Beef at Double D Meats Grass Fed

A growing number of farmers and ranchers are raising grass-finished beef using high-quality forages that facilitate expert gain and finish without grain, creating a healthier meat production.

To practise this effectively, it helps to have the proper genetics for moderate frame size and first-class feed efficiency.

Colorado

Cynthia and Ira Houseweart marketplace grass-fed beefiness from their ranch near Hotchkiss, Colorado, selling direct to customers all over the state. When they select bulls, they don't want any that are larger than a 4.five frame. They are trying to get frame size of their cows smaller for grass-fed beef, and more efficient cattle.

"When we started our grass-fed beef plan, nosotros just grazed the edges of the hayfields – all the places where we couldn't cutting hay, including wooded areas and gulches. Now, we graze the hayfields too," Cynthia says.

"The fields are much healthier with cattle impact. Nosotros've done soil samples, and organic matter in places I've pastured is so much better than the pivots where nosotros abound hay. Now we are figuring out how to graze the pivots every bit well. I've looked at Jim Gerrish's methods for fencing pivots for rotational grazing," she says.

Properly grazed, in that location is more forage production on hay ground than when it'due south put upwardly for hay, and grazing is ameliorate for the land. The trampling and litter adds natural fertilizer and organic thing to the soil. "We've seen that improving the soil improves the forage and the animals," says Cynthia.

"We follow all the organic standards (we don't utilise dewormers, antibiotics, constructed fertilizers, etc.), only we don't take that designation on our meat characterization." With proper rotation grazing, at that place is no need for dewormers or fertilizer. The state is fertilized by animal impact, and the cattle are moved ofttimes enough to exit the worms behind.

Their calves are butchered at near xviii months of age. "Our climate doesn't permit united states to graze all through winter. We feel fortunate when we can graze into early winter," she says.

"We work cattle calmly, and they are easy to handle, because we select for good temperament and handle them quietly," says Cynthia. This makes it much easier on the cattle, likewise as the people, with no stress. The meat is also better when cattle are not stressed.

"They don't get sick, and at butchering time, there are no dark cutters because the cattle are calm, with no adrenaline pumping through the body," she explains.

Tennessee

Lee McCormick raises grass-finished beef at Piney River Cattle Company, well-nigh Nashville, Tennessee. "I use Murray Gray bulls and Lasater forage-based Beefmaster bulls on cows that are office Beefmaster. Murray Grey cattle accept the about efficient meat quality for grass-fed beefiness that I've ever seen. The Angus people have washed a really good job of selling black-hided cattle, but Angus are non consistent and don't finish very well on grass compared to the Murray Grey," says McCormick.

"The cross I want is a half Murray, one-half Beefmaster or three-quarter Murray and one-quarter Beefmaster. I just continue crossing back and forth. I have 450 cows that are basically a closed herd, and I'one thousand raising my ain bulls and heifers," he says.

"I am a fan of provender-based Lasater cattle – how thick they are and how much meat they carry on the carcass and how well adapted they are to the Southeast. Murray Greyness cattle don't exercise too in this climate because our summers are so hot and humid. But by crossing, and continuing to select for the ones that practise well, you lot end up with cattle that are well-adjusted," he says.

He prefers a cow that is i,000 to 1,100 pounds. She'll enhance a bigger calf – higher per centum of her own bodyweight – than a larger moo-cow and is more feed efficient. A herd of moderate-framed cows with grass-based genetics will produce more pounds of beef per acre than a herd of larger-framed cows; you can run more modest cows per acre, and they wean off a higher percent of their own weight.

Alberta

Tim Hoven raises grass-finished beef in Alberta on a subcontract that has been in his family since 1910 – when his great-bully-grandfather came to Alberta from South Dakota. "Our herd is primarily Angus-cantankerous cows with Hereford and Blackness Welsh. I'thou trying Galloway bulls to become some hardier genetics into the mix. We want a smaller-framed animal, and I prefer blackness because they stay warm easier in cold atmospheric condition than lighter-colored cattle." Black hair/hibernate absorbs more than of the sunday'southward warmth.

Cattle are moved daily on the Hoven farm. "We run two herds – cows and calves in one herd and the fattening herd that's finishing on grass for direct marketing," he says. All the calves are grown out for beef.

"We commonly cease them at about 24 to 28 months. The challenge here is cold winters. It'southward hard to put much gain on them during wintertime on grass and harvested forages. We've tried using expert 2nd-cutting alfalfa, just if we get a stretch of very common cold weather for a week or ii, it's like the animals' metabolism changes, and they tin't put on more weight," says Hoven. They demand something too alfalfa to generate body heat and gain weight during cold.

His cattle are finished afterwards spring grass. "During winter, they might not be putting on whatsoever fat, only their frame is growing. Once they hit green grass, they only boom and bloom," he explains.

Calgary

Rachel and Tyler Herbert accept a ranch in southern Alberta, near Calgary. "This is great for us, because we take a huge market for our grass-fed beefiness nearby," says Rachel.

"We customized our genetics to terminate on grass. Our herd base of operations is red and black Angus with a fiddling Hereford, and we use blackness and red Angus bulls. We choose selectively to keep genetics efficient for grass-fed and for tranquility temperament, which also makes for meliorate beef," she says.

Quiet animals spend more time eating and expend less energy being nervous, and so they put more weight on. Their meat is also better, considering they are never stressed and upset. "Animals that are stressed/nervous accept higher cortisol levels; if they feel stressed when handled/moved to the slaughter facility, the meat will be darker and tougher. If the cattle are placidity and relaxed, the meat is amend and much more than tender."

Photo i:Cattle at the Piney River Cattle Company in Nashville, Tennessee, are shown in a cattle rotational grazing organisation.Photograph provided by Lee McCormick.

Photograph 2:Pastures on the Houseweart ranch in Colorado are where cattle are finished on grass and direct marketed. Photo provided by Cynthia and Ira Houseweart.

Heather Smith Thomas is a freelance writer based in Idaho. Email Heather Simth Thomas .

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Source: https://www.progressivecattle.com/topics/feed-nutrition/finishing-beef-on-grass