Their environmental footprint can be as varied as their sources.
What is grass fed meat production.
In fact the term grass fed isn t clearly defined.
The diet shall be derived solely from forage consisting of grass annual and perennial forbs e g legumes brassica browse or cereal grain crops in the vegetative pre grain state.
Thus the short answer is that the cost to produce grass fed beef all depends on what grass fed production strategies have been built into your farm s beef production plan.
The increased production of grass fed or grass finished beef would have clear environmental benefits.
Even though all beef may be considered grass fed for the majority of its life finishing cattle on grass takes a great deal of management and requires good quality forages to achieve gains of at least 2 lbs per day.
They may be locally grown or imported from far afield.
The treat of the grass fed production world.
The crops will consist of hay and grasses but will still take land away from the production of crops that could be fed to people directly.
Many claim the meat has a superior taste to grain fed beef.
So again these vast differences in grass fed production strategies make a huge difference to the production costs yet none are a mandatory prerequisite for producing and marketing grass fed beef.
Where cropland is seeded to perennial forages and grazing is managed to optimize cattle growth soil erosion is reduced and soil quality increased.
Grass fed is still crop fed.
Hence grass fed beef can be fed on for example peas beans soymeal sugar beet pulp brewer s grains or any number of cereals.
Others who produce grain fed beef use feeds they have harvested and combined with grains to make the cow gain weight faster.
That said grass fed cows eat mostly grass while grain fed cows eat mostly an unnatural diet based on corn and soy during the latter part of.
Some producers use mostly pasture letting cattle harvest the grass directly.
Grass fed beef comes from cattle raised on grass pastures as the name implies.
Grass fed cattle must eat crops when grass is unavailable in the winter or during droughts.
Due to land values and other constraints.
Demand for grass fed beef is greater than the supply in the u s.
Joyce farms heritage aberdeen angus grass fed beef usda prime high integrity production is authentic grass fed.
This is in contrast to grain fed cattle which are not allowed to graze or forage for food on their own.