All Grass Fed Beef is NOT created equal. That is true because of one thing. Some years ago the USDA (Government) created a definition for “grass fed” and then later in 2016 they abandoned that definition. The only problem is that many farmers/ranchers still adhere to that definition and I believe that it is convenience that makes them do it but it sure makes it easy to fool the consumer…you!
The big “kicker” in the old rule is that you could feed grain to the animal when “feed was scarce”, and every farmer/ rancher knows that feed is always scarce sometime during the year!
As a general rule be sure and ask your farmer about these points listed …their important and you really do want what you say when you ask for “grass fed beef” but there are so many terms now our there that it makes it confusing.
Ask for Grass Fed & Grass finished …make sure that when they say it is grass finished that they mean it not only lived it whole life without grain but that it was finished on grass that allowed it to gain a minimum of 1.7 pounds per day (we average above 3 lbs per day) because without that you have nothing but lean, tasteless beef. Make sure it has never had grain and that the animals are older than 24 months. We actually go to 27-30 months because it just makes it all the more better and make sure they dry age the whole animal not just the steak cuts for a minimum of 14 days …don’t go over 28 days or in my opinion it will taste “off”. Oh and no hormones or antibiotics in the animal.
That is the basics. Now find a farmer you trust and buy from them! If you can’t find one call us or find our shopping pages here on the website and we will ship it to you anywhere in the lower 48.
Peace and Grace,
Richard