Pasture raising the animals we count on for meat and dairy products is healthier for everyone. A website that helps you find grass-fed food locally is the subject of my latest post on the USA Character Approved Blog.
The picture above, of cattle grazing in an open pasture, used to be how all farming was done. Livestock fed in pastures—or in the case of ranches, out on the range. No feedlots, no penning animals in and fattening them with corn. It’s not that farmers and ranchers were more humane back then. They just had a lot of common sense. Cattle (and goats and sheep) ate readily available grasses and supplied the, um, fertilizer that helped more grasses grow. There was no need for chemical fertilizers or the fossil fuel to make them and spread them. And there were no truckloads of manure to be gotten rid of.
Jo Robinson thinks we need to be doing more farming that way again. To help consumers find farmers who are raising grass-fed animals, she writes a website called Eatwild. The name comes from studies that show that pasture-raised animals have less fat and are healthier for us, much as wild game animals are.
Robinson has studied the subject a lot. An investigative journalist and New York Times best-selling author, she drew on five years of research to write Pasture Perfect: The Far-Reaching Benefits of Choosing Meat, Eggs, and Dairy Products from Grass-Fed Animals. It clearly outlines the health benefits of “grassfarming,” as she calls it, to everyone—the animals, farmers, consumers and the planet.
Since 2001, she’s also been the driving force behind Eatwild. The website shares a wealth of information concerning the benefits of pasture raising animals. It also provides state-by-state links to farms, ranches, dairies, restaurants, stores and markets who produce, sell and use humanely raised meat and dairy products.
For more about the difference pasture raising makes, including links to the Eatwild site, read this week’s USA Character Approved Blog post.
I have been trying to eat local pasture raised meats and eggs. Thanks for the link to this excellent resource.
I was delighted to find it myself, City Share, and happy to pass it along.
I’m with you. I just visited my local dairy that is struggling to keep the family farm. We have the answers, but somewhere big money vetos what is right.
Angela—Good luck to them! You should tell them to go to the Eatwild site. If they’re pasture raising their animals, they can apply to possibly get listed on the site. That would help people in your area find them.
I was thrilled with the link to Eatwild in your USA Character Approved Blog Post. I found a farmers’ market about three miles from where I live and a ranch that does online orders with home delivery! Fantastic! I’ve been eating less meat without increasing my carb intake, however, I still want some beef, pork or lamb now and then. The chain grocery stores here are finally offering more locally grown produce (at least in the summer) and we do have Sprouts and Whole Foods. Since they are both rather far from me, I only get to go there when I’m in the area for other things, like the library. Thanks for another great post – here and at USA.
Thanks, Dani! I’m glad Eatwild came through for you.