Hey all,

I asked a local farmer if their cattle are grass finished. I'm pretty clueless about cattle raising but is this basically just as nutrient devoid as the supermarket meats?

Hay? It's pretty traditional to feed hay during winter months when grass isn't available. Hay doesn't have as much nutrient content as fresh grass though, that's why they have to supplement it with other stuff.

It's probably a damn sight better than a CAFO raised steer.

Maybe I can step in and help Nancy, she really did a great job though

The problem with 100% grass fed beef, is that on that diet, it takes a steer 2 yrs to get to the right size. It won't be as tender because the stear is more aged and the fat "marbeling" won't be there because they aren't going to get fat on grass.

The traditional corn fed, lot steers are fed corn mix and usualy a hay pellet, major high protien and energy. They grow much faster than their grass fed siblings and get fat and we like the marbeling. Corn raised calves are burchared at around, 1 yr old. The meat is more tender because the meat is younger and and it has marbeling, tender and tastey.

Hay, calves will grow fine on just hay, but they won't grow fast. Hay is fiber, filler, it has nutrients but these past years its been really bad due to the weather. The calves don't need much hay as long as they are getting the protien, fiber and nutrients from another source. The farmer you spoke to is feeding a barley grain mix, its got corn, barley (hay), fillers (makes the calf full so he won't eat so much that he can't kill himslef) and vitamines and mineral supplaments, it could have oats for more carbs and it will have something for fat, many options there, peanut hulls is a poppular fat for a feed mix.

This mix, isn't much different than a the big time feeders, they feed a mix much like this, except they will do anything to cheapen it up and keep that calf growing fast.

Your farmer friend, probably has his calves in a larger, more confortable lot. He's got them on full hay (good for the belly) and they get to eat the grain mix as they please. They will be at butchar weight by the time they are 1 yr old.

My thoughts, go with the grain fed calf and be happy. It will be more tender, taste better and cheaper (because that calf isn't sitting around for 2 years).

Most likely theres no antibiotics or any growth hormones added to the feed, but its not illegal for a farmer to add it to his own calves but most don't.

I talked BF into holding back 6 calves, they were fall calves, we weren't going to get anything from them at the market so, he let me have my way. We raised them totally on hay and mineral lick in the winter and they did just fine, but, we kept 2 in the corn/feed lot and they did get bigger quicker. Over the summer the 6 calves ran with their mothers and kept growing, the other 2 calves were in the lot and they were bigger. The 2 lot calves were ready to butchar that fall, on their 1st birthday. The other 2 were brought up into the lot at the same time and they were considerably smaller especially in the meat department. They were leaner, less muscular and just looked lanky. We hayed those calves all winter again, out with the cows come summer and that fall, they were brought up for butchar. They were at butchar weight, but they didn't look at "bulky" as the other calves looked. Anyway, the taste test, there was very little marbeling in the meat. The meat seamed dryer, less tender and seemed to have a different flavor. We had to eat it, of course, we grew them. BUt now, all calves are on hay and grain rations when they are weaned till they are butchared in March.

Hope I wasn't overly wordy but I thought JoryTk wanted an full answer

Way better than I could've done, Jacki!

LOL! Growing up on the farm can come in handy, LOL! Jack of all trades, master of none But I can raise a critter for butcher.

I really appreciate the time you've both taken in responding to my question. So often I hear about how we superior grass fed meats are but if you live in a place where there isn't any green grass in the winter months it's kind of hard. At any rate, we got a quarter of a cow which was 181 pounds, so far it does taste quite a bit different than the typical supermarket meats.

I also sent the farmer another email asking if they have grass finished cattle and this was her response.

this is great.. thank you for such a detailed explanation.
i say it everyday....... we learn something off this forum, everyday!

Excellent post, Jacki. Thank you.

I asked BF aboug the feed the farmer in question is feeding. BF thought it was just another mix to fatten them up.

I would say, his calves will be a better than factory farming but your still getting the grain. Which every rought you want to go. His calves are getting alot more hay in their diet than gain, thats a good thing.

Even in the areas were they do have grass all year round, it isn't good quality all year round, still would have to suppliment.

I swear there are experienced people on these forums for every subject. When it comes to farming, it's Jacki. Thanks for your insight, Jacki. I am one of those people who does notice a huge taste difference between factory farmed and pastured meat. Unfortunately the budget won't allow it every day, so I supplement with canned or fresh wild-caught fish and humanely raised eggs - none of which are cheap either. It's not only worth it to me for the taste, but I've also noticed an improved overall feeling of wellness and energy. That said, last week I ate a lot of cheap deli meat (don't ask) and am tired, bloated, and carrying around a lot of excess water now. Just my experience, YMMV.

Thanks, Jacki!
ps: I just bought some grass fed ground beef at...Walmart.
Jones Creek brand.

Great post, Jacki! =)


I feel your pain on the grain finishing. I'm not a huge fan of it, but we live in northern Illinois where an appreciable amount of grass doesn't exist from October to March. Typically, when I'm buying a cow, I make sure the farmer grows his (or her) own grain mix (or at least gets it locally) and that it's non-GMO.

There's only one place I know of in my "area" that sells truly grass-fed meat, and that's up in central Wisconsin. And with the drought last year, they were about double to triple the cost of more traditional farms. I personally preferred the taste of it, but it's really just a pain to get.

The hay has been awful the past 3 years, 3 years ago we had so much rain in the spring it sucked the nutrients from the ground, the hay was pretty well junk. Then it dried up and very little hay for 2nd and 3rd cutting.

The last 2 years have been terribly dry, very little hay again. Were short on hay, we've actually cut corn stocks and baled them. Cows aren't thrilled with it but its got fiber and a little nutrition.

My horses get "ditch hay", we just mow the Hwy ditches, and they eat that. Normally, more boys don't have a problem holding weight on hay only in the winder. But the past 3 years the hay is awful, I have to supplament with corn, oats and a little peanut fines to keep their weight up.

I didn't like the grass fed calves, then again, I was born and raised in Iowa, we are the corn kings! SOme of it could be where I'm from, I think a cooked coon is nasty but those in the south, tend to really like it. Alot has to do with what we were raised on.

Jacki: that really struck a cord with me. Being older, I was privileged to be raised on inexpensive grass fed and free range everything - not in the countryside from friendly local farmers, but from supermarkets and the corner butcher shops in a major urban metropolis, London.

It was just before the Big Con of "convenience foods", tv dinners, and all the horrors we now take for granted, with their injected hormones and chemical nutrients to substitute for the lack of natural ones. As soon as I left home as a young woman, right up until 2 years ago, I embraced modern "food technology" and a fat-free, 1000 calorie a day lifestyle.

If it wasn't tragic, it would be funny to me that my beloved, old-fashioned, un-hip, mother was right all along with her bacon and eggs breakfasts, fried in Kerrygold butter (to name but one memory), and I am now struggling in this society to recreate a healthy, natural w.o.e. that she took for granted and gave to me while she had me at home.

Great question JoreyTK and a super response from Jacki too.

From my perspective there are really two different criteria that needed to be looked at whenever we buy beef. The first thing are the animals fed natural food as opposed to food that is laced with antibiotics, hormones and other drugs and is it GM free? Generally speaking if those criteria are met then the meat product is usually pretty good simply because any farmer who is willing to go the extra mile not to use drugs and hormones and to ensure their feed is GMO-free will tend to take care of their animals far more conscientiously than those brought up on vast feedlots.

Whether or not they are finished on grass or corn fed or any other type of grain for that matter, as Jacki has said, will affect how quickly they come to kill weight and that will obviously affect in many ways both the texture and the taste as well as the look of the meat as well.

Then there is a third option for finishing cows off and that's one they use quite extensively in Europe which is once the growing season has stopped the cattle are transitioned on to silage which if you don't know about it is fermented grass. This has the advantage of retaining a much larger proportion of all the good stuff, the nutrients as compared to say, dried hay or something like that.

Another popular feed in Europe is also root crops such as turnips, carrots parsnips, sugar beets and even sweet potatoes. Kale is also a very popular hereabout and it seems to last in the field quite well where the farmers will allow the cattle to strip graze it progressively each day.

So even though there may not be grass growing through the winter where you live, farmers do have a choice to feed their cattle in as natural a way as possible according to the resources they've got at hand. Whether they're finished on grass, whether they’re finished on corn or whether they're finished on solid or kale or whatever, the key issue for me is more is it natural and free of drugs and other additives that I just don't want passed on to me through the meat I eat. The rest is really just more of a question of taste.

Cheers,

Mark