Everything You Need to Know About Grass-Fed Beef

Everything You Need to Know About Grass-Fed Beef

Everything you need to know about grass-fed beef

There's a close relationship between the quality of all foods that we eat and the natural environment. For example, the nourishment we get from plant foods depends on the quality of the soil in which they grow. The same is true for animal foods. The nourishment we get from these foods depends on the lifestyle of the animals—including their access to pasture, fresh air, and, of special importance, the quality of their diet.

A Cow's Natural Diet

For cows, a natural diet consists of plants that can be "grazed" or "browsed". Grazing generally refers to the eating of grasses, and browsing usually refers to the eating of leaves, twigs, or bark from bushes or trees. Cows both graze and browse, but they are definitely more "grazers" than "browsers" and their complicated four-part stomach helps them to slowly digest relatively large amounts of grasses. From a historical perspective, consumption of ground grains has not been part of the cows' natural diet.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The unique digestive system of cows and their thorough digestion process is a perfect match with grasses and other plants that are can be found in pasture settings.

The Word "Grass-Fed"

The word "grass-fed" can be confusing because cows and other grass-fed animals may eat a wide variety of plants besides grasses. Grasses—including bluegrass, ryegrass, bermudagrass, fescue, Timothy grass, foxtail, sorghum, and bromegrass. 

 

Grass Feeding Versus Conventional Feeding

The food eaten by 100% grass-fed cows is very different from the food eaten by conventionally fed cows. In conventional feeding, the diet typically consists of what are known as "total mixed rations" (TMRs) and "concentrates". TMRs are a single total food mix and usually consist of grains (like corn) and grain silages (grains that have been harvested, stored, and fermented), hays, and haylages (like alfalfa, clover, or sorghum and their fermented versions), soymeal, and what are often called "commodity feeds". The commodity feeds in TMRs may include corn gluten, distillers grains, soybean hulls, citrus pulp, molasses, beet pulp, and other ingredients. Any of the above components may be combined together to make a TMR feed. The purpose of TMRs is to provide animals with a comprehensive dietary food source that is available year-round.

 

Nutritional Benefits of Grass-Fed

Research studies show clear nutritional advantages from beef, milk, and milk-derived foods (such as cheese and yogurt) obtained from 100% grass-fed cows. These advantages typically include better fat quality (often involving more omega-3 fats, better ratios of omega-6 to omega-3 fats, increased amounts of conjugated linoleic acid, and higher quality saturated fat); increased amounts of certain vitamins (for example, vitamin E, or vitamin A in the form of beta-carotene); and increased amounts of other nutrients.

OUR 100% GRASS-FED BLACK ANGUS

Our beef farmer Lachlan with his wife on their farm in Australia

 Our grass-fed beef is pure Black Angus and raised on the fertile south-west slopes of New South Wales, Australia. It is an idillic location for our cattle to graze as nature intended. There are big trees for shade when it's hot, fresh, running water to drink and plenty of luscious grasses to chomp on. 

We believe they have a pretty lovely life, thanks to our friend Lachlan and his team.

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