Grass Fed - Corn Fed - Preference?

[TedW]

Problem with grass fed beef is most "producers" can't get the level of finish and marbling needed for tender, tasty, beef on their pastures.
Like most everything else, it needs to be done right and you absolutely need top notch pasture.

Probably most grass fed should be ground into chopmeat, but producers are swinging for the fences to get the high dollar payout.

It's lot's easier to pour corn into them, and get a decent finish then to get your pastures right. No conspiracy, just the natural growing phase of a "new" paradigm.

Makes great sense. Supposedly the worlds best beef is in south america. All grass-fed. Maybe it's the cattle genetics, maybe their cattle get exercise. Maybe they're happier cattle down there.

 

[Norm]

Keep in mind that article was written in 2002, I personally don't know of anyone using Rumensin around here.

There is no standard required to label your beef as grass fed. Best to buy from a local producer that you can verify is truly doing what they say.

 

[Win nut]

Almost all beef is grass fed and finished on grain (usually 30-60 days) unless otherwise stated. I was raised on a farm in SE Iowa, and we hand fed grain to our cattle for personal consumption. Unless you feed it yourself or know someone that does, then your getting grass fed, grain finished.
The marbling of beef is effect by climate as much as food, the colder the better (breed also has a big part).

 

[guero_gordo]

The implication is that corn-fed/corn-finished beef sit immobile in feed lots at the end while grass-fed cows continue to move and graze until slaughtered. Makes it harder to isolate the feed from the conditions, since none of that shows up on the label.

 

[Titch]

My next dry aged beef will be Grass fed.
Awesome tasting meat

 

[unzippy]

Cows evolved to eat grass, don't phuck with nature!

 

[landarc]

I like both, and can see the point of both. For pure beef flavor, quality pasture-finished beef is excellent. However, there is nothing quite like the pure white beef fat that comes from grain finished beef. Breed of cattle does play in to it, as does the nature of the pasture. I get most of my grass fed beef from sources in Coastal Northeren California and Coastal Oregon, the pasture is sweet grass, which produces a really nice hunk of beef. It is still leaner than grain-finished beef though.

 

[BillN]

Here is my opinion on the subject, the best grass fed beef comes from steers allowed to mature naturally on pasture past 30 months of age. However you run into "issues" with this do to mad cow and processors not wanting to butcher past 30 months and the stringent rules associated with processing older beef. Yet these animals will have more yellow fat marbling and a more tender meat in my opinion. Grain finishing allows the animal to finish/lay down marbling in less than half the time a grass fed animal can. Since getting good quality grass fed beef can be difficult and really expensive I prefer grain finished beef due to consistency. BUT if I can get older grass feed beef that has decent marbling I do like the more robust "beefy" flavor that is lacking in grain finished beef.

 

[Hoss]

Some of the tastiest beef I have ever eaten was in Argentina back in the mid 80's.It was grass fed,totally.The U.S. Grass fed beef seems to lack something to me.I prefer a corn finished Black Angus Steer from my own farm.Hamburger only.I buy my roasts and steaks from a butcher,where I know what am getting,at least I can look before I buy,not like the butcher wrapped steaks and roasts I get from a farm raised steer.Farm raised is fine for hamburger.Other than that ,you are better off paying a premium for cuts of your liking.

 

[cowgirl]

I prefer the flavor of grass fed, grain finished. I keep mine (Black Angus) on pasture til time to fatten for slaughter. They are still fed grass, roughage, alfalfa, in addition to the grain, like Norm said.
In the fall, (depending on where you live) cattle, deer and other critters eat wild grains or native grass seed to put on fat for the winter. Adding the grains that are readily available to me, for my cattle's diet, helps speed this process.
jmo

The real question according to my neighbor, is which is better... Red Angus or Black Angus? :-D

 

[MikeWin]

I prefer the corn fed. I'm just not a big fan of the grass fed flavor.

 

[TedW]

Some very insightful opinions here. Thanks for all the great contributions

 

[Haastyle]

Here is my opinion on the subject, the best grass fed beef comes from steers allowed to mature naturally on pasture past 30 months of age. However you run into "issues" with this do to mad cow and processors not wanting to butcher past 30 months and the stringent rules associated with processing older beef. Yet these animals will have more yellow fat marbling and a more tender meat in my opinion. Grain finishing allows the animal to finish/lay down marbling in less than half the time a grass fed animal can. Since getting good quality grass fed beef can be difficult and really expensive I prefer grain finished beef due to consistency. BUT if I can get older grass feed beef that has decent marbling I do like the more robust "beefy" flavor that is lacking in grain finished beef.

He gets it. You're 100% correct here.

 

[Norm]

I have a friend who raises both red and black angus, can't really tell the difference once the hide is off.

Steaks off of our black angus taste just fine and I know how they're raised and processed but to each his own.

 

[yzrider926]

Definitely like me some grass fed beef but not picky about it. Definitely need to monitor it more when cooking as it seems to cook faster.

 

[TedW]

So there's various quality of grass-fed - that's just logical.

Also makes sense to me that a product that takes longer to finish might be tastier, better marbled. I myself am older now and have more marbling...

The old-style chicken breeds that take 2X as long to mature are better eating, too. My local chicken farmer is looking into those now as well. People are asking him about them.

Many tend to focus on the price of meat a lot.

 

[NickTheGreat]

I grew up on corn-fed beef and in Iowa we get top quality stuff. So grass-fed tastes bad to me, and has usually been really tough. Though in all fairness, it's probably been less than 1% of my lifetime beef consumption.

I also tend to shun anything that the "animal rights groups" recommend. But I'm weird like that.

 

[fnjay]

Which is why I'd like to like it.

And most beef is grass fed corn finished, no? So this corn aspect is just during the beef finishing? Most of the cow's life it's been grass fed?

Some God awful production is done all in stalls or barns with the cow not seeing the light of day while being pumped with growth hormone and antibiotics. Then there is your local family farms that do as you say....grass fed and corn finished.

For me I don't get too hung up on the labels as much as the farm. If I can see that they have ample room at pasture to graze and generally be cows I'm pretty happy. If the farmer goes on to tell me they don't shoot em up with growth hormone or antibiotics I'm even happier. At that point I'll buy the meat regardless if it is grain or grass finished. Grass finished all the way does change the fatty acid profile a bit for the better, but realistically you've gotten 99% of the good stuff (health wise) just from not shooting the cow up with drugs and by allowing it to graze on a sufficient amount of land out in the sun.

 

[TedW]

Great summary fnjay.

 

[tyler628]

yes it does definitely have a different flavor,but i like it just as much as corn fed.