Grass fed vs grain finished beef

[Jdeere562]

Don't get me wrong, both are good and I will eat either. I never buy the stuff labeled grass fed. It does not have the marbling of grain finished, that is juice and flavor missing for my tastes.

Living in Iowa, when I was married with kids at home, we would buy 1/2 of a beef every year. I would get it from local farmers who I knew and were well respected. Some people say the grass fed is better. Saw this article today and found it interesting.

Grass-Fed vs. Grain-Fed Beef: What's the Healthy Choice?

Between grass-fed beef & grain-fed beef, which is healthier? Learn what makes them different from one another, like nutrition (Omega-3's) to lifestyle (grazing).

www.iowafarmbureau.com

 

[vavavroom]

Grass-fed is mainly healthier because of the superior fatty acid composition of the grass-fed variant. The same thing goes for butter, milk, cheese, any dairy.

As far as taste goes, I suppose it depends on your preference and what you are used to. Grain-fed beef is more tender but has less taste. Grass-fed beef has more flavor but it is less tender.

Grain-finished means the bovine fed on grass for most of its life and toward the end was fed grains. This is healthier than just grain-fed but not as healthy as grass-fed. Grass-finished is probably not much healthier than grain-fed.

Bovines are not meant to eat grains. They are herbivores that are supposed to graze on mostly grass. I can't advise eating unhealthy livestock. You are what you eat.

 

[Jdeere562]

Grass-fed is mainly healthier because of the superior fatty acid composition of the grass-fed variant. The same thing goes for butter, milk, cheese, any dairy.

As far as taste goes, I suppose it depends on your preference and what you are used to. Grain-fed beef is more tender but has less taste. Grass-fed beef has more flavor but it is less tender.

Bovines are not meant to eat grains. They are herbivores that are supposed to graze on mostly grass. I can't advise eating unhealthy livestock. You are what you eat.

Did you read the article? If you want more of those fatty acids, seafood is a much better way to obtain them.

Peoples tastes vary. Some prefer different cuts of steaks. My favorite is ribeye due to the marbling. Some like NY strips, but I never buy those due to lack of the fat. I WILL eat either if presented to the table. Would love to sample some of that Wagyu beef. Too expensive though for an old hick like me. The fat of a grilled steak tastes as good as the meat for me.

 

[4WD]

Did you read the article? If you want more of those fatty acids, seafood is a much better way to obtain them.

Peoples tastes vary. Some prefer different cuts of steaks. My favorite is ribeye due to the marbling. Some like NY strips, but I never buy those due to lack of the fat. I WILL eat either if presented to the table. Would love to sample some of that Wagyu beef. Too expensive though for an old hick like me. The fat of a grilled steak tastes as good as the meat for me.

Had Wagyu a few times - few countries … It’s good for the same reason as Ribeye and not worth the price IMO …
Have a good market cut Ribeye at 1-1/2” and don’t overcook

 

[GON]

Did you read the article? If you want more of those fatty acids, seafood is a much better way to obtain them.

Peoples tastes vary. Some prefer different cuts of steaks. My favorite is ribeye due to the marbling. Some like NY strips, but I never buy those due to lack of the fat. I WILL eat either if presented to the table. Would love to sample some of that Wagyu beef. Too expensive though for an old hick like me. The fat of a grilled steak tastes as good as the meat for me.

JD,

We just started eating NY strips over the past year or two. Ribeye has been and still is our preferred steak. Yesterday I shopped for steaks at Wal Mart. They only had one ribeye, but two NY Strips. The strips were choice, with fantastic marbling throughout.

We learned to really enjoy the NY strip over the past year or so. I think selection of the NY strip might be a difference maker.

Like you, we definitely prefer grain fed beef. I think be raised on flat land really helps with the tenderness of the beef. And the overall taste of green fed is really good. Kind of like venison, a deer takin in corn country taste much better than venison that the deer foraged wild plants.

A health crazed guy did tell me something to discourage human grain injestion. He said what do they use to fatten up cattle for market- grain.

 

[Jdeere562]

We have an awesome meat locker about 18 miles from here. They raise much of the meat themselves and buy local from area farmers. They age all the beef. Their hamburger is the only place that I will cook it to medium rare. That's almost as good as a steak! Kind of pricy, but worth the cost. Plus they have pretty girls working there!

Rustic Cuts – From Our Farm, To Our Store, To Your Table

rusticcutscb.com

 

[Jdeere562]

JD,

We just started eating NY strips over the past year or two. Ribeye has been and still is our preferred steak. Yesterday I shopped for steaks at Wal Mart. They only had one ribeye, but two NY Strips. The strips were choice, with fantastic marbling throughout.

We learned to really enjoy the NY strip over the past year or so. I think selection of the NY strip might be a difference maker.

Like you, we definitely prefer grain fed beef. I think be raised on flat land really helps with the tenderness of the beef. And the overall taste of green fed is really good. Kind of like venison, a deer takin in corn country taste much better than venison that the deer foraged wild plants.

A health crazed guy did tell me something to discourage human grain injestion. He said what do they use to fatten up cattle for market- grain.

Choice of meat makes a big difference! Take an old bull and it will not be good. I would say a high percentage of beef from the locker I posted above would make prime grade. But it's not like a grocery store and graded. Small family run locker and most folks working there are family members, GON.

 

[vavavroom]

Did you read the article? If you want more of those fatty acids, seafood is a much better way to obtain them.

So you think you can make up for the bad fats you eat by eating more healthy fats? A convenient hypothesis but that's not how it works. If your health is your priority, and it may well not be, you should avoid bad fats. The point is not more fatty acids, it's the ratio of the various fatty acids and you don't get the good ratio with grain-fed beef. I eat fatty fish at least four times a week. How many more fish meal pictures must I post? I limit beef consumption to small quantities and no more than twice a week, and I eat nothing but grass-fed with rare exceptions. My dad, a cardiac surgeon, has always said he could tell the red meat eaters when he cut their hearts open. He made a lot of money doing atherectomies (roto-rooting blood vessel walls to clean out plaque). I grew up learning about nutrition and as a fitness nut, I have always kept up with the current information. The linked article from the Iowa Farm Bureau is so superficial it's not worth reading because of its origin alone. Medical and nutritional professional literature and date are available.

For example: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8728510/
Just scroll down to the conclusion, I don't want your head to explode.

Peoples tastes vary. Some prefer different cuts of steaks. My favorite is ribeye due to the marbling. Some like NY strips, but I never buy those due to lack of the fat. I WILL eat either if presented to the table. Would love to sample some of that Wagyu beef. Too expensive though for an old hick like me. The fat of a grilled steak tastes as good as the meat for me.

I said preferences varied. Just be aware of the tradeoff. Nothing wrong with grass-fed ribeye. In my opinion, it should be a rare treat. I don't intend to be crippled by premature aging and all kinds of deleterious ailments that are mostly preventable by making good choices. So far it's worked for me.

You started this thread, which invites controversy, stating you prefer grain-finished. That's your choice and it's not the worst. No problem. Other people's health, or lack thereof, is none of my concern.

 

[Cropduster172]

The Ignore feature on this forum is excellent.

 

[97prizm]

Don't get me wrong, both are good and I will eat either. I never buy the stuff labeled grass fed. It does not have the marbling of grain finished, that is juice and flavor missing for my tastes.

Living in Iowa, when I was married with kids at home, we would buy 1/2 of a beef every year. I would get it from local farmers who I knew and were well respected. Some people say the grass fed is better. Saw this article today and found it interesting.

Grass-Fed vs. Grain-Fed Beef: What's the Healthy Choice?

Between grass-fed beef & grain-fed beef, which is healthier? Learn what makes them different from one another, like nutrition (Omega-3's) to lifestyle (grazing).

www.iowafarmbureau.com

I always go for the free range grass fed beef. Better flavor. Milk from grass fed cows is much better as well

 

[skyactiv]

Argentine beef is the best I've had.

 

[Jdeere562]

The Ignore feature on this forum is excellent.

??? What or whom did that refer to?

 

[jeepman3071]

Grass fed, from a local farmer my family has known since I was 5 years old. I know exactly what goes into it, not the junk from the store.

 

[Pablo]

There is simply no comparison.

Grass fed, whole life is so much better tasting. It's worth it to learn tender cooking techniques for the more chewy bits.

 

[GON]

There is simply no comparison.

Grass fed, whole life is so much better tasting. It's worth it to learn tender cooking techniques for the more chewy bits.

These work well helping make grass fed steaks edible.

 

[y_p_w]

Grass-fed is mainly healthier because of the superior fatty acid composition of the grass-fed variant. The same thing goes for butter, milk, cheese, any dairy.

As far as taste goes, I suppose it depends on your preference and what you are used to. Grain-fed beef is more tender but has less taste. Grass-fed beef has more flavor but it is less tender.

Grain-finished means the bovine fed on grass for most of its life and toward the end was fed grains. This is healthier than just grain-fed but not as healthy as grass-fed. Grass-finished is probably not much healthier than grain-fed.

Bovines are not meant to eat grains. They are herbivores that are supposed to graze on mostly grass. I can't advise eating unhealthy livestock. You are what you eat.

Is it even possible to have cattle eating only grains for its entire life? Heck - I remember Travel Channel has a limited series called "Meet the Natives: USA" about several visiting tribal members from the island of Tanna in Vanuatu. Their first episode was visiting a cattle rancher in Montana where they went on a trip to Yellowstone National Park. But it was winter and he was showing the cattle being fed hay since there wasn't pasture grass available. One of the visitors (who had experience raising cattle) noted that they would likely die from that diet, and the rancher said "That's why we feed them antibiotics."

 

[y_p_w]

Choice of meat makes a big difference! Take an old bull and it will not be good. I would say a high percentage of beef from the locker I posted above would make prime grade. But it's not like a grocery store and graded. Small family run locker and most folks working there are family members, GON.

There's a movement to use meat from older cattle because it has a different flavor that some consider better. The difficulty is of course in tenderness and cooking technique. But tough cuts often have the most intense flavor - especially oxtail.

Rich, intense steaks from older, 'mature' cows

On a recent afternoon at Otoño in Highland Park, chef Teresa Montaño is rhapsodizing about an unforgettable steak in Spain’s Basque Country.

www.latimes.com

On a recent afternoon at Otoño in Highland Park, chef Teresa Montaño is rhapsodizing about an unforgettable steak in Spain’s Basque Country.​

​

“I’d never seen anything so beautiful,” she sighs, eyes closed. “They presented it to me raw, and the meat was a deep red, with this gorgeous bright yellow fat. I picked the biggest one, and it came out perfectly cooked, with a powerful beef flavor. My heart was racing with every bite. It was one of the best meals of my entire life.”​

​

Montaño had just experienced vaca vieja, literally “old cow,” a steak sourced from older steers at the end of their working life. Beef from mature animals — particularly animals raised on pasture by responsible farmers — offers an entirely different eating experience than the melt-in-your-mouth steaks many Americans are accustomed to.​

​

Flavor-wise, old beef is, by virtue of its maturity, more intensely meaty, with a deeper beef taste, more flavorful fat and complex textures. The muscles in older animals, those around 5 to 9 years old, are more developed, and they tend to eat a more varied diet, including grasses that impart a yellow tinge to their fat.​

********​

Other chefs and butchers are championing old meat as well. When Spanish chef José Andrés, familiar with vaca vieja from his home country, opened the steakhouse Bazaar Meat in Las Vegas, he made a concerted effort to reintroduce older animals to American palates. But Andrés, along with executive chef Alex Pitts, recognized the need to do so gradually.​

​

“Compared to Wagyu or some other amazing, ridiculously expensive steak, older meat can be considered tough,” Pitts says. “But it’s also a flavor bomb. It tastes like you rubbed bouillon all over a steak.”​

 

[vavavroom]

Is it even possible to have cattle eating only grains for its entire life? Heck - I remember Travel Channel has a limited series called "Meet the Natives: USA" about several visiting tribal members from the island of Tanna in Vanuatu. Their first episode was visiting a cattle rancher in Montana where they went on a trip to Yellowstone National Park. But it was winter and he was showing the cattle being fed hay since there wasn't pasture grass available. One of the visitors (who had experience raising cattle) noted that they would likely die from that diet, and the rancher said "That's why we feed them antibiotics."

Oh my Force, of course, they don't eat only grains. They are almost always also fed soybean-based feed and they may also be fed sweets. They are commonly treated prophylactically with antibiotics to prevent infections and they often get hormones so they grow faster and bigger which means higher profits. If a business wants to produce as much product as quickly as possible at the lowest cost some concerns must be ignored.

candy and cookie cows

 

[y_p_w]

Oh my Force, of course, they don't eat only grains. They are almost always also fed soybean-based feed and they may also be fed sweets. They are commonly treated prophylactically with antibiotics to prevent infections and they often get hormones so they grow faster and bigger which means higher profits. If a business wants to produce as much product as quickly as possible at the lowest cost some concerns must be ignored.

candy and cookie cows

I've visited the Jelly Belly Factory in Fairfield many times - especially as a parent. It was previously possible to do a double-duty trip with the Anheuser-Busch brewery, but they've since ended the public tours and closed the gift shop and taproom.

However, anyone who has seen the Jelly Belly factory tour (which is no longer free) will see all these candies that ended up on the production floor. Back when they had live guides (rather than self guiding with video stops) they would mention that whatever ended up on the floor was collected and sold to local hog farmers to be mixed into pig feed.

 

[Vil_Riker]

We buy our beef from the Amish. Grass fed, free range lived, etc. Just the way an animal is supposed to have lived.

There is absolutely no marbling. The meat is delicious. The outer layer of fat has an extremely strong taste, like lamb.

Commercially sold meats don't compare to it.