Source:  Tom Johnston, MEATINGPLACE.COM, 6/21/10

Consumers increasingly are pushing for beef from forage-based production systems, but solutions will be required to address those systems' current constraints, USDA said.

In its monthly Dairy, Livestock and Poultry report, issued Friday, USDA's Economic Research Service analyzed the similarities and differences between conventional, grain-fed and forage-based production systems and the beef they produce.

For example, most cattle, the agency noted, spend half of their lives or more on some type of pasture, but differ in how they are finished. Grass-finished animals produce leaner beef compared with the higher-marbled, better-grading grain-fed product, but the former has, for example, more Omega-3 fatty acids. The flavors and tenderness also differ.

Nonetheless, forage-based product does lend itself to natural and organic programs, niches that are increasingly attractive to consumers willing to pay premiums for such products, USDA said.

Challenges

However, the difference in terms of production methods between grass-fed and grain-fed calls into question the feasibility of the former's proliferation. A key issue, according to USDA, is the time it takes to produce a high-quality, grass-finished product, and the costs associated especially with supplying animals with large amounts of feeds that generally are in shorter supply than conventional feeds such as corn.

USDA said continued growth in "niche-market" demand will require some tradeoffs, many of which portend higher production costs and reduced beef supplies. It is possible, the agency said, that cows would need to be liquidated to create room for more forage land, for example. Meanwhile, local meat processors do not have the operational means to reap total byproduct values from the carcass, thereby reducing supplies to makers of pharmaceuticals, cosmetics and lubricants, among other industries, the agency said.

"As in most cases, consumers drive production decisions, and as consumer preferences continue to shift toward products from more forage-based production systems, solutions will need to be found to many actual or anticipated short-term constraints on producing the desired final beef products," USDA concluded in the report.

To view a full version of the report and references that USDA cites, 

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