It all starts with the feed.
The origin of all meat quality is what it eats. It dictates marbling and the resulting eating quality. What types of feed do you know of?
When I had to begin writing Steak Simplified, I had to literally deconstruct everything I knew on meat so I could explain it properly. After much contemplation, I realized that all it really boils down to first is FEED.
To talk about feed, we have to talk about a certain type of animal. Ruminants. They are basically any mammal that has a complex stomach. For example, cattle have four compartments in their stomach. They are biologically designed to digest tough plants that we as humans could not possibly try to, like really dry grass, chew it and reprocess through the different compartments. This is interesting to note when thinking about the environmental impact of ruminants- with the world having minimal arable land on hand, they turn land we can’t plant on into meat, milk and hide. Cattle, sheep, deer and giraffes are some examples.
Types of Feed (after milk)
· 100% Grass-fed
· Grass-fed, grain-finished
· 100% formulated feed
It’s funny because grains are actually the seeds of grasses. Yep, you heard me. They are actually seeds of grasses like wheat, oats, rice, and corn. Other important grains are sorghum, millet, rye, and barley! Anyway, moving on..
How cattle are fed
When cattle are born, they are fed by their mother’s milk for 6 to 12 months and then weaned. Then depending on their feeding program (decided by the farmer or producer), they transition to eating pasture or a formulated feed. Some farmers and producers opt to keep their cattle entirely grass-fed, whereas others will transition them to a backgrounding facility wherein they start to introduce some grain into their diet and then move them to a feedlot where they eat only grain for the remainder of their feeding program.
The impact of weather
Some countries don’t have enough land or grass for cattle to graze on. Winter or hot, dry months can also impact the possibility of grazing on fresh green grass. In Japan where there is limited pasture for grazing like in Kobe, their cattle never graze on pasture. They are fed a formulated feed of dried pasture forage and grasses such as rice straw, with nutrition-rich feed supplements made by blending together soybean, corn, barley and wheat bran. Japanese beef is revered by many to be of the highest quality in the world, and it’s not grass-fed!
Water
If you think about it, there are two things ruminants consume and that’s feed and drinking water. Meat is 70% water after all. Therefore a good source of clean, water helps produce quality beef and lamb.
Why feed on grain?
When cattle is fed on grain, more fat is distributed across the beef they produce, also called marbling. Great marbling means more intramuscular fat melting as you cook and eat the steak resulting in better tenderness and flavor. Fine, well-distributed marbling is hard to produce and requires a combination of good animal husbandry, stress-free environments, breed of the cattle and a feeding program that is long, low and slow. In Japan for example, some coveted brands like Kobe are grain-fed for 650 days! These processes make grain-finishing beef more consistent especially for exportation.
The case for grass-fed
Grass-fed beef and lamb is leaner and has higher omega-3 fatty acids and antioxidants such as vitamin E and beta-carotene plus zinc and iron. Since cattle are out and about roaming to graze on pasture, it’s better animal welfare than if confined in one area. They also help improve soil health and biodiversity when land is farmed regeneratively. Many producers are placing breeds like Angus and Wagyu on 100% grass-fed diet and seeing marbled results like First Light New Zealand and Little Joe Australia.
Further implications
I always thought the section “future implications” sounded so fancy in journal articles, only to find out they’re just points that can be explored further. So for this topic, I’d suggest Argentinian, Brazilian and south Asian beef to be other areas I’d like to research on!
Moral of the story
Each country is different in its climate, capability to produce beef and lamb and therefore has unique feeding programs. It’s like choosing cheese or wine. None are particularly better than the other, but you might like one better “just because”. The next time you browse for meat, why not look into the producer name and see how the ruminant was fed?
Meaty regards,
Joan Rumsey @ Steak Simplified
In the video: Joan shows cattle feed in action in Breeza, New South Wales, where Jack’s Creek’s backgrounding facility is located in Australia. Apologies for the background noise- forgot to take off my dad’s mic!
