Grass Fed Beef

Irony is when I find myself complaining that I can never find grass fed beef, and when I do, I can’t afford it, but all the while I am a rancher who raises beautiful Angus cattle that graze pastures full of grass. To remedy this, last year I kept back four of my steers to raise as grass fed steers.  These four black Angus steers were born to our cows in the spring of 2009. 

Normally, we sell our calves at eight months of age. Other ranchers buy them and either run them on stubble fields or feed them during the winter and put them on grass for the summer. Then they sell them to a feedlot where they are finished. At the feedlot is where the cattle are fed all sorts of inventive and questionable diets designed to get them big and fat and to do it as cheaply and quickly as possible.

Here are the details for those of you who have expressed interest in buying some:

These steers have been grazing our eight pastures on a rotational grazing system. That is a fancy way of saying that we move them often, usually for one of these four reasons:  1. The pastures aren't all the same; some have varieties of grass that mature at different times, and we move them to maximize the herd's nutrition.  2. There are seasonal weeds that we need them to eat and, thereby, control.  3. Sometimes it is imperative to keep them away from neighboring herd's bulls. 4.  And sometimes the cows race the pickup to the gate and suggest that we move them. And cows can be very convincing. And very loud.

These four steers have not been given antibiotics, neither as a low-level feed supplement nor as medicine for any illness. They have been treated for coccidiosis with a treatment called Corid, which is approved for the Natural Beef and Never Ever 3 Program. They have been given all the standard vaccinations. They have never had hormone or growth implants.

These steers, though grass fed and natural, would not be considered 'organic'. I did not sing them to sleep with multicultural lullabies, but they have been treated well. During the winter they were fed baled hay in addition to whatever they were grazing. Usually it was expensive, high-quality alfalfa hay which was fertilized. The grass hay (raised on our land), and hay millet (bought from a neighbor) were not fertilized. They also spent three months of the winter on a pasture where they had access to graze corn stalks. When they graze corn stalks, they eat whatever corn the combine didn't pick up (not much), leaves, cobs, stalks, and any weeds they can find. These corn fields are GMO corn which is fertilized and sprayed with Round-Up herbicide. Because corn stalks don't provide much nutrition, they are supplemented with quite a bit of baled hay during this time, and they also have access to all natural, high-protein lick tubs. I don't have any reservations about this, but I thought you might want to know as some people get really bent out of shape regarding GMO crops.  You know, full disclosure and all that.

These steers have been treated humanely. All of our animals are. Ella fed them treats by hand last winter and could scratch the heads of one or two of them. They have never even been branded, which is a shame because we have a really great brand. 

Being grass fed beef, means that unlike the beef you normally buy, they haven't been finished with corn or any other grains. The meat will be less fatty with very little marbling. The fat that is present is much better for you, due to the ratios of omega 3 to omega 6 EFA's. There are many wonderful sites on the internet to learn the health benefits of grass fed beef, so I won't go into that here. I have only eaten grass fed beef a few times myself, so this will be new for me also.

I am using two different processors, one in Wiggins, and one near Sterling. The meat will be dry aged for twenty one days to increase the flavor and tenderness. I am going to charge $5.00 per lb. and sell quarters and halves. I'm estimating that a quarter will be approximately 85-110 pounds. If you are buying, I will have you call the processor and customize the cuts to your liking. Questions will range as to whether you want bone in or bone out, how thick to cut steaks, how much ground beef, etc. The best rule of thumb for storage space requirements that I can find is one cubic foot of freezer space should hold thirty pounds of wrapped beef. 

Let me know if I missed anything or if you have any other questions or concerns. If you are interested in purchasing some email me, or call, or leave a comment.