Re: Re: defining 'grass fed/pastured' for the general public

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 11/6/02 11:51:18 AM Eastern Standard Time,

aubinparrish@... writes:

>

>

>

> Perhaps you should mention something about the fact that pigs

> can't live on grass/grazing alone, people shouldn't be trying to

> find exclusively grassfed pork. " Pastured " pigs must either be

> supplemented with other kinds of more calorie-dense feed like

> grains or have sufficient space and time to forage in forest or

> other areas that provide a wider range of food than just grass

> pasture.

Grains are hardly a natural diet for pigs, though. It's probably not as

detrimental to feed grains as ruminants, but root veggies and whatnot are

probably much more nutrient dense and with a much lower PUFA content. Plus a

pig should be able to exercise it's natural capacity to sniff up roots and

dig them up, probably make a happier and therefore healthier pig, and the

health of the animal is probably tied to how healthy it is to eat, I would

guess.

Chris

[Guest guest]

By the way, should there be any distinction included between " grass-fed " and

" pastured " ? I guess that the animal would have to be free-ranging on pasture

to be considered technically eating grass, but fresh-cut hay that is still

fully green is essentially grass, and a farmer could be keeping the cows in

confinement, especially if she or he doesn't have much land, and buying fresh

hay from a pasture coming in on a truck or something, and the nutrition would

mostly be the same, except if the cows don't get much sunlight, there

wouldn't be the vitamin D.

I don't know if this is very significant or how many farmers are in this

scenario, but I do know it happens sometimes, becuase where I get milk they

haven't cut down enough forest to make a large pasture yet, so mostly the

cows eat green hay that is trucked in, and conceivably someone could

essentially have the cows inside most of the time and do this. Considering,

though, the availability of UV-B rays this might be insignificant in most

areas.

I don't know. Anyways, good job Suze, better than I'd've done.

Chris

In a message dated 11/6/02 3:16:47 PM Eastern Standard Time,

ChrisMasterjohn@... writes:

> In a message dated 11/6/02 11:51:18 AM Eastern Standard Time,

> aubinparrish@... writes:

>

>

> >

> >

> >

> > Perhaps you should mention something about the fact that pigs

> > can't live on grass/grazing alone, people shouldn't be trying to

> > find exclusively grassfed pork. " Pastured " pigs must either be

> > supplemented with other kinds of more calorie-dense feed like

> > grains or have sufficient space and time to forage in forest or

> > other areas that provide a wider range of food than just grass

> > pasture.

>

> Grains are hardly a natural diet for pigs, though. It's probably not as

> detrimental to feed grains as ruminants, but root veggies and whatnot are

> probably much more nutrient dense and with a much lower PUFA content. Plus

> a

> pig should be able to exercise it's natural capacity to sniff up roots and

> dig them up, probably make a happier and therefore healthier pig, and the

> health of the animal is probably tied to how healthy it is to eat, I would

> guess.

>