roam(well, a large part of it) with cattle ponds to drink and bath in, plenty of grass to forage during the summer and hay enough to get them though the winter.
One caveat: When we select a calf to put up in the freezer, it is put in a stall in our stables to fatten it up. It is fed grain and hay for a short period then slaughtered.
Up until then it has the free range of the pastures like the rest of the herd.
We believe this is practicing “good stewardship” as per the Bible. Our cows had a good life up and until the day they are killed or sold.
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Best feed for beef cattle is alfalfa grown in heavily wood ash mulched soils.
(great for people too)
I’ve visited these wonderful Belted Galloway Cow farms in Maine. The owners say “They only have one bad day.” I had initially thought they were dairy cows but they’re bred for the beef. Pretty things, too.