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Grass Fat Questions

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PPRM

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 10, 2005
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1,998
Location
NE Oregon
Well,

Today was the first Farmers Market of the year for us.....Memorial Day Saturday and it was not the busiest market we have been to. Yet, total dollar sales were higher than nay we had last year.

We did raise some pricing a little.....The Burger is $3.50/ lb, but I also had "Bulk Pack Pricing" so that if anyone bought over 10 pounds, they got the Burger for $3.00/Pound......The price increase did not hurt us one bit. As a matter of fact, I Comminly heard, "Wow, these are really great Prices"....One thing to Keep in mind, compare it to an All Natural Lean Beef.....


I finish these calves on corn....I commonly get questions about Grass fat and am in the process of venturing that way.....Several things....

Size...It is hard to get the size and flavor.....Here is my idea......Do three and 4 year old hiefers that have had a calf or 2....THat way I am making some product off them while they grow into the size I want. The other thing is from everything I have read, the flavor will be considerably better....


I am just wondering...I have heard forage also affects flavor, but never heard exactly how....Is it best off of pastures that are still Green?

Thanks,

PPRM
 
Size????

863 lb. carcass @ 26.5 months

763 lb. carcass @ 24.5 months

Grass and hay ONLY

No supplements, no shots, no dewormers, no minerals, NO NOTHING ELSE

And on pasture forage I would call 70-80%(or less) of potential for quality and quantity...put it this way, a dairyman would go broke on the pasture these calves made those carcasses.

Is it best off of pastures that are still Green? Absolutely
 
PPRM: I was debating about the same thing. Turning a 1st or 2nd calf heifer that isn't quite turning out into grass finished beef. I know from first hand experience that grass finished beef from an older animal tastes way better than anything else we've eaten. From what i've been able to gather, different grasses can give the meat a different taste. I'm not sure of your grasses in your area so can't comment. I'm still trying to figure out the proper grasses for finishing in my area, that will give the meat the best taste. We pay a lot closer attention to carcass and ultrasound data than we used to. As far as genetics, we don't want that big high growth animal anymore. We've been in the process of downsizing (mature frame size) our cowherd, and are experimenting with different A.I. bulls. I like and agree with Larry Leonhardt's philosophy on nailing down the proper genetics to give consistency in the cattle (linebreeding). This should also give a consistent product in your grass finished beef.
 
Green, growing pasture generally is going to be better but I don't know how western hard grass would copare.. I know we tend to try to finish ours on either fall grass when it cools down and we get a green up or in spring before the summer heat burns up our pastures.. Certain forages have been known to give off tastes, the one I can think of off the top of my head are the brassicas family (Turnips, Kale, whatever else)..We have done a few 30 month old steers that have been pretty darn good...firmer beef for sure than a 14 month old but not a tough eating experience at all..
 
We need to respond to market demands, but my experience is that grass fat gets old tasting and freezer burns more redily than fed beef. I also prefer the taste of fed beef. There is a reason that America started feeding beef corn.
 
I have access to Irrigated Pasture, some has some real good clover in it...As far asTough, I think I can address that with Dry Aging of adequate time....


Shortgrass, my preference is definetly Corn Fed, but thee is a customer base that demands grasss fed.

As far as Freezer burn, the only defense I have is Double Wrapping,

Robert Mac, Maybe I will find that, but I just doubt it a this point....


Thanks,

PPRM
 
I'm holding off on the Farmers Market until June 23, I have two animals on pasture I'm taking to the slaughterhouse on Tuesday. I wanted to give them a minimum of 20-25 days on green grass before slaughter. That is the minimum amount of time it takes to get the Omega-3 and CLA levels up. It only takes 5 days to loose it if you start feeding grain. They were fed a combo of dry hay bales and baylage with free choice minerals this winter. One of the cows going tuesday is an older cow, she'll be burger, may try keeping some ribeyes and tenderloin for myself. Allen Nations said the best steak he ever had was in France from a 10 or 14 year old Aubrac cow. I may not have that exactly right but you get the idea. The other is a heifer I didn't expose to a bull last year because I wanted to finish her this spring. She is an interesting situation. She is the exact correct genetics I'm looking for. Moderate framed, nice condition on nothing but grass/hay EVER! The other day, keep in mind she was never exposed, she was letting one of the new babies try to nurse her. Didn't budge. She'd probably have made a great mother. The reason I'm culling her...her flight zone is about 200 feet and she's nuts.
For genetics, I leased a nice Red Angus last year for the breeding season. He's not available this year so I'm going to go with the other idea I was thinking about, getting some Semen from Kit Pharro. I may even flush a heifer I really like who has grown beautifull on grass only.
As for flavor in the grass fat, it's more of things you want to stay away from that creates off flavors. Fescue is a big one, do not finish on fescue. Go ahead and grow the stockers on in, but put your finishers on something else. Stay away from finishing in or after the hottest part of the summer. The ADG can be lower when the grass is dormant and you'll possibly have tenderness issues. You can plan right now and plan somSummer annuals, BMR Sorgum or Corn and graze it then. If you put your animals on corn (before tassle) to finish you can't go back to grass. You need to plan to slaughter them straight from the corn.
Out of the time and money I've spent learning to produce Grass-fed beef, I can honestly say, in my opinion, it's a lot more challenging to produce a high quality, consistant product then it would in a feed lot.
 
Ben H said:
I wanted to give them a minimum of 20-25 days on green grass before slaughter. That is the minimum amount of time it takes to get the Omega-3 and CLA levels up. It only takes 5 days to loose it if you start feeding grain.
Click to expand...

This is from a dairy study and pertains to the fatty acid profile of the milk.
Beef animals should be raised on 100% forage with as much green forage as possible to optimize Omega-3 and CLA levels.
 
Shortgrass said:
We need to respond to market demands, but my experience is that grass fat gets old tasting and freezer burns more redily than fed beef. I also prefer the taste of fed beef. There is a reason that America started feeding beef corn.
Click to expand...

Yup, cuz it was cheap feed.
 
Shortgrass said:
We need to respond to market demands, but my experience is that grass fat gets old tasting and freezer burns more redily than fed beef. I also prefer the taste of fed beef. There is a reason that America started feeding beef corn.
Click to expand...
I beg to differ,our personal meat is always grass fed and finished,just today we BBQ rib steak thats been our freezer over a year{kids gone don't use it up as fast} no freezer burnt taste,or old tasting.Daughter had a friend over for supper and this young lady complemented the good taste of the meat :)

Oh and we do double wrap our meat...bagged first then freezer wrapped,that always helps keep any freezer meat fresher
 
Mrs.Greg said:
Shortgrass said:
We need to respond to market demands, but my experience is that grass fat gets old tasting and freezer burns more redily than fed beef. I also prefer the taste of fed beef. There is a reason that America started feeding beef corn.
Click to expand...
I beg to differ,our personal meat is always grass fed and finished,just today we BBQ rib steak thats been our freezer over a year{kids gone don't use it up as fast} no freezer burnt taste,or old tasting.Daughter had a friend over for supper and this young lady complemented the good taste of the meat :)

Oh and we do double wrap our meat...bagged first then freezer wrapped,that always helps keep any freezer meat fresher
Click to expand...

Thanks Mrs Greg.....I suspect that in most cases, grass fat has less fat cover and so this means double wrap is even more important than ever...BTW, do you happen to know the age of the animal?

The Grass fat deal here in the Columbia Basin...Well, I get to see a lot of the carcasses at the plant they are done at....These are nothing like what most people describe to me as the real good Grassfat others have eaten.....

PPRM
 
I can't give you a definate age,gregs been gone for weekend to two brandings,so the man with the answer isn't home. I do know they take longer to finish...I'm guessing around 2yrs old. :???:
 
We did some grass fat steers last year, off hay barley field before it headed out.. So it would be an annual forage instead of range... They had enough cover to hang for 3 weeks.. Feb 04 born steers slaughtered Late June of 06... Witnered on hay for two winters.. Very good meat.. Very good indeed.. I think the carcasses were around 800 pounds..
 
Freezer is full of grass-finished beef right now, off of a 27 month old heifer that came in open. She seemed to be real easy-fleshing, so we just grassed her on some small paddocks of brome and alfalfa by the yard. Easily some of the best beef we've ever raised. Hung 21 days, double-wrapped, and everything from the stew meat to the sirloins is tender and flavorful. I believe that has alot to do with the pasture she was on. It's been bale-grazed and fed on for 15 years, so the forage grows like the Magic Beanstalk, and the soil samples I've taken there show that it's incredibly rich soil. Great soil means great forage, means great beef.

By the way, she was a purebred Brown Swiss off of the milk cow! :lol: We have a group of 24 month Galloway steers and bulls grazing those same paddocks right now.
 
A few years back a neighbor and I got some steers ultrasounded off grass and then gov. graded. We sold some of them as freezer beef and it was goood stuff-they were hereford and baldy steers. A grassfat two or three year old heifer is pretty good eats for sure. Back in the day when guys sold three year old grassfat steers they used to trail about 75 miles south to the sweetgrass reserve to top the two year olds off. It was pretty low maintenance ranching for sure.
 
NR - only problem we have with this type of ranching is how long it's taking us to make the transition. Paychecks are nice things to have, and since we USED TO sell calves every fall at weaning, it's tough to wait for the cash when you're holding calves over until the next fall, but we're getting there. The low-cost part is certainly a huge benefit. I wish I'd grown up doing it like this. If we had, my folks would still be involved in it I'm sure.

Kaiser and I have some calves on feed right now, no implants, no rumensin, just silage and a mineral mixture. I put in all my steers, and my heifers are going out to grass. If this market we're working on actually works out, I may put the heifers on feed later in the summer. They don't need to see a bull until the 10th of August, so I've got some time.
 
Pure Country: I heard Dennis Woebeser from Lloydminster speak at a grazing school a few years ago. Of all the speakers, I remembered his the best. He talked about first being proud of his cowherd. Then he was proud of his grass production because every year he was growing more and better quality grass. Then he said after a few years he realized that it wasn't his cows or his grass he was most proud of.What he was most proud of was something he couldn't see. That was the increase in soil "critters" microbia etc. His increase in grass and pounds of beef per acre was because of his healthier soil. He said that drought wasn't as big a concern to him as it used to be. I will always remember his speech. I wish that I knew about this stuff a lot sooner. We bale graze on our worst grass every year...........trying to plump up our skinniest soil critters, and its working.
 
PPRM said:
I have access to Irrigated Pasture, some has some real good clover in it...As far asTough, I think I can address that with Dry Aging of adequate time....


Shortgrass, my preference is definetly Corn Fed, but thee is a customer base that demands grasss fed.

As far as Freezer burn, the only defense I have is Double Wrapping,

Robert Mac, Maybe I will find that, but I just doubt it a this point....


Thanks,

PPRM
Click to expand...
As far as Freezer burn, the only defense I have is Double Wrapping. PPRM - I have talked to a lot of butchers and meat processors, and almost without an exception they recommend Double Wrapping for almost everything - but particularly meat.

DOC HARRIS
 

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