OttawaHerald.com -- Community News. Community Connections.

	Franklin County, Kansas, USA

Subscriber Services Home Delivery Gift Subscription Stop-Start Delivery Missing Paper Back Issues Newsstand Locations Shopper Locations

Advertising Services Manage Your Account Place a Classified Ad Place a Display Ad Advertise Online Business Finder Directory

Other Services Submit News Laminated Items Photos & Keepsakes Article Archives Contact Us History of the Herald Our Policies

Suggest a poll topic

2009-11-21

2009-11-18

2009-11-05

Agriculture

Lifestyles

Friday, August 21, 2009 9:35 PM

ASK A PROFESSIONAL: Is grass-fed beef really better for you?

By LINDA BROWN, Ask A Professional

It’s difficult to believe, but we’re already at week five in our Locavore Challenge.

This week, to help Ottawa Herald photographer Elliot Sutherland and his wife Teresa in their endeavor to eat at least one meal a day containing only locally grown and produced food, we’re at the Mettenburg Farm in rural Franklin County.

Al and Roxanne Mettenburg raise grass-fed, grass-finished Simmental beef. Their animals never have been fed corn or grain or other grain byproducts.

Starting around the end of World War II most beef has been sent to feedlots after weaning, generally at the age of six months. There the animals are fed corn until they are mature enough to slaughter, generally another six months.

The Mettenburgs expose their beef to a continuous natural environment of native prairie grass from the age of six months to the slaughter age of 18 months.

Grass-fed beef is lower in total fat and higher in omega-3 fatty acids and conjugated linoleic acid, the “good” fats commonly associated with fish and vegetables.

Grass-fed beef has four to five times more vitamin E, higher amounts of Beta-Carotene and vitamin A.

Grass-fed cattle also are less likely to harbor E.coli bacteria. A diet rich in grain alters the cattle’s digestive system to create an environment more likely to encourage the growth of E.coli.

Mettenburg beef has no exposure to antibiotics because there’s no need. Their herd is “closed,” meaning the animals have little opportunity to mingle with other cattle.

The only diseases the Mettenburg cattle may be susceptible to are those caused by injury, such as an infected eye poked or cut by the long prairie grass.

In the event an animal does require antibiotics, it never is sold as grass-fed beef.

Hormone implants, commonly used in feedlot cattle to increase the rate of weight gain, also aren’t used at the Mettenburg Farm. Neither are herbicides or pesticides.

This month you have an opportunity to purchase some Mettenburg Farm beef for your own family table in either a half beef or mixed quarter.

A dressed or hanging weight half beef is about 225 to 300 pounds at $2.55 per pound.

A dressed mixed quarter, about 112 to 150 pounds, is $2.60 per pound.

The Mettenburgs have used Stinson’s Processing in Ottawa as their primary processor for three generations. Your beef order will have additional processing fees, payable to Stinson’s, of about $90-$110 for a quarter beef or $165-$210 for a half.

If you don’t know much about beef, other than you like it, let’s look at what you might expect from a half beef.

The front quarter has most of the rib-eye steak or rib roast. The hind quarter has the K.C. strips, filets and sirloin. There are usually 14 seven-eighths-inch-thick filets, 14 seven-eighths-inch-thick K.C. strips and 12 rib eyes.

In a mixed quarter you can expect rib eye steaks, fillets and K.C. strips, one package of sirloin, two packages of round steak, two packages of brisket, about five select quality roasts from the rump, chuck and arm, one package of liver and hamburger in one-pound packages, which generally is about 25 percent of your order.

For more information on ordering Mettenburg Farm grass-fed beef, you may e-mail citizenmett@hughes.net

This week’s Locavore Challenge Webisode will be available Monday at www.ottawaherald.com

Linda Brown is marketing director of The Ottawa Herald. She can be e-mailed at lbrown@ottawaherald.com

E-mail this story to a friend | Print this article |
Enjoy the convenience of home delivery of The Ottawa Herald.

ASK A PROFESSIONAL: Is grass-fed beef really better for you?

By LINDA BROWN, Ask A Professional

E-mail this story to a friend | Print this article | Enjoy the convenience of home delivery of The Ottawa Herald.

E-mail this story to a friend | Print this article |
Enjoy the convenience of home delivery of The Ottawa Herald.