Ranchers Putting Cattle Out to Pasture

In this photo provided by the Nick Ranch, cattle graze freely on certified organic pastures Saturday, May 13, 2006, near Santa Margarita, Calif. Fred Nick is one of a small but growing number of ranchers who are bucking convention by letting their animals graze on grassy pastures until they're slaughtered. (AP Photo/Juanell Nick) (Juanell Nick - AP)

Some ranchers say raising grass-fed animals benefits them economically because they sell meat directly to consumers, markets and restaurants, instead of selling live animals to feedlots and letting those operations pocket the final markup.

Pasture-raising cows is also said to be better for the animals, since they're permitted to eat the grass that their multichambered stomachs have developed to digest.

Yet, demand for grass-fed still remains limited to a core of shoppers willing to pay a premium for pasture-raised meat. Grass-fed beef costs more because it takes longer for the cows to reach a slaughter weight, and they typically have less meat per animal than grain-finished cattle.

A pound of standard sirloin at the Vons supermarket chain costs $5.99 per pound, for example, while Nick Ranch's grass-fed sirloin costs $16.50 per pound.

Grass-fed beef producers, generally small operators, are also hindered by their limited access to established distribution chains and, sometimes, their limited marketing savvy.

Alice Waters, founder of restaurant Chez Panisse in Berkeley, said she stopped serving beef that wasn't grass-fed about two years ago when she learned about its health and environmental benefits. Since then, her chefs have been struggling to tap into a consistent supply.

"It's a little bit like going backwards for us," she said. "But considering all the health issues, I can't go in any other direction."

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One the Net:

Nick Ranch: http://www.enjoygrassfedbeef.com/

California Cattlemen's Association: http://www.calcattlemen.org/

American Grassfed Association: http://www.americangrassfed.org/

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CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (AP) _ The federal government is planning to spend $250 million to help create two research centers that will focus on finding more efficient ways to produce cellulosic ethanol and other biofuels, Energy Secretary Samuel W. Bodman has announced.

Universities, laboratories, nonprofit organizations and private companies around the nation can compete for the money by submitting proposals to establish and operate a center, the department said. The proposals are due by Feb. 1, 2007, and the choices will be announced next summer.

The two winning organizations each will receive $25 million per year for five years, beginning in the 2008 federal fiscal year, to develop and operate the research centers, which are expected to be fully operational by 2009, said Raymond L. Orbach, undersecretary of energy for science.

While corn and soybeans are widely used to produce ethanol and biodiesel for fuel, the new research centers will be charged with looking to efficiently break down other natural materials, or biomass _ such as grasses, crop residue and animal byproducts _ to help make fuel.

Plants and plant wastes can be turned into fuel by using an enzyme to convert cellulose, the primary structural component of green plants, into sugar. The sugar is then fermented and distilled into ethyl alcohol, or ethanol.