I think there’s a whole lot of palates here much more refined than mine. I ask you to try a grass fed next to a conventional, so long as you can source them to places that you’ve trusted in the past.
It might be in my head. My mouth is in my head, though. Feed means everything to flavor. I’ve eaten all kinds of dairy cattle raised for beef. Gotta do something with the males. I never see veal anymore. That used to be the dairy males. I like the corn finish and feel I taste that difference.
Agreed that fat is a key part of flavor in beef but corn finished has much less onega-3 which for me is part of good beef flavor. In addition, cows can’t digest corn and so they have quite severe stomach problems when fed corn and other grains which has an impact on the quality of the meat
I think I have eaten about 100 head of cattle in my day. That’s probably a conservative number.
Corn is a small part of the diet, generally. Costs more than grass/hay. When my neighbor was in operation, he started conventional and switched to organic. Even though corn was part of their diets, it was a small amount. He now raises beef with similar feed options, but finishes with corn. Beef don’t live long enough to develop stomach issues. Corn is usually used to finish. That steer isn’t long for this earth. Dairy, he had milkers live to be 15 with no problems. Very rarely would he have to have one taken to Hormel at a young age. Don’t think that little bit of corn hurt them. It helps them produce more moo. When you have a cow with milk fever, I noticed they fed them corn.
All I know is this. When you need to get a bovine on a trailer, and said bovine does not wish to oblige, you get a bucket of corn, put it under their nose, and lead them onto the trailer. They love the stuff.
That’s me with lamb, and a bigger number. (Little lambs.)
Yes. If they simply couldn’t digest corn, there would be no point in wasting the money for corn on them.
I’m guessing what @honkman meant was more along the lines of “can’t digest corn very well” which is in line with the further comment about digestive issues.
I love these majestic beasts. There was a pair that we looked out for en route to the country, outside of Clements, CA. In a large field or in hot weather under a giant oak tree. Then there was only one. Then bull dozers and there were none. In a few months, vineyard.
Every time we drive past, I wonder where my longhorn is or is not.
That is definitely not what I have heard in discussions from people involved in raising beef - according to them that is the typical argument from those who care more about their financial gains than well-being of the animals
Here’s a new one deer like skirt steak . Yep I watched a young one eat leftovers that I put out for the raven.
I can’t digest ice cream very well (being mildly lactose intolerant).
But I’ll fight you to the death if you try to deprive me of ice cream. Like, literally, to the death.
My kids are beef producers, small scale, as are their parents who I know well, and buy from them. My neighbor is a beef producer. Talk to him almost every day. He has 18 head (it’s his retirement job.) I don’t think their rampant greed is steering their thoughts on raising beef. It’s in the quality of the final product. To them, the best flavor for their customers (I am one) is the corn finish. Happiest looking critters you’ve ever seen.
My beef with corn is the non-feed applications. Ethanol is a bust. Costs more to make than it yields. I have a 50 acre plot by me that will go to HFCS and ethanol. To me, that’s the big issue with King Corn. Farmers would be better off without subsidies, in their opinions (the ones by me.)
Maybe that’s the difference between California beef and Wisconsin beef. We have plenty of grass-fed producers, conventional, something for everybody. our grass is lush and beautiful here.
We are not talking about corn for ethanol production that’s a completely different issue. Your claim was that cows don’t develop stomach issues - there is plenty of literature showing that this is not true. (And the animals might look “happy” to you because those stomach issue are one of the major reasons cattle farmers use drugs on their animals)
I know what you’re saying. By me, corn has always been used pretty sparingly. In dairy, when a cow gets sick, corn is often is fed to them, per the vet, depending on the illness. It also sparks milk production in recovering animals. Then, they go back to alfalfa and other grasses. I’ve been in the barn, I’ve gotten the hay. When I covered for my neighbor, when he was dairy, he never told me to give them corn. Hay, hay, hay! But none of the farmers I know have a “corn based diet.” They may augment with corn on a weekly/monthly basis; but corn is not at all the base of the animals’ diets. It’s alfalfa and grasses. It’s also meandering through fields and chomping whatever they can find. It’s HFCS and junk fuel that are the root causes of overproduction and heavy subsidization. That’s all I’m saying. NOBODY I know would use Roundup ready corn for feed. Most feel it a sin to plant. I think hormones burn up an animal much more quickly than corn ever could. Corn is an ag tool. All depends on the user’s skill and knowledge.
I agree a corn based diet, primarily corn, would not be serving the bovine’s best interests. I’m sure that happens. But using corn from time to time I find okay. Good finish. Best way to get a cow on a trailer IME.
Ethanol/HFCS IS an issue. It’s why we grow so much more than any animals could eat. Corn, on the other hand, will kill a horse.
It’s def an acquired taste if one is used to the more bland corn-fed beef. I grew up on (mostly) Argentinian beef.
You’d love these. He’s a small operator that raises a (very) small herd.
$19.95 lb
I’ve never thought of corn fed as bland.
Interesting.
On the whole, I’d almost rather have a hamburger these days.
Well… bland compared to grass-fed – as you learned when you had the pasture-raised 
I’ll have to check what the price/lb is for the local delmonico steaks I get. It’s reasonable, for sure.
Unfortunately this is like what happens nowadays with blueberries.
Commercial blueberries (even of the “organic” kind) at markets are almost cloyingly and unnaturally sweet.
Wild blueberries, like the ones you forage and pick, are tart with just a slight hint of sweetness.
Most folks have no idea what real blueberries taste like.
Dunno about blueberries. I remember being on a trail ride back in the 80s where we happened upon a clearing covered in blueberries. We picked as many as we could. They were sweet, but not ridic sweet.
