MAILBAG
Grass-fed vs bought feed meat: a difference
S
ir ~ I must express my
great sense of appreciation for the valuable,
open and honest information
in the Smallholder magazine.
Such information from
experienced seniors is getting
harder to find nowadays,
especially for those who
prefer a hard copy over a
computer screen.
I write today requesting an
article on concentrate animal
feeds and the effects on the
human body.
The reason for my query is
due to some observations.
I have been eating meat (beef
and goat), chicken and eggs
from a small time farmer who
fed his animals as naturally as
possible. The cattle and goats
were fed only grass and old
vegetables. The chickens were
fed corn and vegetable scraps.
Although a few rands more
expensive than the local
butchers', the quality of the
meat was far different. A lot
more cooking time was
needed for all, including the
eggs, no smell would emanate
from the meat and eggs and
they all provided a very
wholesome meal.
Unfortunately the farmer has
now passed on so I started
purchasing meat from another
friend on a smallholding who
feeds his animals concentrate
feeds (something similar to
Molatek), claiming it has all
the nutrients the animals
need.
The differences I found were
as follows:
K The meat was far softer
and if cooked for too long will
separate off the bone very
easily.
K The egg yolks were very
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yellow as opposed to the
orange yolks of before, and
the eggs fry a lot quicker.
K The chicken bones could
be broken by hand as
opposed to the old ones that
needed much more force.
Cooking time is a lot quicker
as well.
K Our worst point to note:
the eggs, and more so the
meat, would give my entire
family such nasty foul smelling
winds (passing of gas) with an
extremely lingering chemical
stench. This was never the
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