Carbon cycle and excellent meat – the many benefits of grass-fed beef
Grass-fed cattle are doing well, are part of the carbon cycle and maintain biodiversity. In addition, grass-fed cattle produces tasty meat.
Atria's grass-fed beef, or grass-fed cattle, mainly eats pasture, mowed grass and silage. It is the best food for the ruminant. In addition, cattle eat minerals supplements, Finnish feed quality cereals and possibly rapeseed feed.
Grass fibre is important for cattle digestion, and cattle are able to utilise grass protein. Cattle manure, on the other hand, is a great fertilizer for fields. Traditionally, livestock farms in Finland cultivate grain and grass and use manure to fertilize their own fields. Cattle forage is produced on the farm's own fields.
Carbon circulates in the symbiosis of grass and cattle
Cattle are recyclers of nutrients and carbon. In Finland, cattle eat grass as their main feed, which, when grown, binds significant amounts of carbon to its plant parts. Underground carbon is in the root system and on the ground, from where the fodder is harvested, in the leaf parts. When cattle eat grass, the feed ends up in the rumen.
The microbes living in the rumen are able to digest the grass into a usable form for cattle and produce valuable animal protein from it. The grass feed is supplemented with by-products from the food industry, which highlights the role of cattle in the circular economy. Cattle manure is returned to the fields as fertilizer, where it enhances the carbon sequestration of herbaceous plants. At the same time, it reduces dependence on chemical fertilizers, the production of which requires fossil energy sources. Then the cycle starts again.
Grazing is common on cattle farms
About 80% of dairy cows and about 90% of suckler cows graze, which is good for both animal health and environmental biodiversity. Beetles and insect-eating birds thrive on pastures. In winter, cows can walk outside, but feeding must be done with feed produced during the summer. The average grazing period for dairy cows is just under five months. The grazing period for suckler cow farms is almost six months.
Most cattle in Finland live in free-stall barns, where the animals can move freely and are not tied to stalls. In free-stall barns, cattle have enough space and freedom to express their natural behaviors.
The year-round plant cover of grasslands helps prevent/mitigates erosion and limits nutrient leaching into waterways. Perennial grasslands are able to utilise the soil's nutrients in early spring and use them effectively well into the autumn. Herbicides are hardly used are hardly used, as regular harvesting inhibits weed growth, and the soil remains in good growth condition due to the extensive root system of grasslands.
Grass can grow in areas with a short growing season
Food-grade grain varieties require a longer growing season than is available in most parts of Finland. Instead, grass grows also in the north, and the production of feed quality grain is possible in the north and in varying weather conditions. The cultivation of bread grain and special crops is possible and profitable only in the southern and western parts of Finland.
As the climate changes, the farming conditions also change. Temperatures are expected to rise, but the amount of light does not increase. According to forecasts, springs are expected to become drier as snow and frost decrease, and on the other hand, precipitation will increase. Grasslands mitigates erosion and nutrient leaching caused by dry seasons and abundant rainfall variations. Grass will grown, even if varying conditions cause problems in the production of food-quality food crops.
The ruminants are important for security of supply
Finnish peatlands are widely used for grass production, so their emissions are assigned to the livestock sector. Peatlands are more common in northern Finland, and cattle are also concentrated in these regions, which is why grass is widely cultivated on peatlands. The cultivation of perennial grass reduces the emissions of peatlands compared to the cultivation of annual crops such as cereals.
Of the grains in peatlands, oats are the most successful. For other annual crops, such as legumes for faba beans or peas, the cultivation characteristics of peatlands are challenging. Even if they were needed for the development of domestic protein self-sufficiency in the market, in fact, carbon emissions from cultivation would increase significantly. If, instead of perennial grass, annual crops were grown in peatlands that do not fit there and would still result in poor yields. The decomposition of peatland carbon stocks produces 98% of agricultural land use emissions, and land use produces more than half of Finland's agricultural emissions.
The taste is an absolute advantage of Atria's grass-fed beef. It's the best in the world. This is evidenced by JN Meat International's annual wins with the Atria Steak in the World Steak Challenge.