Probably relatively lean. It’s not going to be prime grade, not so much marbling. That said, the flavor of grass finished is fantastic, imo. I much prefer it to corn finished beef. You have a be a little cautious about how you cook the leaner cuts because of the lack of fat.
That’s weird. My mum has a beef farm, all grass fed their entire life. She only produces prime unless it’s a little odd ball cow that got sick or something.
there are a lot of variables at play that people oversimplify because they are adamantly either “grass finished is trash” or “grain finished is gross”. what breed, what pasture makeup, what grazing system, time of slaughter, aging etc all count. prime is possible on pasture with the right program, just leaving a random black angus on whatever pasture for whatever amount of time then slaughtering it won’t get you that.
Or they "oversimplified" because there are so many factors it could be a book, and this is reddit. As such, they call out their "top 3" and, not surprisingly, it aligns with one decision or the other.
Yeah I thought there was more to it than that. It’s all very flat land and they have a huge emphasis on growing as much good grass as they can when they can, as well and rearing/weening calves from as young as possible to build good gut bacteria and stuff like that.
Does seem a bit strange that everyone’s so heavily focused on the feed more than any other condition.
It is the easiest way to tweak the marble/flavor by adding to the last 60-90 days. Rotational grazing takes seasons and lots of planning. If its only 1-2 cows every 18-24months then most people don't have the time, patience, experience, or knowledge to rotational graze on good grass.
As another commenter said regarding, OP's initial statement was this particular cow is only grass fed- there is no difference because there is no "corn finish". I must be misunderstanding OPs questions. An all grass fed meat cow will not have the taste of corn "finished" beef.
Classifying "angus" is based off of the actual breed of the cow **and** how it is feed for finishing in a grocery/butcher. A cow isn't "angus" because a random breed Is grass fed.
Angus beef is a specific cattle and raising, no?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aberdeen_Angus?wprov=sfla1
I have never heard ordinary cattle ranchers saying, "all of my cattle are 'Angus' beef cattle."
All cow beef can not be "Angus" just because they are grass fed. That doesn't seem right for someone raising cows to state that.
Maybe OP is actually raising Angus cattle, but it seems like for that investment of money 100% grass fed versus corn finished beef was understood before the animal(s) were raised/purchased. Please educate me if I am wrong. My grass fed cattle are just beef...
Edit: OP if you truly raised Black Angus cows for the first time, I am sure that you have eaten grass fed versus corn finished meat. Some people appreciate only grass fed beef other people prefer corn or fatter "finished" meat. It depends on your market as a seller or personal taste. Once the meat has been processed, it is what it is. This matters to you if you're marketing your product as to what the consumer is expecting.
100% grass fed tastes different than finished beef. But the breed of the animal makes a lot of difference as well. Good luck!
Angus is a breed. It has nothing to do with how they’re raised.
Ranchers saying “all my cattle are angus” is quite common in the US. It’s the most popular meat breed.
Beef X are more popular in my area do to terrain. Jerkin was also saying Angus is a breed and not a method of finishing/feeding. Hope you didnt down vote him as their comment was solid.
Black Angus is not a breed for grass finishing. It won't have the marbling or fat the breed is famous for and will be very lean. Angus was developed as a breed specifically for grain finishing.
There are not many modern breeds that finish well on grass. Dexter does it well. I definitely would not grass finish Black Angus though. Bit of a waste. Grass raise and grain finish.
Do I need to pen her up or can I let her pasture graze+ grain?
I have smaller pastures and lots of grass right now. . .honestly I don’t love the idea of keeping her in a pen
The more sweet grain you can get her at the end the better marbling you will get. Animal husbandry is all about compromises, do what is best for you. Keeping her in a pasture will probably be fine I would at least give her a finishing grain blend twice a day.
Thank you for the info. Forgive these novice questions. . .Do you have a recommended “brand”?
Or do you do X type/brand for the first 30 days and gradually add in a different type?
We buy a custom mix that our local feed store makes. Just go there and explain what you are doing and they should take care of you for cheaper than a chain store.
Gotcha, it’s a mix of grains, some even have molasses mixed in. Start light and then add every more week I’d start with 5-7 lbs. if he gets the runs, back off a bit and add more a day or two later. On my last steer he was up to 3/4 of a 5 gallon bucket a day
If this is too personal or inappropriate to ask no worries I understand. But how are you dispatching said cow? I plan on homesteading in the future and educating myself not on as much as I can.
I am going to take it to a local butcher.
One step at a time for me. I’d like to do all that too but at this juncture in my journey I’m definitely leaving this up to a professional.
I understand, I'm sure I'll do the same when I get to that point. The most I've ever done was cut some beef at home and processing fish from fishing. I plan on going ti an outfitter and hunting small game at first and a local place near me to learn how to butcher chicken.
Learning to butcher a chicken is pretty straight forward.
I’d encourage you to watch a few YouTube videos tube video and go ahead and do it.
I was hesitant too, but it was real easy and even my first chicken came out pretty good. Just make sure you have a good knife.
A cow and big animals just feels like a bigger more complex effort to do it well.
When we were just starting out we butchered our first steer ourselves. At the time there was a place locally where you could take the carcass to age it. We did that for 3 weeks, then brought it home to cut it up. That was a lot of meat! I didn't really comprehend how much it was until we were about 3/4 of the way done. We were exhausted. The last 1/4 was just labeled "beef" because we were tired out and just trying to get it into the freezer. Our grinder busted after the first five pounds, too. I had quite a few wrapped bundles in the freezer that were "surprise dinners". It was still delicious.
Is it butchered yet? I would strongly recommend grain finishing it. Unless you like chewing on rubber. Grass fed may be great for you but offers no fat content. Finish with grain for a month or two and you’ll be excited to eat steak. Taste is obviously better than any supermarket or restaurant. We did a grass fed, grass finished and I was ticked with every steak we ate. Flavor was fine just no intramuscular fat. Never again, not my thing.
I have done a grass feed steer and a grass feed grain finished steer. Both Angus. And the meat from the grass feed only cow was gammy and gross. the meat from the grain finished steer best beef I have ever eaten.. I had numerous ranchers tell me you won't like the grass feed only cow i did not listen .. we had a hard time even eating the steaks.
Barley is a good finisher. I feed my dexter beef alfalfa, grass, sweet feed, and range cubes everyday…not a ton of grain just consistent their whole life and it is the best steak I’ve ever eaten.
Edit 1: I do about a 2 cups of grain per head. The more you do, the more fat you’ll get. I work the fat in their whole life. There is also the excess fat that can be used for tallow which has amazing applications on the homestead. Lotions, soap, cooking oil, and other stuff.
Be extremely careful with alfalfa and barley. They’ll bloat and die once you hit more than a few pounds of each when mixed together. If you don’t know what you’re doing, it’s a fairly dangerous mix.
Didn’t know that, my cows get 1 flake of alfalfa a day and barley is something I have not fed, but as fodder on occasion. They have round bales of bermuda grass all day. I also keep bloat blocks out all year just in case
Thanks for the heads up
For true grain finish you need them on 20+ lb of grain a day for at least 90 days.
Talk to your local feed store. They’ll give you details beyond that tailored to what’s available in your area.
Do I need to pen her up or can I let her pasture graze+ grain?
I have smaller pastures and lots of grass right now. . .honestly I don’t love the idea of keeping her in a pen
You can probably keep her on pasture although it’ll take a little extra encouragement to eat the grain initially. I keep mine on pasture and a couple weeks in they come trotting over for grain twice a day.
One thing to consider next year—cattle are herd animals. They generally are happiest with at least one friend, but ideally at least 2-3 more. Happy = better rates of gain. Generally steers (castrated males) are better options than heifers as well.
Thank you, I have two heifers and a baby bull that I’m about to turn into a steer.
One specific question on your comment. Will the heifer mom and the steer together keep them happy enough? Or is there a reason that cow calf or heifer steer is not good?
Wait. Are you trying to feed out the heifer that’s currently a mom to a young calf to eat? Or just the (almost) steer? You’ll likely need the calf weened before you start feeding either out.
You may also check with a local vet and feed store before moving forward with your plans. I mean this gently, but it seems like you probably need more in depth guidance than the internet can provide in a couple paragraphs.
No, I’m processing the other heifer which failed to breed.
The one that just had the calf is excellent in every way. I plan to keep her a long time and have her re-bred
Sorry man, you are so very wrong here. Grass finish will NOT be "good amount of marbling" and definately not "melt in your mouth".
You need fat for that. You need to pen them up for 1-2 months and integrate grains/finishing feed or you will get an earthy to taste, but super lean beef.
Probably relatively lean. It’s not going to be prime grade, not so much marbling. That said, the flavor of grass finished is fantastic, imo. I much prefer it to corn finished beef. You have a be a little cautious about how you cook the leaner cuts because of the lack of fat.
That’s weird. My mum has a beef farm, all grass fed their entire life. She only produces prime unless it’s a little odd ball cow that got sick or something.
there are a lot of variables at play that people oversimplify because they are adamantly either “grass finished is trash” or “grain finished is gross”. what breed, what pasture makeup, what grazing system, time of slaughter, aging etc all count. prime is possible on pasture with the right program, just leaving a random black angus on whatever pasture for whatever amount of time then slaughtering it won’t get you that.
Or they "oversimplified" because there are so many factors it could be a book, and this is reddit. As such, they call out their "top 3" and, not surprisingly, it aligns with one decision or the other.
Yeah I thought there was more to it than that. It’s all very flat land and they have a huge emphasis on growing as much good grass as they can when they can, as well and rearing/weening calves from as young as possible to build good gut bacteria and stuff like that. Does seem a bit strange that everyone’s so heavily focused on the feed more than any other condition.
It is the easiest way to tweak the marble/flavor by adding to the last 60-90 days. Rotational grazing takes seasons and lots of planning. If its only 1-2 cows every 18-24months then most people don't have the time, patience, experience, or knowledge to rotational graze on good grass.
As another commenter said regarding, OP's initial statement was this particular cow is only grass fed- there is no difference because there is no "corn finish". I must be misunderstanding OPs questions. An all grass fed meat cow will not have the taste of corn "finished" beef. Classifying "angus" is based off of the actual breed of the cow **and** how it is feed for finishing in a grocery/butcher. A cow isn't "angus" because a random breed Is grass fed. Angus beef is a specific cattle and raising, no? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aberdeen_Angus?wprov=sfla1 I have never heard ordinary cattle ranchers saying, "all of my cattle are 'Angus' beef cattle." All cow beef can not be "Angus" just because they are grass fed. That doesn't seem right for someone raising cows to state that. Maybe OP is actually raising Angus cattle, but it seems like for that investment of money 100% grass fed versus corn finished beef was understood before the animal(s) were raised/purchased. Please educate me if I am wrong. My grass fed cattle are just beef... Edit: OP if you truly raised Black Angus cows for the first time, I am sure that you have eaten grass fed versus corn finished meat. Some people appreciate only grass fed beef other people prefer corn or fatter "finished" meat. It depends on your market as a seller or personal taste. Once the meat has been processed, it is what it is. This matters to you if you're marketing your product as to what the consumer is expecting. 100% grass fed tastes different than finished beef. But the breed of the animal makes a lot of difference as well. Good luck!
Angus is a breed. It has nothing to do with how they’re raised. Ranchers saying “all my cattle are angus” is quite common in the US. It’s the most popular meat breed.
Beef X are more popular in my area do to terrain. Jerkin was also saying Angus is a breed and not a method of finishing/feeding. Hope you didnt down vote him as their comment was solid.
He put in bold that it’s an “and” finishing method.
Black Angus is not a breed for grass finishing. It won't have the marbling or fat the breed is famous for and will be very lean. Angus was developed as a breed specifically for grain finishing. There are not many modern breeds that finish well on grass. Dexter does it well. I definitely would not grass finish Black Angus though. Bit of a waste. Grass raise and grain finish.
Do I need to pen her up or can I let her pasture graze+ grain? I have smaller pastures and lots of grass right now. . .honestly I don’t love the idea of keeping her in a pen
The more sweet grain you can get her at the end the better marbling you will get. Animal husbandry is all about compromises, do what is best for you. Keeping her in a pasture will probably be fine I would at least give her a finishing grain blend twice a day.
Thank you for the info. Forgive these novice questions. . .Do you have a recommended “brand”? Or do you do X type/brand for the first 30 days and gradually add in a different type?
We buy a custom mix that our local feed store makes. Just go there and explain what you are doing and they should take care of you for cheaper than a chain store.
Gotcha, it’s a mix of grains, some even have molasses mixed in. Start light and then add every more week I’d start with 5-7 lbs. if he gets the runs, back off a bit and add more a day or two later. On my last steer he was up to 3/4 of a 5 gallon bucket a day
This is the way to go. (raised on a cattle ranch, raise 1-2 head for own use now)
If this is too personal or inappropriate to ask no worries I understand. But how are you dispatching said cow? I plan on homesteading in the future and educating myself not on as much as I can.
I am going to take it to a local butcher. One step at a time for me. I’d like to do all that too but at this juncture in my journey I’m definitely leaving this up to a professional.
I understand, I'm sure I'll do the same when I get to that point. The most I've ever done was cut some beef at home and processing fish from fishing. I plan on going ti an outfitter and hunting small game at first and a local place near me to learn how to butcher chicken.
Learning to butcher a chicken is pretty straight forward. I’d encourage you to watch a few YouTube videos tube video and go ahead and do it. I was hesitant too, but it was real easy and even my first chicken came out pretty good. Just make sure you have a good knife. A cow and big animals just feels like a bigger more complex effort to do it well.
When we were just starting out we butchered our first steer ourselves. At the time there was a place locally where you could take the carcass to age it. We did that for 3 weeks, then brought it home to cut it up. That was a lot of meat! I didn't really comprehend how much it was until we were about 3/4 of the way done. We were exhausted. The last 1/4 was just labeled "beef" because we were tired out and just trying to get it into the freezer. Our grinder busted after the first five pounds, too. I had quite a few wrapped bundles in the freezer that were "surprise dinners". It was still delicious.
May want to finish off the last 90 days with some grain to marble it up. If not its gonna be a tough eat.
It’ll be tough and lack real flavor. Plus you get all the cuts nobody really wants.
So I found a trick to cooking extra lean; mix a little real unsalted butter with a little walnut oil, it is really nice flavor.
Is it butchered yet? I would strongly recommend grain finishing it. Unless you like chewing on rubber. Grass fed may be great for you but offers no fat content. Finish with grain for a month or two and you’ll be excited to eat steak. Taste is obviously better than any supermarket or restaurant. We did a grass fed, grass finished and I was ticked with every steak we ate. Flavor was fine just no intramuscular fat. Never again, not my thing.
Can you elaborate on the “grain” I know what grain is but what specific bag. Like corn bag or
At my elevator it’s called finished. At a box store it would be beef builder. It’s extra carbs to pack on some pounds before butcher
Thank you! I always hear everyone mention “grains but when I go to tractor supply can’t find anything other then cube or starter
This is the best example of lesson learned for all those homesteaders who believe in grass finishing. +1
Finish on grain.
I have done a grass feed steer and a grass feed grain finished steer. Both Angus. And the meat from the grass feed only cow was gammy and gross. the meat from the grain finished steer best beef I have ever eaten.. I had numerous ranchers tell me you won't like the grass feed only cow i did not listen .. we had a hard time even eating the steaks.
For grain finished, what do you suggest? How long? What type of grain? How much?
I did grower finisher feed for about the last 3 months. I stated with a big scope daily and then the 2nd month I did two and the third month I did 3.
Barley is a good finisher. I feed my dexter beef alfalfa, grass, sweet feed, and range cubes everyday…not a ton of grain just consistent their whole life and it is the best steak I’ve ever eaten. Edit 1: I do about a 2 cups of grain per head. The more you do, the more fat you’ll get. I work the fat in their whole life. There is also the excess fat that can be used for tallow which has amazing applications on the homestead. Lotions, soap, cooking oil, and other stuff.
Be extremely careful with alfalfa and barley. They’ll bloat and die once you hit more than a few pounds of each when mixed together. If you don’t know what you’re doing, it’s a fairly dangerous mix.
Didn’t know that, my cows get 1 flake of alfalfa a day and barley is something I have not fed, but as fodder on occasion. They have round bales of bermuda grass all day. I also keep bloat blocks out all year just in case Thanks for the heads up
For true grain finish you need them on 20+ lb of grain a day for at least 90 days. Talk to your local feed store. They’ll give you details beyond that tailored to what’s available in your area.
Do I need to pen her up or can I let her pasture graze+ grain? I have smaller pastures and lots of grass right now. . .honestly I don’t love the idea of keeping her in a pen
You can probably keep her on pasture although it’ll take a little extra encouragement to eat the grain initially. I keep mine on pasture and a couple weeks in they come trotting over for grain twice a day. One thing to consider next year—cattle are herd animals. They generally are happiest with at least one friend, but ideally at least 2-3 more. Happy = better rates of gain. Generally steers (castrated males) are better options than heifers as well.
Thank you, I have two heifers and a baby bull that I’m about to turn into a steer. One specific question on your comment. Will the heifer mom and the steer together keep them happy enough? Or is there a reason that cow calf or heifer steer is not good?
Wait. Are you trying to feed out the heifer that’s currently a mom to a young calf to eat? Or just the (almost) steer? You’ll likely need the calf weened before you start feeding either out. You may also check with a local vet and feed store before moving forward with your plans. I mean this gently, but it seems like you probably need more in depth guidance than the internet can provide in a couple paragraphs.
No, I’m processing the other heifer which failed to breed. The one that just had the calf is excellent in every way. I plan to keep her a long time and have her re-bred
Grain finish. The actual beef will keep the grass fed flavor. You need to put some fat on it first.
Regardless of how you finished it off, it’ll taste totally different than anything you’ve bought from Walmart or the local grocery store.
A lot of folks don't know but, beef is gamey just like wild meat. The longer you let it hang, the better- in my opinion
Grass finished really does better finished on dry grass rather than green.
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Good God why are people just saying things without a clue. Don't answer questions you are clearly ignorant about.
Sorry man, you are so very wrong here. Grass finish will NOT be "good amount of marbling" and definately not "melt in your mouth". You need fat for that. You need to pen them up for 1-2 months and integrate grains/finishing feed or you will get an earthy to taste, but super lean beef.