Corn Crunch Means Costliest Beef in Quarter Century

Business Week ^ | 10/10/10 | By Whitney McFerron and Elizabeth Campbell

[Mase]

If there is little or no marbling in the meat then tell me where the flavor will go when the steak is cooked? When beef is cooked, the flavor is held by the fat in the meat. Most beef I see is grass fed and then finished with corn.

Why anyone would want to avoid finishing beef cattle with corn, and eat a steak that isn't sufficiently marbled, is a mystery to me. Corn is a high oil grain. That high oil content is responsible for the marbling. Without the marbling, flavor has nowhere to go when the meat is cooked. Pretty basic flavor chemistry. I've been involved in the meat business for 25 years and I wouldn't avoid corn fed beef for any reason including the desire for a lower fat diet or the amount of omega 3 fatty acids. That's not why I eat steak/beef. I eat it for the flavor. Fat is an excellent (and desired) delivery system for flavor.

[PJ-Comix]

Right now working on a deal to get a FREE air conditioning system. Save myself over $2000.

[dennisw]

Been doing that for years. Get the best flavor and quality for around $2.25 a pound cut and wrapped. (includes steaks, roasts, ribs, and 10% lean burger.) Can't buy store bought anymore, even Iowa beef has very little flavor compared to buying local corn fed Angus.

So what arrangement do you have with the man (farmer) who owns the pasture? You buy the two calves and you each get one when it has been fattened? You supply the calves and he supplies the pasture?

[Mr. Lucky]

This article was about cattle, you know.

For what it's worth, the number of hogs in the US has declined about 2.6% from 2009.

[Colvin]

Let me know when your in SW Washington. I will let you have some home grown beef, I think these little dexters will surprise you with thier flavor.

[EBH]

Funny, they discuss both, from several perspectives.

[OB1kNOb]

I came across this graph today. Would like to hear FReepers comments regarding its accuracy.

[ridesthemiles]

EPA has announced that it wants 15% Ethanol in your gasoline tank.

The current amount is 10%, which means that between 25 & 30% of all the corn grown in the USA is going into the gas tank.

The only persons happy about all of this are the Vegans.

[Yaelle]

Ew, corn-eating cows is disgusting and not healthy.

Grassa-fed, that is where your healthy and tasty REAL meat is!

[Yaelle]

Grass-fed. A little Italian slipped out - sorry.

[ridesthemiles]

And there is the problem. Cows are not supposed to eat corn, they are supposed to eat grass.”

Raised as a kid on a dairy farm. We ground our own feed-oats/corn/minerals.

Fed a scoop of this feed as a top dressing on the CORN & HAY sileage that was fed to each cow at every milking session.

Corn helps to increase milk production & quality.

[ZX12R]

Fed a scoop of this feed as a top dressing on the CORN & HAY sileage that was fed to each cow at every milking session.

I grew up next to a dairy farm, and the farmer occasionally hauled a trailer load of sileage with his tractor, from another farm to his. It was the worst smell I have ever experienced, and it lingered all day.