Eating all natural beef and pork not only tastes great, there are many health benefits as well. It is possible to reap many more benefits from our beef product than grocery store or feedlot raised cattle. Since our cattle have access to grass and grass hay free choice, they will produce meat that is higher in CLA, Omega 3, and Vitamin E.

CLA is Conjugated Linoleic Acid. CLA is proving to be one of the best defenses known to prevent cancer. Studies on CLA in humans also show a tendency for reduced body fat, particularly abdominal fat, changes in serum total lipids and decreased whole body glucose uptake. The maximum reduction in body fat mass was achieved with a 3.4 g daily dose. Cattle with a primarily grass and hay diet may contain up to five time the amount of CLA's as grocery store feedlot produced beef. Humans cannot produce CLA's so they either have to occur in our diets, or purchase supplements. Don't just take my word for it, follow this link to check it out for yourself!

http://www.mercola.com/beef/cla.htm

Omega-3 fatty acids are considered essential fatty acids. Like CLA's they cannot be produced by the body so must be acquired in the diet. Also known as polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs), omega-3 fatty acids play a crucial role in brain function as well as normal growth and development. Extensive research indicates that omega-3 fatty acids reduce inflammation and help prevent risk factors associated with chronic diseases such as heart disease, cancer, and arthritis. These essential fatty acids are highly concentrated in the brain and appear to be particularly important for cognitive (brain memory and performance) and behavioral function. In fact, infants who do not get enough omega-3 fatty acids from their mothers during pregnancy are at risk for developing vision and nerve problems. Symptoms of omega-3 fatty acid deficiency include extreme tiredness (fatigue), poor memory, dry skin, heart problems, mood swings or depression, and poor circulation. Pastured beef has two to four times more Omega-3 than feedlot/grocery store beef. Again, Google it or check out this article from the University of Maryland Medical Center.

http://www.umm.edu/altmed/articles/omega-3-000316.html

Vitamin E is an antioxidant that protects cell membranes and other fat soluble parts of the body such as LDL (bad cholesterol) from damage. Only when LDL is damages does cholesterol appear to lead to heart disease and vitamin E is an important protector of vitamin E. Meat from pastured cattle is up to four times higher in Vitamin E than meat from feedlot cattle. Here is an article on the benefits of vitamin E rich diet from Oregon State University.

http://lpi.oregonstate.edu/infocenter/vitamins/vitaminE/

Considering all of the health benefits, doesn't it make sense to eat natural grown beef and pork? Aside from the health benefits, you are supporting sustainable agriculture and that, in turn, is supporting the environment. Corporate "Factory Farms" have taken control of the meat production industry in the United States. The pigs are kept in crates and pens so crowded that they cannot move around freely. Cattle are crowded into feedlots with no grass to eat, just standing around waiting on the next load of hormone enhanced grain to be given to them. Check these facts out:

(1) North Carolina's 7,000,000 factory-raised hogs create four times as much waste - stored in reeking, open cesspools - as the state's 6.5 million people. The Delmarva Peninsula's 600 million chickens produce 400,000 tons of manure a year.

(2) According to the Environmental Protection Agency, hog, chicken and cattle waste has polluted 35,000 miles of rivers in 22 states and contaminated groundwater in 17 states.

(3) The pollution from animal waste causes respiratory problems, skin infections, nausea, depression and even death for people who live near factory farms. Livestock waste has been linked to six miscarriages in women living near a hog factory in Indiana.

(4) In 1970, there were approximately 900,000 hog farms in the United States; by 1997, there were only 139,000.

(5) Since 1986, the number of hog operations has declined by 72 percent - a loss of over 247,500 operations. Of the remaining hog operations, 2 percent control nearly half of all hog inventory.

(6) 10 companies control 90% of the nation’s poultry production.

(7) Four meatpacking companies control an estimated 79 percent of cattle slaughter

(8) Fifty million pounds of antibiotics are produced in the U.S. each year. Twenty million pounds are given to animals, of which 80% (16 million pounds) is used on livestock merely to promote more rapid growth. The remaining 20% is used to help control the multitude of diseases that occur under such tightly confined conditions, including anemia, influenza, intestinal diseases, mastitis, metritis, orthostasis, and pneumonia.

(9) Antibiotics in farm animals leave behind drug-resistant microbes in meat and milk. With every burger and shake consumed, super-microbes settle in the stomach where they transfer drug resistance to bacteria in the body, making an individual more vulnerable to previously-treatable conditions

(10) Hogs become aggressive in tight spaces and often bite each other's tails, which has caused many farmers to cut the tails off.

(11) Ammonia and other gases from manure irritate animals' lungs, to the point where over 80% of US pigs have pneumonia upon slaughter.

(12) The average American consumes nearly twice his or her weight in meat annually.

(1) Chris Bedford, "How Our food is Produced Matters!", AWI Quarterly, Summer 1999
(2) Environmental Protection Agency, 1998
(3) Centers for Disease Control, Mortality Weekly Report, July 5, 1996
(4) Drabenscott, Mark. "This Little Piggy Went to Market ... ", Economic Review, Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, Vol. 83, No. 3, Third Quarter, 1998, pp. 79-97
(5) December 1998 Hogs and Pigs Report, 1986 Hogs and Pigs Report, USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service.
(6) Zakin, Susan. "Nonpoint Pollution: The Quiet Killer," Field and Stream, August 1999, pp. 84-88.
(7) Beef Today (Nov-Dec 1998) cited in "Concentration of Agricultural Markets," William Heffernan et al, January 1999
(8) American Medical News, "FDA Pledges to Fight Overuse of Antibiotics in Animals", February 15, 1999
(9) Newsweek, March 7, 1994
(10) Horrigan, Leo, Lawrence, Robert S., Walker, Polly, "How Sustainable Agriculture Can Address the Environmental and Human Health Harms of Industrial Agriculture," Johns Hopkins University's Center for a Livable Future, July 9, 1999
(11) ibid
(12) Earth Times, July 1, 1998

It is hard to believe our country supports such practices. Unfortunately in our society, money trumps everything, at the sake of our health. Make the right choice for your family and start eating a meat diet consisting of All Natural Meat with no antibiotics, hormones, or synthetic proteins from Downing Family Farms.