Hi William,
The economic incentives are huge. Grain finishing, in addition to 
causing a lot of fat storage, causes the animal to produce more insulin, 
retain salt, and hence, retain water.... and they are paid by the pound. 
If you were a farmer, you might consider it foolish not to grain finish 
your cattle. If we want farmers to grow exclusively grass fed beef, we 
have to expect to pay a premium price because of the losses they incur. 
Prices would increase quite dramatically.

Also, the whole veterinarian and agricultural world seems to think that 
the protein additives you mention are healthful and growth promoting. 
They are ignoring the fact that this is how we got mad cow disease. 
While switching to sources from other species does reduce some risks, it 
certainly does not eliminate the hazard of similarly devastating impacts 
on consumers. There is a huge body of literature that advocates these 
supplements.

best wishes,
Ron



> It's worse than that. They are finished on a mix, which includes such 
> as FM-U(ground feathers and urea) and HM-U(ground hair and urea) and 
> probably stuff I don't want to know about.
> Still, they eat grass most of their lives, and that is what we are 
> told when we ask. "Of course it's grass-fed", the farmer will say. He 
> never promised to tell the whole truth.