Why I Call It Grass-Only, Not Grass-Fed Beef

As part of this week's Fight Back Friday carnival, I want to share one of my most popular posts, All Beef Is Grass-Fed.

I hope you'll read and enjoy it.

As an addendum, I continue to be amazed by how confusing it is for a mere mortal to see beyond label claims, especially when it comes to meat. Government-approved claims such as "natural" or "organic" or "grass-fed" may be well intended but too many mistakenly or purposefully misuse the terms.

The "grass-fed" claim continues to perturb me (though "free range" and "cage free" are up there, too). Why? Because all beef cattle eat grass. It's the finishing diet - what is consumed in the last few months - that should ultimately determine whether the beef is "grass-fed" or "grain-fed." Grass-fed should be reserved for cattle raised on grass-only diets. However, I have seen multiple brands, butchers, or grocers mix the two up.

To wit, in November I called about 20 Los Angeles area butchers. 10 had never heard of grass-fed beef. The other 10 told me they carried grass-fed beef but after just a few questions, it was clear the beef was grain-fed. One even read to me from the brochure that the cattle "were raised on pristine green grass." But it was Dakota brand beef, which I knew to be grain-finished. The butcher was adamant he was right. I read in turn to him from the Dakota Beef Web site FAQ section. This butcher wasn't being disingenuous. But if he was confused, no wonder the rest of us are, too.

Again, here's my original post, All Beef Is Grass-Fed. And take a look at Food Renegade's site to find other great posts on how to take control of our food.

Those cattle by the way belong to Mac Magruder from Potter Valley, CA. Mac raises some of the best grass-only beef I've tasted.

Grass-Fed Beef & Droughts Don't Mix

A lot of people have asked me why grass-fed (what I like to call grass-only) beef is more expensive, given that the ranchers / graziers don't have to give the cattle growth hormones or preventative antibiotics to improve their, er, ability to get big fast.

Well, that's one of the points, grass-only beef takes longer to get to the delicious stage - typically 24 months vs. 12 to 14 months for commodity beef. For a farmer, it's kind of like working really hard but not getting paid until 8 months later.

Here is one more reason: grass is not only seasonal, it's really fickle.

And a long drought can be devastating.

If you raise beef cattle and there's no green grass during your growing season (which varies around the country), you either need to 1) rely on dried grasses or fermented dried grasses (aka silage), 2) sell your calves and/or 3) unbenownst to me until I saw an article by Terence Chea via AP , sell your cows to a feedyard or slaughterhouse.

A few years drought = no dried grasses.

Guys, it takes a very long time nurture a female calf into a calf-producing cow. (As I understand it, minimum 2 years and that's after a 9 months gestation period.)

And cattle finished on dried grass or silage will taste different.

My best wishes for a good, balanced rainy season to the good people raising and processing and aging natural and organic beef in California and environs.