Where's all the FAT???

Here is some information about the Nutritional Value of Grass Fed Beef FAT! First is a response from Ryan at Bar 10 Ranch about requesting more fat left on our beef and then is some information about why the fat is actually more healthy than the meat. Please read all of this and then do your own research. I don't know much mroe than this, so please don't ask any questions! I don't have the time to do the research myself, but would love for you to all leave a comment if you find more info!
Thanks,
Keslie
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
You are absolutely right, the fat is where all of the fatty acids, vitamins and minerals are deposited. There has been and continues to be a stigma about fat in red meat. But as you found out, the fat from healthy grass fed animals is one of the most important elements in our diets and is full of many of the vital nutrients that we need to keep our bodies healthy. And please understand that grass fed beef is generally leaner than grain fed beef. However, there is fat in all of the cuts that you are getting. Some roasts are leaner cuts than others, but still have inter-muscular fat. A lot of the inter-muscular fat in grass fed animals is transparent, unlike fat from corn fed cattle that is very white.

Now, that being said, we have to cater to the general public if we want to survive as beef producers. Most people are still under the false idea that fat is bad, that lean beef is better. So we have cut our beef accordingly. If you guys want more fat in your beef, we can accommodate that, but it has to be in ½ to whole beef amounts, and needs to be specified prior to our slaughter dates so we can have them butchered that way. Until more people catch on, I have to cut the meat as I am doing to appease the crowds, if you know what I mean. To this day, I get comments about our beef having too much fat, believe it or not.

So, you have 2 options:

1) Order at least a ½ beef individually and store it in your freezer. We do our butchering from July to December. I would need to know how you want your beef processed prior to our butchering dates. Also, I would need a deposit, ½ down, ½ upon delivery to the market.
2) Find like-minded people that want lots of fat on their beef and order together. If you want a year around supply of beef, you will probably need to make 2 orders a year, 1 in July/August and 1 in December. Once it goes into my freezer, I really don’t have any way of keeping it separate, so it would come boxed up and you would have to divide it up amongst your group. This also would require a deposit.

I know that I am putting a lot back on you guys, but until people get educated about the fat and change their mindsets, I have to continue to cater to the majority. I appreciate you guys and all that you do for us and I am sure that every member of your buying group appreciates the work that you put into coordinating the bulk purchases. Let me know if you have any questions or comments.

Thanks again.

Ryan West
Bar 10 Ranch
www.bar10.com
www.bar10beef.com
800-582-4139

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Below is an excerpt from the article, "It's the Beef" written by Sally Fallon and Mary G. Enig, PhD, 2000-Jul-30 (http://www.westonaprice.org/It-s-the-Beef.html)


The beef industry has been forced to be apologetic about its product because it's very difficult to get the fat out of beef. You can reduce the fat content by using hormones, but you end up with a product that is tough and tastes terrible, not to mention full of hormones. Beef producers need to recognize that the fat is the most important part of the beef, rich in components that promote good health and that help you utilize the nutrients in all the other parts of the beef. In addition to vitamins A and D, fat contributes many important fatty acids, including palmitoleic acid, an antimicrobial fat that protects us against pathogens in the gut. If you want to be sure that you don't get foodborne illness from your hamburger, use full fat ground beef.

Fat also provides a substance called conjugated linoleic acid or CLA, at least it does if the animals have been on green grass.31 CLA is a substance that protects us against cancer and that promotes weight loss—that's right, fat can make you thin, if it's the right kind of fat.

And the right kind of fat is also saturated fat which, in spite of what we've been told, plays many important roles in the body chemistry. The scientific literature delineates a number of vital roles for dietary saturated fats—they enhance the immune system,32 are necessary for healthy bones,33 provide energy and structural integrity to the cells,34 protect the liver35 and enhance the body's use of essential fatty acids.36 Stearic acid and palmitic acid, found in beef tallow and butter, are the preferred foods for the heart.37 As saturated fats are stable, they do not become rancid easily, do not call upon the body's reserves of antioxidants, do not initiate cancer, do not irritate the artery walls.

In fact saturated beef fat is one of the most useful fats in the culinary repertoire. As it is very stable and doesn't go rancid when heated to high temperatures, it's perfect for frying. While we don't recommend a lot of fried foods, we know that our children and grandchildren are going to eat them. Fast food outlets used to fry their potatoes in healthy stable beef tallow. They were crisp, tasted delicious and provided many important nutrients. But the phony cholesterol issue has forced these outlets to switch to partially hydrogenated vegetable oil, which is known to cause a host of chronic diseases including cancer, heart disease, bone problems, infertility and autoimmune disease.38