Central Texas rancher Betsy Ross is one of only 100 beef producers in that state -- out of some 140,000 total -- who feed cattle naturally with rye, clover, Bermuda, alfalfa and native prairie grasses.

For a while, the Ross ranch was like any other conventional one; the cattle were fed corn and regularly dosed with antibiotics.

But she shifted from conventional and chemical to natural and organic when she began to worry about the kinds of foods her prematurely born grandchild would eat.

Ross says it took her 12 years to clean up her pasture land. Her hormone-free cattle now take 29 months to reach a slaughter weight, compared to half that time for conventionally raised animals

Although the Ross operation follows strict organic principles, they haven't as of yet attempted to complete the rigid certification process.

Dr. Mercola's Comment:

More often than not, I'm sharing advice with you regarding why organic foods are so crucial for your optimal health and where you can more easily find them, but not so much how those foods are nurtured, not engineered. So I thought you'd be interested in reading about Betsy Ross and her ranch.

Just a reminder, besides being free of chemicals, authentic grass-fed beef contains richer amounts of conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), which can be instrumental in helping you beat cancer.

An important point to understand when purchasing your beef is that certified organic beef is not necessarily as healthy as grass-fed, non-factory-farmed beef. Most of the organic beef I have seen are fed organic corn, which still causes most of the negative problems that have traditionally been associated with eating beef.

Of course, practically anything is better than industrial agriculture practices and factory farming. If you aren't familiar with the problems surrounding conventional beef production, I would encourage you to review the excellent piece that Michael Pollan wrote on How Your Beef is Really Raised.

You will get quite an education on how most cattle are raised for food in the United States -- by giving them large amounts of grain, antibiotics, and hormones to maximize their value with patent disregard to the health consequences to the consumers that will eat the meat.

Related Articles:

New Lower Standards for Grass-Fed Beef Will Destroy the Label

Grass-Fed Cattle Benefits Animals And People

The Six Dangers of Common Beef, and How to Avoid Them