Some people LOVE grass fed beef. Some people HATE grass fed beef. Some people love AND hate grass fed beef! How can one grass fed beef cut be the best beef we have ever had, and the next cut of grass fed beef almost make us swear off of beef all together?!?

Grass Fed Beef’s Dirty Little Secret

We just processed our best grading steer yet. There are 3 USDA grades for beef - Select, Choice and Prime. There are actually several others, but in regards to quality beef consumption, these are the only 3 that matter. The dirty secret about grass fed beef is that grass fed beef almost never grades better than Select.

Our primary goal is to produce a grass finished steer in South Texas that grades Prime. That’s a lofty goal - REALLY lofty. But, we’ll keep tweaking genetics, improving forage options and evolving our production process to continue to improve our product and reach for that finish line.

Our most recent 2 grass fed and grass finished animals were low Choice / high Select. We’re climbing the ladder. One of those animals is on the left side of the photo at the top of this post. At 21.5 months, this steer yielded 63% and snuck us into Choice-level quality. We’re excited by the fruits of our efforts, but we’re thirsty for improvement.

The Food Industry’s Dirty Little Secret

Anyone can put a label on anything and sell it. Yes, there are seemingly infinite USDA laws and regulations concerning food production. There’s a label for every production process you can imagine - organic, antibiotic free, all natural, etc. etc. All of these labels are truthful… BUT the truth is - that two and a half year old maverick bull is grass fed - 100%. He’s not grass finished, but that’s only because he’s not finished at all. Beef from that 2-year-old bull could possibly make it to the counter where you buy beef and have a “grass-fed” label. Or, it could have an “organic” label. Or, it could have a “no antibiotics ever” label on it. Or, it could have ALL of those labels since that animal would technically qualify for all of those claims. Those are process verification certifications - or how an animal is raised. The point of this is that the process has nothing to do with the quality of the end product.

That bull might grade Standard or Commercial (the next 2 USDA grades down from Select), and should be processed for ground meat, chili meat, etc. But, if it happens to make it to your house because of all those fancy labels, you’re going to sit down to some grass fed steaks - and just gnaw on some tough old bull.

Now you hate grass fed beef. I mean come on… that beef probably smelled as wild as South Texas boar!

Fantastic grain fed beef exists. Terrible grain fed beef exists. Fantastic grass fed beef exists. Terrible grass fed beef exists.

Your Secret Power

So, what can we do? You have the power to get to know your rancher.

Marketing happens everywhere - online claims, verbal claims and labels. Verbal claims hold more weight to me than online claims. Labels hold more weight than verbal claims, because it’s essentially a way to verify the verbal claim. Researching the label takes time and not everyone knows the difference between all of the process verification certifications that can be put onto a label.

Local food is popular. Enjoy that and take the next step. Get to know your rancher, even if it’s just on Facebook. Nothing beats knowing how your food is raised. Ask your rancher to explain their label. Why do they use the process they use? Why don’t they use one of the other processes? Base your decision on the production process behind your local grass fed beef - not on a claim or a label.

Our Secret Power

Our blog is our secret power. ;)

It allows us to communicate our process to our customers.

We don’t just claim that our cattle are finished on grass. We’re a certified USDA grass fed beef producer. We’ve been raising beef a long time and we want our kids and grand kids to have something worth passing along as well. There are no 3-year-old open heifers in our program. There are no 2-year-old maverick bulls in our program. Our cattle are born and raised here for one purpose - be finished on grass the best way we can to produce the best beef product we can.

I invite you to ask us about our process. Ask me anything in a comment, shoot me an email at james@obrienhorses.com or get in touch over at Facebook.com/OBrienGrassfedBeef and start getting to know your rancher.