On Wed, 22 Sep 1999, Ilya wrote:

> Since cows have evolved to get only fairly small amounts of
> grains in their diet (mostly cellulose) one could argue that
> predominantly grain based diets aren't good for them and might
> affect the quality of the meat. Some testing has shown that meat
> from wild animals has more essential fatty acids, less fat, etc.

I agree that the wild counterparts of cows would get relatively
small amounts of grain in their diets.  I think it's also
important to keep in mind that the "grains" that are often used
to fatten cattle are not the ones that they would typically get
in the wild anyway.  In the U.S., corn and soybeans are typical,
and of course soybeans aren't grains at all.  Oats might be more
natural, but I don't know how widely they are used.

Todd Moody
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