Corn and soybeans are instrumental in growing good meat. Beef ain't beef if it ain't fattened up on corn.

Fish and poultry guy here, no servings larger than a deck of cards. I eat a ton of veggies and fruit,, whole grains.. Battling high cholesterol and borderline high blood sugar levels most of my adult life. But my numbers today are way more in line than they were before I started running and eating like this...and that was 10 years ago.
Running 3 marathons a year in my mid-50s now and watching what I eat and by doing that I don't have to take meds to manage my numbers. Still wearing same 32" waist size pants that I did in high school which was back in 1980s, and much better shape today than i was back then too.
Sure I'd love a burger or steak more often than the little bit I have these days on occasion. But this is what I have to do to be me and I'm OK with it.
Jim

Yup Jim, we all have our reasons.
A note about grain subsidies...after harvest, the Gubmint takes control of American grown grain being sold overseas. If they're going to do that and use grain as a political weapon, they can darn sure subsidize American farmers along with pandering to illegals and deadbeat citizens. There are people starving to death around the world yet grain prices are low and grain spoils on the ground every year. You would think the UN would be buying grain to feed the starving people. After all, the UN is concerned about all the people of the world, right?

We're getting a cow butchered next month. I would much rather fall over dead with a heart attack then spend ten years in a nursing home waiting to die.
What is the point of being alive if your not living?????????????

Ten-four on that Danny.

I don't eat it if the color is green.

When the u.n. does try food relief it gets stolen and sold in those countries where its common for people to die of starvation. its a shame but still a fact. i dont think we need to commit our young men to any more wars where U.S. sovereignty is not threatened.

Green meat is not a good thing.

That's how it starts by laying the ground work to brain wash and distort public perception. Then added taxes and and regulations levied on meat to raise prices and things harder on producer's.

As already stated there used to be more buffalo than we have cows now.
But I must concede a few points. The buffalo didnt eat corn. Corn and grains make cows fat but fart more.
But fart and uses a lot of agriculture land that the production gets feed to cows. Feed lots aren't a sustainable model. It has to much transportation and the largest concentration of animals is a stinking mess.

Grass feed is sustainable and can be kept local. Imagine eating a steak that was raised less than 50 miles away and not trucked 1000 miles around the country for finishing and processing.

But but grassfeed is tough!!! Once again government getting in the way again. Fed inspectors must be sure cows are cooled down to temp x within x amount of time. They use the fattest grain feed cow to test the system to be sure it meets requirements. Grass feed dosen't have the fat and is cooled so fast it will make the meat tough and need cooled slowly. But the government gets in the way.

It similar to why I leave chickens in ice water for no less than 24 hrs before packing and freezing.

The fat tastes good. I like grain fed beef. When I am in the mood for lean meat I eat venison or squirrel or rabbit or catfish. Same with a hog. I prefer to eat the older breeds developed before breeding for lean pork got so popular.

Reread Marks post. It says a lot. Remember when salt was good for you and eggs were bad? Your tastes are far more than a personal preference. Your body is signaling you as to what it wants. Those nutritionists have entered a new science. How old is it? 100 years maybe? Like psychobabling, its too new not to take everything they say with a grain of salt. (pun intended)

What are some of the older breeds you like and how can the average consumer find them?

Try kids raising 4h pigs. Look for a breed called Hereford Pig

Get you a refrigerator just for making ham and bacon and you wont need to depend o n weather. Take out the metal grates and replace with home made wood slats if you want to dry cure. put a plastic tote in bottom to catch the liquid that drips off so it cleans up easy.

That's a fact. Mass starvation is caused by politics and conflict.

Duroc is another good heirloom pig.

Danny,m have you done a country ham in a fridge? I'd like to try to do one,

When you get a chance share some pics or start a dedicated thread.

Last couple hogs we did it was cool enough didnt need a fridge and made brine. Last ham i did in a fridge I put it in and went to Wy trapping. Wife turned it over once. got home 3 weeks later and smoked it. Came out great. Guy I went with raised the hog. We cut most of it up fresh. Made a bunch of sausage. Steaked out one ham fresh. Kept some fresh side instead of cured bacon. Cut the chops. Took the chops side meat a bunch of sausage and the fresh ham steaks with us. Any way the ham i cured and smoked came out great. its not hard to do. Main thing is get it rinsed real good before you smoke it.

I eat meat 3 times a day. 7 days a week. 80% of it is beef. Make my living from it and these people scare the heck out of me.

If we would eat the recommended calorie amounts for our age and activity we would not have to change the type of food we eat very much. Over time our diets will change but we have a huge infrastructure investment that will resist commodity production system changes with a lot of effort and money. It is easier and less costly to eat less then to change quite considerably what we eat. With the rural population shrinking every year there will be even less food grown by the consumers that raise food. About the only way we will see any major change in dietary types and amounts is when it hits individuals directly or groups of consumers cooperatively work together and form food coops and eat what they raise. By putting an investment into the food production and processing there is more likely to be changes. Small scale food production creates a need for labor and skill sets. There needs to be a revenues to pay for those skills, labor and investment. The younger generation seems to be far more open to investing in their food supply then our older generations.

Bryce