What Does Grass Finished Meat Mean

All of our fresh beef must meet our basic meat department standards and be animal welfare certified.

What does grass finished meat mean.

The ranchers we partner with raise their cattle on pasture eating grass and forages. Meat that has been designated grass finished is much more likely to come from cows that consumed only grass throughout their entire lives. At verde our beef is 100 grass fed grass finished organic and free range beef. In the united states all calves generally begin their lives the same way regardless.

This term is much more descriptive of what we want. What does grain finished mean. Every option is high quality with great flavor. Grass finished means the animal has reached physical maturity and was kept on grass while developing exterior and intramuscular fat.

What is grass finished beef and why does it matter. No supplemental growth hormones. Written by dennis keohane on february 7 2020 the term grass fed as it applies to beef has been in use for quite a while. With all the testing we ve done recently around the levels of nutrition in our meat we felt it was a good time to discuss this topic further.

We are often asked. The importance of grass finished. You should be wary of beef that can make the grass fed claim but not grass finished. What does grass fed grass finished mean.

What does grass finished mean. In order to call meat grass. It s important to note that grass fed does not necessarily mean that the cow is grass finished. Grass forage fed means that grass and forage shall be the feed source consumed for the lifetime of the ruminant animal with the exception of milk consumed prior to weaning.

Moreover grass fed cows are not necessarily pasture raised. For example grass fed can mean that confined animals in feedlots can be fed grass at any point. The diet shall be derived solely from forage consisting of grass annual and perennial forbs e g legumes brassica browse or cereal grain crops in the. The difference between finishing cattle on grain instead of grass is ultimately taste and at tony s we prefer the enhanced marbling and flavor from grass fed grain finished beef.

And keep in mind that grass fed cows are not necessarily pasture raised. At the grocery store that means grass finished beef may be marketed as grass fed beef but not vice versa. We explain the nuances of these definitions in this blog post. While this term is still not tightly regulated it is much harder for unscrupulous purveyors to develop workarounds for this label.

For most it elicits the idea of an idyllic cow on the range eating natural grass. Labels can be confusing across meat producers.