Impacts of Stress on Flavor, Marbling, Tenderness
An animal's stress levels have a massive impact on the quality, flavor, and tenderness found in a cut of meat.
A flight or fight response has large-scale, sweeping changes on the body. Muscles tense, stress hormones flood the bloodstream, and the heart beats faster. When an animal is raised and processed in a way that causes undue, unnecessary stress, we see that reflected clearly in the meat.
The meat doesn't hold water content well, as lactic acid buildup denatures the proteins. These factors are physically damaging the muscle and meat content of the animal.
If that animal is not taken care of, if it's stressed, it’s going to change the way it eats. It's not going to be tender. It's not going to be flavorful. It's going to lose all those qualities that the farmer has spent so much time trying to secure. And that can all go away very quickly just by the stressful environment with animals processed in.
The farmers we partner with at Herd & Grace go through a tremendous amount of effort to raise their cattle and want to do everything possible to preserve that quality.
One of the biggest factors is being close to their processing facility. Minimizing the travel time the animal has to go through from the farm is critical. As is giving the animal time to relax after it's been transported.
Doing what the industry calls “single knocking” is also really important. So this way, each animal is processed individually and not amongst the crowd. When cattle see another animal being knocked it's clearly going to affect the environment.
You hear all kinds of myths about Wagyu beef like farmers in Japan giving the cattle beer to relax them, but the truth is that farmers really do go to extraordinary lengths to provide the best possible environment and lives for their cows. This includes regular messages to maintain muscle health!
At Herd & Grace, we and our farmers do everything possible to make sure our cows are happy and healthy. We know that deficiencies in how we treat cattle will always be made evident when it comes to the quality of the product we’re producing. As we strive to provide the client excellence in meat quality, flavor, and tenderness, we’ll continue to raise cattle the right way - the way nature intended.