Why Grassfed?

The American Grassfed Association (AGA) defines grass-fed as:

"The AGA defines grass-fed products from ruminants, including cattle, bison, goats, and sheep, as those food products from animals that have eaten nothing but their mother's milk and fresh grass or grass-type hay from their birth till harvest."

There are many benefits of eating grassfed meats and dairy products.      Benefits for you, the land, our community and the farmer.  The one you are probably most interested in is the benefits to you.  If you would like more information on what good it does the land, community and farmer, check out our links page and do some exploring there. 

 Dr. Tilak Dhiman of Utah State University is one of North America's leading researchers on the relationship between CLA (conjugated linoleic acid, which is found in the fat of ruminant animals) in meat and milk and human health.   Speaking at the University of Nebraska's conference on "The Future of Grassfed Meats and Milk" Dr. Dhiman said that he was now convinced that grass-fed food products were "not only preventative but regenerative as well."

By this he meant that grass-fed foods could not just prevent health problems but could help people who already have chronic health problems improve their health.  He said current research with animals indicates that CLA not only reduces the incidence of cancer in animals but that it also suppresses the growth of cancer cells. He said that the definitive human studies would take many more years.  Until then the health benefits of grass-fed foods would have to be legally stated as "potential health benefits."

Dr. Dhiman said that CLA was additive.  That means eating grass-fed meat, cheese and milk all helped to accumulate CLA in body tissue.  A French study of 360 women found that the higher the CLA level was in their breast tissue the lower their incidence of breast cancer was.  He said the minimum effective level of CLA was 0.5 percent of the total diet.  While this was a tiny amount, this was almost impossible to achieve eating normal American supermarket food.

However, he said grass-fed foods are so high in CLA that a single 8 oz. glass of milk, plus one ounce of cheese from grass-fed milk and one serving (2.5 oz.) of grass-fed meat provided twice the minimun amount of CLA needed for both prevention and regeneration.

Dhiman said that 100% grass-fed meats and milk were up to 500% higher in CLA than other meat and milk fed conventional high-grain diets.  The key element here is "one hundred percent grass-fed."

In addition to these benefits, grass-fed meats also has less saturated fats than grain-fed, thus being lower in calories.  It contains more vitamin A and E, more beta-carotene and higher levels of Omega-3, a near perfect recommended ratio of Omega-3 to Omega-6.

  What I am talking about is beyond looking at the fat or carbohydrates to determine whether your food is healthly enough for your family.  You need to look at the basic production and building block of that animal.  A healthly animal, on it's own, will produce healthly meat.  The artisnal part comes from the farmer who manages that animal to produce tasty, tender meat. 

That is what you have at Youngblood GrassFed Farm.   We combine the artisnal processes with the natural.  We invite you to "Taste and see...."