zlacker

If you want solid evidence you can read a book on the history of animal husbandry. Roman sources include Cato the Elder, Columella, and Varro describe how they used supplemental grains to get cows through the winter and provide oxen enough energy to work (and to feed cavalry which would have been completely impossible without them). Humanity has been feeding grains to cattle for thousands of years, likely prehistorically.

Then in the first half of 1800s a bunch of American farmers with an abundance of corn independently discovered that they could grow bigger cows for slaughter in half the time if they fed them grains instead of roughage like hay or grass. That idea quickly spread to Europe and by the time the green revolution and globalization rolled around in the second half of the 20th century, almost every body started doing it.

This isn’t some new phenomenon. It predates the globalization of agriculture and if you were to ask a random farmer around the world whether they feed their cows a ton of grain they’d look at you like you were asking a very stupid question.

It’d be like asking “do plants need fertilizer?” Yes. If you want to feed the world, yes they do.

>>throwu+(OP)
You've argued that grain is fed to cattle; which was not in question.

The parent questioned whether the use of grain for finishing was down to a demand based on consumer taste preference.

You've done nothing that would move them from their position of questioning the evidence here.

The detail you do provide shows grain feeding increases yield for farmers, which would be an indicator that it is financial benefit to herd owners that drives the use of grain; potentially moving away from your assertion.

Angus beef is very popular in UK, I'm relatively sure it's grass fed?

>>pbhjpb+Yd
That is not at all what the GP was asking because this:

> ...and _people in the USA_ strongly prefer...

Although, I don't know how solid the evidence for even that statement is.

Is completely incoherent in the context of the thread and I just did my best to answer the two words “solid evidence.”

However you make a good point. There is a chicken and egg problem here between consumer taste and farmers optimizing their yield. I don’t have an answer, but I invite you to compare them yourself, if you ever get the chance to eat grass finished beef versus a high end ribeye. Or something like wagyu/kobe where they’re fed almost exclusively rice mash or grains.

As for “angus beef” no that doesn’t mean anything. The US/UK/EU don’t have any meaningful regulations about those marketing terms.

>>throwu+3h
>Is completely incoherent in the context of the thread

Ah, well it seemed cogent and straightforward to me: the OP suggested that your indication that grain feeding was driven by consumer taste preference seemed to lack evidence.

It seems like something that will have been tested (certainly for low-n values), it also seems likely to vary by culture/region substantially.

One of my "if I were in charge" ideas is for origin marks that provide all information about inputs into any product made available for sale. Under sight a system one could look up whether the farmer bought grain feed.