What are "Concentrates"?

 One of the talking points that comes up the most often when chatting with customers is the use of concentrates used in feeding animals.  Our animals are pasture-raised and fed hay when the pastures run low, which sets us apart from many other producers.  But what exactly are concentrates, and why don't we use them?

Beet Pulp

The way we define "concentrate" at TLR is actually as a generic term that includes grains, vegetable pulp, soy protein powder, molasses, etc.  These concentrates come in many forms.  Some producers feed their animals grain, as a high energy (carbohydrate) supplement.  When a female goat is in the late stages of pregnancy, or while lactating, female goat's have high energy needs, and some producers supplement the females with some grain to support their needs at this time. Other producers feed grains to all animals routinely, and others feed grain almost exclusively.  Due to the high energy content, grain-fed animals tend to grow very quickly, but the growth is unnatural in several ways.  First, grain-fed animals tend to have significantly more fat than their grass fed counterparts.  Though this isn't necessarily a bad thing, some customers  prefer a more lean cut of meat, without the marbling that other people prefer.  Second, the flavor profile of grain fed animals is significantly more mild, and less of a dynamic flavor profile.  Grass fed animals have a more complex, layered and "earthy" flavor.  Finally, animals raised on grain are at the risk of developing a condition called acidosis.  This condition results from ruminants eating concentrated carbohydrates that their bodies were not designed to consume.  The animal's digestion goes into overdrive, and begins producing excess acid to handle the sudden influx of carbohydrates.  This acid can wreak havoc on the delicate digestive systems of ruminants, and can erode the internal organs, causing infections.  Some CAFO producers routinely give low grade antibiotics to their animals because of this, and yet some animals succumb to acidosis on a regular basis.

At TLR, we don't feed grain except with two exceptions:  

First, we will occasionally supplement out normal alfalfa hay with grain hay such as oat hay or beardless wheat.  The animals eat the hay, but the hay includes the seed heads.

Second, we do occasionally feed a tiny bit of grain as an incentive for the animals to follow us to a new part of the field.  The grain amounts to "goat candy", and the animals are always excited to hear the sound of grain rattling in a bucket.  At the first sound of the grain, the animals come running to get a treat.  We tempt them in this way only a few times a year, such as when we're making a big move around the farm.

Other examples of concentrates are goat kibbles, similar to dogfood, that has been formulated by experts to be a complete ration for goats.  These feeds are a great option for people who keep goats as pets, since the animals can subsist on these alone.  Bags can be purchased at a local farm store, and it greatly simplifies management of the animals, although it comes at a price.  First, these feeds are quite expensive, and would not scale to a commercial operation.  Second, there are several components in the feed that are useful from a nutritional perspective, but impart an off flavor to the meat, such as beet pulp, soy protein, and cottonseed meal.  Yet another drawback to these mixes is the fact that the mix is static, and you can't choose how much of a given component to include in the mix.

Soy protein powder

Some producers use protein tubs, which are protein concentrates such as soy, vitamins, and minerals that are ground into a "cake", mixed together, and "glued" together into a thick mass using molasses and cement.  These protein tubs are used to supplement some pasture-raised animals, since pasture is often greatly lacking in protein and carbohydrates in the dry summer months.  The tubs are set out throughout the pasture, and animals lick the tubs as needed (theoretically, though some animals go overboard), to provide the nutritional boost they need that is missing from the pasture.  These tubs can impart a new flavor into the meat, so we do not use these protein tubs at Turning Leaf Ranch.

Protein tub

CAFO producers will often mix their own feed, buying in components like those listed in the pellets.  The components go into a giant mixer, and are then distributed by machines to the animals.  These concentrates are much more flexible than the preformulated pellets, and can be tailored to the needs of different animals at different life-stages.  This style of feeding is like fine tuning a set of knobs to produce a particular outcome.  This approach to raising animals has tremendous benefits, since everything is very systematized, and predictable.  The problem is that animals tend to be concentrated in small spaces, raised in an unnatural environment.  The meat takes on a bland flavor, exacerbated by the animals' sedentary life styles.  Due to their close confinement, animals tend to be vaccinated and medicated against parasites and bacterial diseases, and manure becomes a liability to get rid of, rather than an asset that improves pasture quality.

At Turning Leaf Ranch, we are happy to raise our animals the way nature intended, but it does have its drawbacks.  As we discussed above, feeding concentrates can greatly increase the growth rate of the animals, and this greatly decreases the cost of raising the animals.  Grass fed animals, by contrast, require around 18 months to get to a truly marketable size.  Pasture raising and grass feeding is also not as precise, and is more difficult to systematize when compared to feeding concentrates.