By Philip A. Wheeler, Ph.D.

Readers of The Stockman Grass Farmer know that most of the “answers” to grass fed meat production have already been published in these pages.  We know how to make grass grow for gain, which grass or forage to use for which season in which part of the country, etc.  We even know about the secrets of tenderness/taste/quality such as soil and plant calcium and slow carcass cooling.  If we know these things, why is marbling or finishing still a major problem in the industry?

Here is the very short version of the recent history of agriculture; government, corporate and institutional interests decided in the 1940’s that agriculture was going to become efficient by consolidation into the hands of business enterprises and that chemistry would be used to make soil and plant systems function.  They also decided that farming needed to use the weapons of war such as ammonium nitrate and nerve gas pesticides to keep the production of such materials available for future wars.  The result, of course, is loss of family farms, massive environmental contamination and a nation of very unhealthy people with runaway health costs.  (It doesn’t’ take a genius to figure out that the paradigm of health and medicine was “stolen” by the same interests, but that started in the 20’s).  The same agricultural model or paradigm still exists today and is commonly know as standard or chemical agriculture, so the information you receive about how to grow grasses and legumes is still based on that model.  Again, in the short version, use N-P-K simplistic fertilization and follow with toxic rescue chemistry or drugs.

Due to the nature of grasses, you can throw nitrogen and/or salt potash at them, produce supposedly high protein forages and have gain through growth.  The better informed grower mixes legumes in with the grasses and tries to avoid the N purchases.  The forage produced in the former scenario is a mixture of  “real” protein and” funny protein” or nitrates, which luckily for those growers, can be converted and used by the ruminant animal.  The real protein may still be of an inferior, short chain amino acid type, thereby not providing the true potential gain for the livestock.  These poor proteins are usually due to a lack of calcium and phosphorous available to the plant which leads to low sugar [Brix] production.  Since proteins are combinations of sugar and nitrogen, the lack of sugar leads to the poor quality and low volume of real, long chain amino acids.  Add the fact that it takes sulfur to make some of the most important amino acids and most soils have way too little sulfur, and you can begin to understand why almost all livestock is fed some sort of supplementation.

Momma cows can do well and feeder cattle can make impressive gains using the above system, but the system fails to produce marbling/finishing as needed or desired.  According to your editor, ranchers in other countries do not try to finish on the above kind of systems.  They choose different ground, usually Class 1 crop ground, for finishing operations.  That type of ground probably has a much higher level of mineralization, is probably better balanced according to the Cation Exchange Capacity [CEC] and can produce higher carbohydrate forages.  Higher carbohydrate forages contain a higher ratio of hemi-cellulose to cellulose and that means higher energy that promotes maturing/marbling/finishing.

What if you don’t have separate land for finishing?  You can still create the same situation on “grazing” land, but it will take management expertise and usually more cost per acre to bring up the mineralization to a level capable of producing the higher brix/carbohydrates.  Good planning could allow for certain paddocks to be available for finishing without bringing the whole system up to the same capabilities.  Smaller operations [not desert/scrub ranches] could make a good case for having the entire operation re-mineralized and bio-activated as the health and fecundity of bulls and cows, milk produced, possible “twining” of calves and rate of gain could provide a margin to justify said expenditures.  More importantly, grass finished meat must be nutrient dense and chemical free to meet advertised advantages and consumer expectations.  Nutrient density (mineralized meat) and chemical free can be measured and marketed, and there seems to be no shortage of buyers for that type of meat or any other food stuff.

Cost factors to recover or improve grazing land vary greatly. Only complete CEC testing with trace elements can give you the information necessary to calculate the remineralization costs.  LaMotte (availability) tests can allow you to calculate bio-activation costs.  The cheapest and the best fertilizer is still lime [calcium carbonate].  The best and lowest cost natural phosphate is available in the mid-south central US.  Bio-activators such as sugar, molasses, fish hydrolysates, liquid seaweeds, enzymes, compost teas, humic acids are readily available [but not usually from your local salt fertilizer, rescue chemical dealer].

Finishing grade grazing paddocks must be re-mineralized and bio-activated to produce true protein and higher carbohydrate [Brix] grazing.  The emphasis will be away from high nitrogen and salt potash and toward available calcium and phosphorous.  Graziers should consider purchasing refractometers [Brix meters] and possibly pH meters that can read just a few drops of plant sap right in the paddock/cell.  They should also consider tissue/feed sampling right out of the paddock when ready for grazing.  To measure is to know.  To know is to have the ability to make rational decisions.

Advanced management graziers can begin to explore the opportunities for direct plant manipulation by foliar feeding paddocks, usually right after livestock has been rotated out.  They can also explore the advanced concepts of energy control or manipulation by use of Rudolph Steiner principles and other esoteric principles falling under the term Quantum Ag.  Mother Nature just awaits your cooperation and she will give back as close to the genetic potential of plants and livestock as you allow.  Good Grazing!  Dr. Phil