Walking in a farmers' market often brings one to explore new food options, and now more locally-farmed protein choices are available to help bridge the gap between our meals and the farms from which they originated. More and more local small farms are popping up in opposition to factory farms. Today's commercial farms do not fit the image that comes to mind while happily singing along to "Old MacDonald". Instead, most of the nation's food comes from CAFOs, Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations, where animals are kept in tightly enclosed conditions as they are fattened up and readied to be killed for food. Fortunately, knowing exactly where one's food comes from has led to an increase in the availability of what is known as "grass-fed" beef. Technically, all cattle are grass-fed for at least a limited amount of time, but what makes the meat significant is that it is grass-finished, not force-fed corn, soy or grains. This change in diet makes all the difference since corn is not part of the cow's traditional diet, and therefore causes major health issues for it. To deal with the health issues, antibiotics are used and some of the antibiotics used to treat the cattle are similar to those given to humans, so they can decrease the effectiveness of medicine when a consumer is sick. A healthier diet for the cattle leads the meat to lower in both fat and calories. And when cooking grass-fed beef, you'd better use a slightly lower temperature to make it more delicious. The song "Old MacDonald" describes
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