The Taste of Grass

We have been enjoying Chuck II for a few months now, and while we weren't able to compare the taste of Chuck I directly to Chuck II, we have come to a couple of conclusions.

1.  What the animal eats has less to do with the taste than the breed of the animal
2.  What the animal eats has less to do with the taste than the freshness of the meat
3.  Great tasting beef can be had commercially.  What is generally not known is the source and how that   animal was raised and treated.

The first two points assume that what the animal eats is of good quality and provided in abundance.

On point three, we compared Chuck II's T-bone to a store-bought (and probably grain fed) T-bone.  The store bought T-bone was from an independent butcher who is known for high-quality meat.  In a blind taste test, there was negligible difference, and even the visual inspection before grilling found negligible differences.  What we could not know for sure, however, was the source of the store-bought T-bone, how the animal was treated, what it ate, what kind of antibiotics and/or hormones were administered...basically the history of the animal that is readily available from your farmer.

Chuck Part II, or OD #2

We recently got OD#2, our grass-fed beef steer back from the meat locker. Our second steer was about a month older than our first and almost completely grass fed and 100% hormone and anti-biotic free. Both ODs were mostly black angus.

OD #2's hanging weight was one pound less than OD #1, and his take-home weight was 24 pounds more. We have to consider the take-home weight the same, though, because our weighing process is far from official. There was some variation in pounds of each cut received, but nothing very significant.

What have we learned from these two steers?

It wasn't hard for us to raise a grass-fed steer since we had pasture to spare and already make hay for our main herd. The most difficult part is raising mostly corn-fed animals with a single grass-fed animal. We had to pick Chuck early enough to get him and his mom separated from the regular, corn-eating herd and onto pasture. After weaning, we had to choose an animal of similar size for companionship. Usually we have a cull-cow available, but at times we did not, which meant taking a calf from our background herd, gradually changing its diet to match Chuck's, then gradually changing it back before selling. It'd be easier to have at least two grass-fed animals from the get-go.

It's hard to say if OD#2 required more labor. We certainly had him around longer, but when he was on grass, we just had to make sure he looked healthy. Unlike the rest of the herd, we didn't have to carry buckets of corn around and didn't have to run him through the chute to administer vaccines. We do feel fortunate that he didn't have health problems, unlike OD#1. If health problems had arisen and we were forced to administer medication, our main marketing niche would evaporate. Again, it would be nice to have more than one grass-fed animal, so if this scenario plays out, we could simply shunt the animal into our regular herd.

We haven't done any taste tests yet, but so far OD#1 and OD#2 have dressed out almost identically, as outlined above.