Mad-cow worry raises interest in alternative to feedlot cattle

By Diane Huber
The (Roseburg, Ore.) News-Review

	STEPHEN BRASHEAR / AP After moving part of their Angus herd into a new field, ranchers Diane Swingley, left, and Stan Huebner put up an electrified fence on their Swingley Angus Century Farm at Days Creek, Ore. Swingley and Huebner raise only grass-fed beef.
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Diane Swingley and her husband, Stan Huebner, have one of a handful of small ranches in Oregon's Douglas County that finish their steers — castrated males — on grass. It's part of a growing consumer movement to eat organic, natural and local foods.

"I've had people comment to us it's the best they've ever had," said Swingley.

Ranchers tout their method as more sustainable and healthier for the animals and people.

"We've always felt for health issues. We felt that there was too much use of chemicals in the world," said Sandy Lyon, who owns and operates a near-organic ranch in Days Creek.

And they can say with confidence that customers won't get sick from mad-cow disease.

Prompted by the United States' first case of mad-cow, found in a Holstein slaughtered in December in Washington state, more people than usual have called Swingley and other local ranchers and butchers about buying locally and the advantages of grass-fed beef.

"The demand is definitely going up right now considerably," said Dan McNeary, owner of Nickabob's Meat and Fish in Roseburg, Ore.

People inquire about where they can purchase local beef, which is a lot more difficult than it would seem. McNeary points them to Boyer Meat Co. in Roseburg, a local-beef retailer.

Butchers say the mad-cow scare hasn't deterred Douglas County folks from eating meat — it's just making them more conscious of where that meat is coming from and how it's raised.

"Beef is still just going through the roof," McNeary said.
 
Most cattle are fed a mix of corn, soybean meal, hay and other grains for the last three to four months of their lives. Jo Robinson's book "Why Grassfed is Best!" says possible feed ingredients also can include pesticides, cattle and chicken manure, feathers, hooves and a variety of food scraps, from fish meal to peanut skins.

And before a Food and Drug Administration ban in 1997, feed could also include cattle parts, used as a cheap, efficient source of protein, said Woody Lane, a private livestock consultant in Roseburg.

Mad-cow, officially known as bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), is likely spread when contaminated cattle byproducts are included in the feed mix, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the federal agency that oversees slaughterhouses and processing operations. The sick Holstein in Washington was born before the ban.

"That doesn't happen with animals that are out there grazing grass," Lane said.

Shelby Filley, livestock agent for Oregon State University's extension service in Douglas County, agrees that finishing on grass or grain can be safe.

"It depends on who's raising the animal and if they're taking care of them," she said.

Some scientists say finishing cattle on grain may not be as nutritious, though. Grass-finished beef is lower in saturated fat and has more of the "good" omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids, according to Robinson's book. People with diets rich in those "essential fatty acids" are less likely to have high blood pressure and are less vulnerable to cancer, she said.

She reports that cattle finished in feedlots have four to six times more total fat than meat from grass-fed cattle, and twice as much saturated fat.

Grain-finishing became popular 40 years ago as a way to add weight to cattle faster. Grass-finishing can take three months longer or more, though that's not the case with Swingley's cattle.

A yearning for something more healthy and in tune with nature prompted Swingley to change a century of ranching tradition — the ranch, in her family since 1965, was the second ranch in the valley between Canyonville and Days Creek and only the fourth in Oregon, she said. The traditional family business is breeding cattle and selling cow-calf (mom and baby) pairs and bulls as breeders to other Northwest ranches.

The family sold a few males to be auctioned and taken to feedlots. But the market was depressed in the mid-1990s, and Swingley decided to experiment with finishing some of the males on grass and slaughtering them on the ranch.

"It was not heard of. It was before the movement," Swingley said. "I didn't like the idea of not knowing what was in the feed," she added.

Now, every September, the couple choose their finest bulls to sell as breeders, and the remaining six or so steers finish their lives on grass. She sells meat directly to regular customers, who buy a half or quarter of a steer to last a year. She irrigates during the summer to feed the herd nutrient-rich green grass year-round. The couple rotate the animals among several pastures to keep the land and animals healthy.

Their philosophy: "As long as the earthworms are happy, the cattle are happy," Swingley said.

"We're actually grass farmers. ... We convert it into something people can buy," Huebner added.

Customers choose their butcher and have the meat slaughtered into their preferred cuts. Buyers spend about $3 a pound.

Since Swingley breeds her own cattle, she knows the life history of every steer that's slaughtered. She lets inquiring customers decide for themselves if her meat is right for them.

"I just tell them how we raised it and how we treat the animals," she said.

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