What is Grass-Finished Beef?
Grass-finished beef comes from cattle that have been raised on a forage diet their entire lives. While most cattle spend some of their lives in pastures eating grass before moving to a feedlot for grain-finishing, grass-finished beef cattle remain on a pasture and forage diet exclusively.
A major benefit of raising animals on pasture is that our products are healthier for you. Compared with feedlot meat, meat from our grass-finished beef has less total fat, saturated fat, cholesterol, and calories. It also has more vitamin E, beta-carotene, vitamin C, and a number of health-promoting fats, including omega-3 fatty acids and conjugated linoleic acid, or CLA.
CLA is a naturally occurring, free fatty acid found mainly in meat and dairy products in small amounts. It is known to be an anti-carcinogen, and CLA is also known for its body weight management properties, which include reducing body fat and increasing lean muscle mass.
The most abundant source of natural CLA is in meat and dairy products of grass-fed animals. Research shows that grazing animals have 35 times more CLA than animals fattened on grain in feedlots. Simply switching from grain-fed to grass-fed and finished products can greatly increase the intake of CLA.
Omega- 3 is an essential fatty acid for human growth and development and grass-fed, grass-finished beef is a great source for this essential nutrient. The source of omega-3 is the green leaves of plants. When cattle eat their natural diet, beef becomes a great source of omega 3. Grain is not a rich source of Omega 3 and grain-finishing cattle will cause the omega-3 level to decrease dramatically.