Why an animal's diet matters so greatly
Brett Nethell
Written on 7th August
One of the key reasons veganism and vegetarianism took off was down to the effects low-quality meat has on our health, meat or other animal products from animals that have been ill-treated and led a poor-quality life will never be conducive to good health.
But as we know, we need meat and animal products such as eggs and dairy to thrive, and the grass-fed movement has brought a lot of people back to consuming animals. But what does grass-fed actually change about the food we eat?
Assuming that how we feed or treat an animal won't change the quality or the health implications it will have on us when we eat it is a grave mistake. In this article, we'll look at exactly why that is and how being purely grass-fed isn't the best there is.
Animals' natural diet
Animals were created to eat what is naturally abundant for them, their natural diet, which keeps them healthy, provided the land is healthy, and they grow and produce in accordance with nature.
Animals were not designed to eat GMO grain, soy, or any other filler products added to their food. These are the result of an industrial demand for faster-growing cattle, larger eggs, more milk, or fattier cuts of meat.
One of the best comparisons I can draw is that of the wild boar versus the farm pig, the same animal but vastly different due to their diet and environment. Wild boars thrive on their natural diet, they stay lean and look nothing like their cousins, pigs, who are often raised to be as fat as possible.
The same goes for grass-fed beef versus heavily grain-supplemented beef, it is naturally leaner and slower-growing. The natural, intended diet for both animals and humans is there, staring us in the face. Returning to it restores health in both the human and the animal.
Quality vs quantity
As briefly touched on above, the slower-growing nature of animals not supplemented with GMO grain, soy, etc., is often the reason farmers turn away from a natural diet for their animals.
In a world of factory farms, who place a huge emphasis on efficiency, the focus is to grow animals or extract from them as much as possible in as little time as possible. This is why we see calves slaughtered before 18 months old and hens caged with no room to move.
Animals give the ultimate sacrifice to us when we eat them, they give their life for us to thrive in our health. The focus of farming, then, should be to have healthy animals, because their health doesn't just pass on to us but also to future generations of that animal.
The chase for ever-cheaper meat, cheaper eggs, and cheaper milk isn't going to result in a healthy population, as it demands the health of the animal be sacrificed.
You are what the animal you eat, ate
The simple premise of "you are what you eat" also applies to "you are what the animal you eat, ate." There is no arguing that GMO grain, sprayed with pesticides and bulked with fillers, will never result in a healthy animal and therefore a healthy human.
As you may well know from previous articles, what we eat affects us greatly. Toxins can be stored in our fat and build up in our tissue, and the same is true for animals.
Even just visually, seeing grass-fed beef next to grain-fed, you can see the colour differences in both the fat and the meat, from rich yellow fat to pale fat, and pale pinkish meat to dark red. These two separate cuts are clearly not equal in nutrient content, nor in toxin levels.
The nutrients from healthy, well-grazed animals are far superior to those from an animal that has led a poor life. This is obvious when we apply the same logic to ourselves if we were to eat junk food and stay indoors all day.
If you are going to eat animal products - which you should, make sure the diet of that animal is as close as possible to what it would eat in nature, or at the very least, organic grain or other feeds.
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Life of the land and of the animal
When we take away an animals natural diet, we aren't just affecting the health of the animals and ourselves, we are also affecting the land. Animals don't just take from the land; they give back to it too.
Animal manure acts as a natural fertiliser for the land, adding essential nutrients and enriching the soil, boosting its health for future generations of animals and humans to thrive from. The more animals spend time outdoors regenerating the soil with their manure, the better.
If soil health disappears, we will too. We need the soil to be healthy in order to survive.
Beyond grass-fed
Grass-fed is a term that has gained so much popularity in recent years, but what most forget is that cows and other animals don't just eat grass. They also eat plants, herbs, and shrubbery, and the more diverse their natural diet is, the more this can further boost their health compared to a strictly grass or grass-silage (fermented grass) only diet.
Many farmers turn to salt licks to help rehydrate cattle and other animals, but some farmers who graze their animals near coastal or marsh areas often mention they don't need these, as the natural saltiness of the land helps the animals and can even change the taste of the meat.
Farmers who allow their cattle to eat not just grass but herbs and shrubbery too often note far fewer flies bothering the cows, as their hides have what they need to repel the flies.
Grass-fed is still a key word to look for when sourcing meat, but cows don't just eat grass, and when they are living in harmony with the land, we reap the rewards of their great health for generations.
Summary
Caring about where your food comes from and how it was raised shouldn't feel as if you're asking questions that shouldn't be asked. Animal health is deeply connected to our own when we eat meat, as well as when we consume animal products such as milk and eggs.
When we vote with our money by putting it in the pockets of farmers who truly care about their animals' health and subsequently the health of those who buy their animal products, we begin to push change. More and more farmers are now switching to grass-fed due to the demand.
Remembering that so much of our health hangs on the soil we stand on, and that how we feed and look after animals has a direct impact on our health, is something to never forget.
