Florida Couple Raising Healthier Beef

Bradford County Telegraph, Florida
Bradford County news
January 08, 2009

BY CLAIRE WORTHINGTON
Special to the Telegraph

At Cognito Farm, no pesticides are sprayed onto the cattle's pasture, no hormones are implanted in the cows' ears and no antibiotics are given to the cows to ward off diseases. But their owners say the cows are healthier than the meat most people eat.

Cognito Farm harvests what many call "clean food," and it is much different from what you will find at your nearest supermarket. All of their cows are grass fed. Grass-fed meat is becoming a larger trend, as people become more health conscious and focused on issues regarding the environment.

Grass-fed beef and feedlot beef are different in the type of foods the animals eat. Feedlot beef's diet is mostly grain, corn and soy because it fattens the cow up in a shorter amount of time.

"Cows are not designed to eat seeds," said Jerry Williams, co-owner of Cognito Farm. "They are meant to eat grass."

When cows are fed grain they become ill, he said. Ultimately, corn weakens a cow's immune system.

"If you were eating only ice cream in a crowded dorm standing in your own feces, would you be healthy?" asked Cognitio Farm co-owner, Sam Williams, Jerry's wife. "That's why they feed the cows antibiotics."

A diet of corn for a cow is not healthy. According to the Union of Concerned Scientists Web site, 70 percent of our countries antibiotics are used in animal food for that reason. Jerry Williams said that when you feed cows antibiotics, certain bacteria become immune to them and cause outbreaks like the strain of E. coli that has been causing problems recently.

"Normal E. coli dies when it hits our stomachs because our stomachs are more acidic than cows'," he said. "

Super E. coli doesn't, and that is because of what the cows eat and because of its immunity to the antibiotics given to the cows."Grass-fed cows are healthier to eat because they have more conjugated linoleic acids (CLA) in their system. CLA has been shown to prevent certain types of cancer, diabetes and body fat accumulation.

"Pastured beef has higher levels [of CLA] in their meat and milk," said Sam Williams. "They have natural nutrients in their meat."Feedlot cows are given growth hormones to make them grow fast and to make them produce more milk. They also get many kinds of injections. "

All we give our cows is a vaccination," Sam Williams said. Yvonne McClellan, a student and consumer of grass-fed beef, said she could tell a difference in the way she feels after eating grass-fed beef as compared to feedlot meat.

"I feel better," McClellan said. "I feel physically better."

McClellan said she does not like that the major companies that raise cows use so many chemicals.

The harvesting process of grass-fed beef and feedlot beef is also different. "We are nice to the cows, and we give them preferential treatment," Jerry Williams said. "The environment for the cows at feedlots is stressful."

The health benefits of eating grass-fed beef are numerous, but grass-fed beef is also good for the environment.

Industrial farming is dependent on oil, Sam Williams said. It uses artificial fertilizers that are made from oil, large amounts of pesticides that are made from oil, and oil is used to provide energy for food production and transporting animals.

"There is an average of half a gallon of crude oil per pound of beef," Jerry Williams said. "The average cow travels 3,000 miles before it is in the grocery store.

"Grass-fed beef on the other hand does not use fertilizers for the grass, large equipment or pesticides to keep insects from eating the grass. Jerry and Sam Williams said that they use the animals in the land and do not use big equipment to haul food to the cows.

"We don't bring the food the animals," Sam Williams said. "They walk to their food."On farms where cows and other animals are grass fed there is not a dependency upon oil. "

Our beef is born here and only travels 60 miles to the butcher and back," Sam Williams said.

"Jerry cuts hay, but that doesn't use nearly as much oil as an industrial farm.

Sam Williams said that because industrial farms are so dependent upon oil, there will be problems just like there have been in many countries around the world.

"There will be a food crisis when we run out of oil," Sam Williams said. "There have been about 30 countries with food riots."

Sam and Jerry Williams said the problem is industrial farms are dependent upon oil and when the price of oil goes up the price of food increases. "It's always important to know what goes into your food," Jerry Williams said.

"It's good to buy your food from someone you know and have researched."

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Clair Worthington is a University of Florida student and a neighbor of Jerry and Sam Williams.