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[bobf <bobford79 AT yahoo.com>]

Thanks Karen.  I didn't know much of that, though I do know we still have 
open range, here, and cattle walk all over the damn place and eat what they 
want  A few weeks back I read an article about the cattle grazing in 
Argentina that you refernced.  It was highly critical and I believe was by an 
environmentalist.  I can't remember the thrust of the article, but I 'll see 
if I can find it.................

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--- On Sun, 1/4/09, Karen L. Black <karen AT plamondon.com> wrote:

> From: Karen L. Black <karen AT plamondon.com>
> Subject: Re: [Homestead] Corn Fed Beef
> To: homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org
> Date: Sunday, January 4, 2009, 5:07 PM
> It's always a good idea to see where things came from,
> in order to figure
> out why they are the way they are today. After the Civil
> War came the heyday
> of open-range cattle. The head to be sold were herded east
> to market (later,
> herded to railroads and shipped to market). Those chosen
> for the premium
> markets were fed on grain and hay to fatten before
> slaughter. This process
> worked pretty well, but it took time. A steer would be
> ready for market
> after four years or more.
> 
> With greater understanding of the nutritional needs of
> cattle in the 20th
> century, it was now possible to take steers at a younger
> and younger age and
> raise them intensively in paddocks. This meant that they
> wouldn't be burning
> off so much energy in walking around, and the muscles would
> be more tender
> from less use. It also meant that the farmer could quickly
> gage how his
> animals were growing, and adjust the steers' diet
> accordingly. Now a steer
> could be brought to slaughter weight in 2-3 years. 
> 
> The high-energy diets of today's feedlot cattle have
> the steers ready for
> the abbatoir at 14-16 months. No wonder that the average
> person today can
> eat better than a Gilded Age tycoon.
> 
> The renaissance of grass-fed beef has sparked a concurrent
> exploration of
> how to give cattle the quality of nutrition on pasture that
> lets them grow
> to their potential. Argentina has led the way with cattle,
> and New Zealand
> with sheep. Allen Nation, who publishes "The Stockman
> Grass Farmer," has
> been preaching to American farmers. But high-energy
> grass-fed is not
> trivial, and it takes a set of skills most stockmen
> haven't ever tried.
> 
> Karen Black
> Norton Creek Farm
> Blodgett, OR
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