Food Inc. Documentary

[Beprepared]

http://www.foodincmovie.com/

So my Dad recommends this movie. He saw it on PBS up in AK. Couple days later I see it in Blockbuster. Cover of movie says made by same company that did "Inconvenient Lie/Truth". That almost prevented me from renting but hell Dad recommended it. In a nutshell the movie is about where are food comes from and Big Ag. If your the type that really doesn't want to know....don't watch it. Needless to say I think I'll be ordering a side of grass fed Buffalo soon.

[HBARleatherneck]

this is why we raise our own meat, dairy and alot of our other vegetables.

[SA Friday]

I did my final research paper this semester for English 1020 on genetically modified organisms in food products and how the US Govt should take a precautionary approach to their use. Food Inc was one of my references. There is another documentary out there called 'The World According to Monsanto' that's pretty interesting too. I went through over 40 sources of information for the one paper and narrowed it down to 16 references for the 17 pg paper (14 pgs of text).

I've seen the results of changing our food since last January. We tried the change because my wife was having a lupus flare-up. The flare-up stopped and completely cleared up after 48 hours. Two weeks ago, they did an auto-antibody panel on her and the results were so good, they took her off of methotrexate (a low grade chemo used in lucemia treatment that suppresses the immune system as a side effect). She's been on it for almost 5 years.

The more I research, the more I'm convinced most of the recent info about are food is right and not just ranting from radicals.

[Beprepared]

Very cool SAFriday, I'd love to read your paper if thats possible. Where would one find the Monsanto movie? Glad to here your wife is well. I just picked up Jillian Michaels new bookMaster your Metabolism. The book is generally about endocrinology. Its pretty interesting how different foods and toxins affect our hormonal balance. I grew up on a mini farm, and come to think of it after my parents divorced when I was a kid, we stopped butchering the "pets" for supper. Thats about the time I became a fat kid.

HBARLeatherneck, If you've seen the movie? The natural farmer in the film is supposedly quite ingenious and successful. He has some of the biggest tastiest Natural beef, poultry, and pork around (from what I've been told). He has a divided pasture/grass lot. The cows eat down the grass, move to the next lot. Then he brings the chickens in on mobile enclosures precisely the time the fly are in maggot stage. Chickens eat well, naturally and on the cheap. He has several books out. I'll try and find out his name and books again.

[HBARleatherneck]

i havent seen the movie, but I read the website link you posted. And I read some other review stuff that i found online. I raised buffalo for the last few years. My cousin actually has a store in Erie and also one up north in the Fort Collins area that sells natural meats and other natural products.

Now, I have been raising beef. Grass fed, I raise and milk nubian goats. All my children have grown up with non pasturized, no homogenized milk. I milk, I filter it and cool it. And we are drinking it. We are getting ready to invest in another cream separator, butter churn and some cheese making supplies. Our garden is 10,000 sq feet. Our place is only 80 acres, but it supports our cows, my horses and all our other personal needs. I would have chickens, but I havent been able to keep on top of everything else. We are trying to live natural, and cheap. We have only heated our house with wood for the last 3 years. We havent used 400 gallons of propane in over 3 years,(we have propane not natural gas in the country), and we average about $40-41 a month in electricity bills. Most of that charge is a surcharge the electric co-op charges for line distance fee. not our kilowatt usage. I feel much better knowing we are somewhat independent. and I feel much better about the food we eat. My children think desert is fruit, they would rather eat veggies than pizza. Unfortunately, I still eat sweets (too much).

I slaughter, butcher and package all my own animals also. they are born here, die here, get ate, and back to the soil here. (must be a boring life for them) o well. they taste good.


might I add that corporate farms have done other damage to us Americans. Think back 50-100 years ago.... many, many small farms. family run farms, generational farms. the family worked the farm, families were closer. fast forward..now giant corporate farms control all the water rights, they use illegal of quasi legal workers, instead of families. they cry on tv about how hard it is to farm, and they need "immigrant" labor. they cant pay an American a fair wage and stay in business(that is bullshit). they have ruined America. In my opinion. The large corporate farmers, make everyone believe that without them and without cheap, illegal labors, we would starve, this not true. Instead of trucking crops accross the country, most states would be able to grow thier own crops locally.

[GreenScoutII]

I watched the movie recently too. It was disturbing for many reasons. I tend to think along the same lines as SAFriday on this topic in that GMO's are bad news.

We live on 40 acres out here in rural Pueblo county. We keep chickens for meat and eggs, have a large garden in, and have about 20 fruit trees of various kinds. I plan to expand into raising hogs and beef/dairy cattle within the next 3-5 years. If I can buy irrigation water in the future, I'd like to try my hand at small-scale organic farming. It is unbelievably expensive to get started farming, so we are doing what we can as we can afford to. Ideally, we'll be able to produce all of our own fruits and veggies, as well as grain crops for our own consumption. Water for me is the limiting factor, well, water and money...

We moved out here because we wanted a better environment for our kids. We're from town, so some old habits die hard, but we're making progress in the right direction. Fortunately, my dad grew up on a farm and still knows a lot of things about agriculture that are alien to me. I'm learning and he's happy to instruct and help. Of all the decisions I ever made, moving out to the sticks was the best one.

Leatherneck, do you have ag water for your garden and livestock, or are you drawing from a well? That's something I really need to work on is making better use of the water I do have....

[Beprepared]

HBARLeatherneck, thats awesome your living the dream I hope we can return to someday. Teach those kids well, they'll be showing us the way in future. It is Polyface farms what I was thinking of. My dads been following his ways for some time now.
http://www.polyfacefarms.com/

[HBARleatherneck]

no, we dont have any water. we have 2 wells. but no ditch. my father in law has irrigation water, its outrageously expensive and unreliable. he owns, so many, acre feet, but most years cant draw even close to what he pays for. we just are finishing dividing our land. the 80 acres is going to be 10 acres and the house and 70 acres by itself with the 3 well permitted. We willl try to sell this house and both acreages this year, so we can move and buy an actual irrigated farm.

the good news about irrigation water. the cities like aurora are buying it all up, and spending millions (probably hundreds of millions) to create pipelines from up north to aurora and the other cities, so they can have subdivisions with a trillion worthless lawns and golf courses. ok its not exactly good news.

[gunguy]

wild game meat is pure and fun to harvest. Just as home grown veggies are pure and fun to harvest but hunting requires no weeding and can involve your favorite firearm!

[theGinsue]

So, Leatherneck... I saw an episode of something on the Food Network about a year ago that had a place that sold only grass raised beef - for exorbitantly ridiculous prices.

They got a grain fed beef steak from the local grocery store and compared it to one of their steaks of the same cut. The grain fed beef had nice marbelling of white fat, but the grass fed steak had just as nice marbelling, but the fat was yellow. The claim was that the yellow fat/grass fed beef tastes so much better and is actually much healthier for you (which I do not contest).

Is this fat coloring thing something that you see as well?

[HBARleatherneck]

i dont see alot of marbeling it the meat i raise.

now, if we were in river bottom country or irrigated pasture, maybe the cow could eat that much rich, protien filled grass, but not here.

back to the color. from my experience, and from reading studies done by universities and meat raising organizations, it takes between 90-120 to turn the yellow fat in the animal to white. that is 90-120 of eating grain. the more grain the more marbeling.

so applied to us the more fast food we eat the more marbeled we are. hopefully we dont slip down the food chain, alot of us would be tasty.

[SA Friday]

The biggest difference nutritionally from what I've read is the cholesterol in the meat and how it effects the cholesterol in your body. I haven't researched it deep enough to explain it at this point.

What I have found out is bovine's digestive systems are not made to digest grains. Feeding them corn is essentially feeding them the bovine version of a bag of lolly-pops. They process the corn sugars and crap out the rest. Ya, they get fat fast. On average, it takes about 4-5 years to finish a cow fed natural grasses. It takes a cow less than a year to finish.

I prefer the taste of the grass fed...

[johngraves2]

The biggest difference nutritionally from what I've read is the cholesterol in the meat and how it effects the cholesterol in your body. I haven't researched it deep enough to explain it at this point.

What I have found out is bovine's digestive systems are not made to digest grains. Feeding them corn is essentially feeding them the bovine version of a bag of lolly-pops. They process the corn sugars and crap out the rest. Ya, they get fat fast. On average, it takes about 4-5 years to finish a cow fed natural grasses. It takes a cow less than a year to finish.

I prefer the taste of the grass fed...

Not true at all. I have many ties to the meat industry, and i work in the meat industry. I have writen many papers on the effects of grain vs. grass feeding, pasture vs feed lots, and done research of the health ccontents of the two types of animals.

to start, most cattle spend the last 120 days in a fed lot being finished.

the average slaughter age of a grain fed animal is about 16-18 months

cattle that are finished on grass have an average slaughter age of 22-24 months (not 4 years like you had said).

Let me read through everything and i will post some more comments to help set the record straid so everyone on here will be a well educated consumer and can make the choice on their own of what type of food they will purcashe and eat.

[SA Friday]

Not true at all. I have many ties to the meat industry, and i work in the meat industry. I have writen many papers on the effects of grain vs. grass feeding, pasture vs feed lots, and done research of the health ccontents of the two types of animals.

to start, most cattle spend the last 120 days in a fed lot being finished.

the average slaughter age of a grain fed animal is about 16-18 months

cattle that are finished on grass have an average slaughter age of 22-24 months (not 4 years like you had said).

Let me read through everything and i will post some more comments to help set the record straid so everyone on here will be a well educated consumer and can make the choice on their own of what type of food they will purcashe and eat.
Sweet. Make sure to add the references if you still have them too. I haven't dwelled into this info as deep as I would like to.

[johngraves2]

So, Leatherneck... I saw an episode of something on the Food Network about a year ago that had a place that sold only grass raised beef - for exorbitantly ridiculous prices.

They got a grain fed beef steak from the local grocery store and compared it to one of their steaks of the same cut. The grain fed beef had nice marbelling of white fat, but the grass fed steak had just as nice marbelling, but the fat was yellow. The claim was that the yellow fat/grass fed beef tastes so much better and is actually much healthier for you (which I do not contest).

Is this fat coloring thing something that you see as well?

bovine fat is yellow, thats what it should look like, but through the years consumers feel that white fat is more appealing, and it turns white whent he animal is fed corn. thats all it is. when an animal is fed corn there is a huge reduction in the omega 6/ omega 3 fatty acid ratio. if you belive that omega 3 is better for you. scientists say you need certain levels of both, but just how much no one really knows and it is debated a lot. an optimal level is usually consieded to be 5/1.

now to address the issue of pricing. my dad's company produces organic grass fed beef. and they do it on a large scale. they sell exclusively to whole foods in the rocky mountain stores and on the west coast store. they ground beef is typically $2 more per pound than the natural beef they have in the stroe and the same price as the natural bison they have in the store. if you go to like safeway you will find that same %lean/%fat beef in their store for maybe $2.50 less, but it contains hormones and antibiotics and all that other crap.

so is spending $2 more worth it to you so you know that yoru beef is certified organic, was rasied humanely, was out on pasture its whole life, never given any antibiotics or hormones, and was borne and rasied in the united state? I say yes. but you guys can make your own call on that one.

for everyone who is raising their own cattle good for you, but not everyone can do that, so when those people need to find good reliable beef look to this organic grass-fed.

Now with the whole topic of the movie. it was very good and i did like it. the movie did leave a lot out and did not clearly discuss all the laws which made them seem like farmers and ranchers can do anything they want. It could have explained all the steps involved in food production and the laws at all levels and it would have been a lot better.

[johngraves2]

Sweet. Make sure to add the references if you still have them too. I haven't dwelled into this info as deep as I would like to.

Im not really sure how to do it but do you knwo how i can post some of my papers online for others to read?

[SA Friday]

Im not really sure how to do it but do you knwo how i can post some of my papers online for others to read?
Try attaching it like a photo. If it's too big, pm Merlin and see if he can help out.

[SA Friday]

bovine fat is yellow, thats what it should look like, but through the years consumers feel that white fat is more appealing, and it turns white whent he animal is fed corn. thats all it is. when an animal is fed corn there is a huge reduction in the omega 6/ omega 3 fatty acid ratio. if you belive that omega 3 is better for you. scientists say you need certain levels of both, but just how much no one really knows and it is debated a lot. an optimal level is usually consieded to be 5/1.

now to address the issue of pricing. my dad's company produces organic grass fed beef. and they do it on a large scale. they sell exclusively to whole foods in the rocky mountain stores and on the west coast store. they ground beef is typically $2 more per pound than the natural beef they have in the stroe and the same price as the natural bison they have in the store. if you go to like safeway you will find that same %lean/%fat beef in their store for maybe $2.50 less, but it contains hormones and antibiotics and all that other crap.

so is spending $2 more worth it to you so you know that yoru beef is certified organic, was rasied humanely, was out on pasture its whole life, never given any antibiotics or hormones, and was borne and rasied in the united state? I say yes. but you guys can make your own call on that one.

for everyone who is raising their own cattle good for you, but not everyone can do that, so when those people need to find good reliable beef look to this organic grass-fed.

Now with the whole topic of the movie. it was very good and i did like it. the movie did leave a lot out and did not clearly discuss all the laws which made them seem like farmers and ranchers can do anything they want. It could have explained all the steps involved in food production and the laws at all levels and it would have been a lot better.
River Ranch out of Steamboat? That's what we currently have in the freezer.