BETTER FOR THE ENVIRONMENT:

When properly managed, raising animals on pasture instead of factory farms is a net benefit to the environment. To begin with, a diet of grazed grass requires much less fossil fuel than a feedlot diet of dried corn and soy. On pasture, grazing animals do their own fertilizing and harvesting. The ground is covered with greens all year round, so it does an excellent job of harvesting solar energy and holding on to top soil and moisture. Grazed pasture removes carbon dioxide from the atmosphere more effectively than any land use, including forestland and ungrazed prairie, helping to slow global warming.
It’s a different story in a confinement operation. Here, the animals are crowded into sheds or kept outdoors on barren land and their feed is shipped to them from distant fields. On those fields, the crops are treated with fossil-fuel based fertilizers, sprayed with pesticides, and planted, tilled, and harvested with heavy equipment. Each of these operations requires non-renewable fuel. Then the feed is shipped to feed manufacturers where it is dried, flaked or pelleted, and mixed with other ingredients and then, finally, shipped to the waiting animals, using yet more fossil fuel.
There is also a day and night difference in “manure management” on the two systems. On well-managed pasture-based farms, the animals spread their manure evenly over the soil where it becomes a natural source of organic fertilizer. The manure improves the quality of the grass, which increases the rate of gain of the animals. It’s a closed, sustainable system.


BETTER FOR THE ANIMALS:

Raising animals on pasture used to be a predominant model of food production in the U.S. However, during the 50s, new techniques were introduced to improve the efficiency of beef production, a trend which continues even as we speak. As a result, most of the meat, eggs and dairy products sold in grocery stores today come from Confined Animal Feeding Operations, (CAFOs). These operations apply the same principles of mass production we see in factories. Thousands of animals are housed together in cramped quarters, with little or no exercise. While CAFOs provide maximum production at minimum cost, they also raise serious questions about ethics, food safety, and environmental impacts.
The diets of factory-raised animals are hard on the animals. Ruminants (i.e., cud-chewing animals such as cattle) are built to eat and digest cellulose-based products such as grasses, plants and shrubs. When you feed them corn, it can cause serious intestinal disorders, such as “feedlot bloat” (a condition that causes trapped gas to accumulate in the rumen, causing the rumen to press against the lungs (if left untreated, the animal can actually suffocate); and “sub acute acidosis” (a condition similar to heartburn, which causes animals to pant and salivate, kick at their bellies and eat dirt). If left untreated it can lead to diarrhea, ulcers, liver abscesses and even death.


BETTER FOR YOUR HEALTH:

Lower in Fat and Calories. Properly trimmed, grass-fed beef contains less fat and cholesterol than whole chicken. It contains only slightly more fat, and about the same amount of cholesterol, as the white meat of chicken with the skin removed. There are a number of nutritional differences between the meat of pasture-raised and feedlot-raised animals. To begin with, meat from grass-fed cattle is lower in total fat. If the meat is very lean, it can have one third as much fat as a similar cut from a grain-fed animal. Because meat from grass-fed animals is lower in fat than meat from grain-fed animals, it is also lower in calories. According to Jo Robinson -- one of the industry’s strongest advocates -- if you eat a typical amount of beef, switching to grass-fed beef can save you nearly 18,000 calories a year!

Extra Omega-3s. Meat from grass-fed animals has two to four times more omega-3 fatty acids than meat from grain-fed animals. Omega-3s are called "good fats" because they play a vital role in every cell and system in your body. For example, of all the fats, they are the most heart-friendly. People who have ample amounts of omega-3s in their diet are less likely to have high blood pressure or an irregular heartbeat. Remarkably, they are 50 percent less likely to suffer a heart attack. Omega-3s are essential for your brain as well. People with a diet rich in omega-3s are less likely to suffer from depression, schizophrenia, attention deficit disorder (hyperactivity), or Alzheimer's disease. Another benefit of omega-3s is that they may reduce your risk of cancer.

• Omega-3s are most abundant in seafood and certain nuts and seeds such as flaxseeds and walnuts, but they are also found in animals raised on pasture. The reason is simple. Omega-3s are formed in the chloroplasts of green leaves and algae. Sixty percent of the fatty acids in grass are omega-3s. When cattle are taken off omega-3 rich grass and shipped to a feedlot to be fattened on omega-3 poor grain, they begin losing their store of this beneficial fat. Each day that an animal spends in the feedlot, its supply of omega-3s is diminished.

The CLA Bonus. Meat from grass-fed cattle are the richest known source of another type of good fat called "conjugated linoleic acid" or CLA. CLA converts body fat to lean muscle without the need for exercise.  It seems to block an enzyme called “lipoprotein lipase” that moves fat from the blood into storage in the body’s fat cells. CLA also enhances the action of another enzyme called “hormone sensitive lipase” that breaks down fat already deposited in the cells, liberating the fat to be used as fuel for nearby muscle cells.  The net result is less fat, more fuel. Tests on grass-finished beef show that it has three to five times more CLA than commercial grain-finished meat.

Vitamin “A” and “E” Bonus. The meat from grass-finished beef is also richer in beta-carotene (vitamin A), a vitamin linked with a lower risk of cancer and cardiovascular disease. Beta-carotene is naturally yellow and gives the fat of grass-finished beef a creamy yellow color. The fat of grass-finished beef tastes delicious and actually contains many of its healthiest nutrients.

• In addition to being richer in beta-carotene, meat from grass-fed beef is also higher in vitamin E.  The meat from pastured cattle is up to four times higher in vitamin E than meat from feedlot cattle. It is also almost twice as high as the meat from the feedlot cattle that are given vitamin E supplements. In humans, vitamin E is linked with lower risk of heart disease and cancer.  This potent antioxidant may also have anti-aging properties.  Most American diets lack sufficient amounts of vitamin E.
• Virtually 0% Risk of Mad Cow Disease or E.Coli. It has been determined by many scientific experts that cattle contract mad cow disease (Bovine Spongiform Encephalitis or BSE) from eating rendered products from other cattle infected with the disease. While there is still much debate on the subject, the majority of research points to this rendering procedure as the means by which cattle contract the disease. Cattle that are finished in feedlots may have the opportunity to be fed renderings of infected cattle mixed with grain and other supplements in their feed rations. 
• In the case of grass-finished beef no such feed is given to the cattle, so it virtually eliminates the potential risk of the disease being passed on to humans through consumption of grass-fed beef. E.coli is abundant in all ruminant animals because these bacteria are essential for their normal digestive process. The E.coli from grain-finished animals presents the real problem.  Feeding grain to ruminants makes their intestinal tract more acidic. Over time, the E.coli has a chance to adapt to this more acidic environment.  While the human stomach destroys 99.99% of E.coli found in grass-finished animals, the more acidic bacteria from grain-finished beef can survive the acid bath from our stomachs, and can potentially cause major health problems.