Even though all beef may be considered grass fed for the majority of its life finishing cattle on grass takes a great deal of management and requires good quality forages to achieve gains of at least 2 lbs per day.
What is grass fed meat production.
They are sold at the end of this phase weighing 700 to 900 pounds at an age of 10 to 14 months.
Hence grass fed beef can be fed on for example peas beans soymeal sugar beet pulp brewer s grains or any number of cereals.
Where cropland is seeded to perennial forages and grazing is managed to optimize cattle growth soil erosion is reduced and soil quality increased.
Some producers use mostly pasture letting cattle harvest the grass directly.
Others who produce grain fed beef use feeds they have harvested and combined with grains to make the cow gain weight faster.
The treat of the grass fed production world.
High integrity grass fed beef producers are those that use honest and ethical farming practices with the utmost respect for the land the animal and the quality of the final product.
Grass fed cattle must eat crops when grass is unavailable in the winter or during droughts.
Grass fed is still crop fed.
Many claim the meat has a superior taste to grain fed beef.
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.
In fact the term grass fed isn t clearly defined.
The increased production of grass fed or grass finished beef would have clear environmental benefits.
They may be locally grown or imported from far afield.
The crops will consist of hay and grasses but will still take land away from the production of crops that could be fed to people directly.
Due to land values and other constraints.
Their environmental footprint can be as varied as their sources.
Grass fed beef comes from cattle raised on grass pastures as the name implies.
Thus the short answer is that the cost to produce grass fed beef all depends on what grass fed production strategies have been built into your farm s beef production plan.
So again these vast differences in grass fed production strategies make a huge difference to the production costs yet none are a mandatory prerequisite for producing and marketing grass fed beef.
This is in contrast to grain fed cattle which are not allowed to graze or forage for food on their own.
Demand for grass fed beef is greater than the supply in the u s.