What’s an Auroch?

WHAT’S AN AUROCH?

You might not see this question on Jeopardy!, but it’s still good trivia. The Auroch is the predecessor to the domesticated cows we have today. The last survivors died in Poland in 1627. They were tall, leggy black cattle (over 5 feet at the shoulder) that roamed throughout Europe and beyond for thousands of years.

Here’s another bit of little-known information: you don’t have to go further than the nearest pasture to see something pretty close to an Auroch (minus the horns). Over the past few decades, the cattle industry has undone centuries of good breeding by creating taller, leggy black cows that are now only about a foot shorter than the original Auroch. There is no meat under those legs, so why do it?

They do it because those leggy cows need a lot of corn to get fat. There is an entire ecosystem (Big Ag) from the seed and fertilizer companies, pesticide and herbicide companies, to corn producers, to ag equipment, to sale barns and feedlots, to animal drug companies, to the four packing companies (that control all of the prices), to the grocery stores that rely on it for large-scale, relatively inexpensive meat. Half of all the corn grown in the US goes to animal feed (and 1/3 goes toward ethanol). The government is in on it too in a big way. I probably shouldn’t even mention the $9 billion in corn-related subsidies the government doled out last year.

SO WHAT?

What do you get from grass-finished that you don’t get from corn-fed beef? Grass-finished has lower total fat, more heart-healthy omega-3 fatty acids, more linolenic acid, and more antioxidant vitamins, such as Vitamin E (that’s the Mayo Clinic talking, not John). All of that is a function of eating grass the entire time instead of getting pumped full of grain at the end. So, it does have a big effect.

What don’t you get with grass-finished beef? Residual growth hormones and steroids from the implants the animals get when they arrive at most feedlots (over 70% of the beef supply). You also don’t get the antibiotics that are used heavily on stressed animals prone to respiratory diseases.

I recognize there is a real need for mass-produced meat – I eat it too from time to time. I just realize what it is and try to limit it for long-term health.

If you would like some high quality 100% grass-finished Angus beef, we have another butcher appointment on September 20th and can take orders now for delivery around the second week of October. Let us know if we can help feed your family!

Happy Cows!