When we say that our beef is grass-fed and grass-finished, what does that mean? All cows are grass-fed at some point in their lives. A calf is born and gets its nutrients from its mother’s milk. As it grows it begins to eat a variation of grass and forage in native pastures. It will grow and put on weight. As the butcher date approaches, the producer will then begin to “finish” the cow to prepare it for harvest. Finishing a cow means that the cow will be put close to feed and water so that it has minimal exercise, and it is given a large portions of food more often. This allows the cow to put on a large amount of weight quickly, increasing the amount of meat the cow will produce.
Some producers use grain to finish cows. And some, like us, choose to use grass to finish. Both have pros and cons based on the producers’ operations. We chose to grass finish because:
1.Customers specifically asked for grass-finished beef.
2.We use regenerative agriculture practices on our farm, and we found that grass-finishing and regenerative agriculture go well together.