>
> Someone said at one point that grass-fed cattle are often fed grains right
> before they are killed. If you buy your food at a place like Fresh Fields
> rather than directly from a rancher (not too accessible), how can you tell
> whether the cattle were completely grass-fed or fed grains before death?
And
> does the latter pretty much make the cattle just like cattle that were fed
> grains the whole time, or not?

They are. For instance, Argentina now "finishes" export cattle with grain
according to a Saveur article I read last year. They think people in the
International markets like the taste better. This is a common practice.

However, even though it isn't a good thing from our paleo perspective, it is
still better than all-grain-fed. You can see much less marbling in the meat.
You are getting much less satfat, I would think, evident from examination of
the steaks.

I used to get Argentine beef that was obviously grass fed. It was very lean,
not marbled at all. More recently, I get grass fed steaks at Fresh Fields
and I am convinced it is grain finished. It just has that look. I couldn't
swear to it of course but it is much fattier than what I used to get. It
does have the gamey, liver-y flavor of grass fed beef and it is not marbled,
but it has a lot more pockets of pure fat than the steaks I used to get.
Still better, though...

As for the hormones or the systemic implants, that is not a good thing but
still, in the scheme of things, it is much better if the cattle are
pasteured even with that.

I called a number of farmers around Virginia. Almost all winter their cattle
with hay and some with grain. There are different grades of "pastured grass
fed", based upon different farming practices. But you can drive around
Virginia and see contented cattle eating grass in large pastures and it has
got to be much better than what you get at Safeway.

--Richard