Grass Fed Meat - Lazylonghorn

"Grass Only" forage feeding

At "Lazylonghorn" we let all our livestock live the longest life possible, for Longhorn cattle, that's two and a half years [30 months] on forage either growing on the farm or mowed and baled in the summer months to sustain them through the winter. Apart from essential mineral and vitamin supplements, their diet and lifestyle are 100% natural, that way, they enjoy a long and happy life and we can experience their full flavour as a result.

Feeding grain to livestock has got to be one of the dumbest ideas in the history of western civilization.
Cows, sheep, and other grazing animals are endowed with the ability to convert grasses, which those of us who possess only one stomach cannot digest, into food that we can digest. They can do this because they are ruminants, which is to say that they possess a rumen, a fermentation tank in which resident bacteria convert cellulose into protein and fats.

Traditionally, all beef was grass-fed beef, but today what is commercially available is almost all corn fed beef. The reason? It's faster, and so, more profitable. Seventy-five years ago, steers were 4 or 5 years old at slaughter. Today, they are 14 or 16 months. You can't take a beef calf from a birth weight of 40 kg to 550 kg in a little more than a year on grass. It takes enormous quantities of corn, protein supplements, antibiotics and other drugs, including growth hormones.

Switching a cow from grass to grain is so disturbing to the animal's digestive system that it can kill the animal if not done gradually and if the animal is not continually fed antibiotics. These animals are designed to forage, but we make them eat grain, primarily corn, in order to make them as fat as possible as fast as possible.

The Fall and Rise of English Longhorns

Two hundred years ago, Longhorns were the most popular cattle in Cheshire. In the early eighteenth century, the ideas of Jethro Tull and Charles "Turnip" Townshend were increasing crop yields and introducing root crops for winter fodder. Once farmers could overwinter their cattle, instead of having to slaughter most of them in the autumn, they experimented with selective breeding to improve their stock.

Robert Bakewell, of Dishley Grange near Loughborough, worked on the long-horned cattle of the Midlands. His famous Dishley Longhorns had large cylindrical bodies and enlarged hind quarters, giving plenty of meat to help feed an ever-increasing urban population.

In 1810, most Midlands cattle were of this type and were even being exported to Australia and the USA (though the Texas Longhorn is a different breed, derived from Spanish stock). But the Longhorn's popularity was shortlived. By 1842 they had virtually disappeared; superseded by Shorthorns, which were easier to handle, more fertile and better milkers.

The decline continued until Longhorns were registered on the Rare Breeds Survival Trust list and the number of herds rose from 22 in the early 1900s to well over 100 today. The cattle are docile, calve easily and are attractive to look at, with their showy horns, rich reddish colour and characteristic white “finch back” stripe. Their lean meat also suits modern tastes.