Define grass fed

[Reed77]

Is there a specific type of grass that you have to use to call your product 'grass fed'? or is it anything in a bale? I feed alfalfa/grass, can I still say 'grass fed'?

[MO_cows]

You should spend some time at usda.gov and also the dept. of ag for your state.

There are serious penalties for violation of food laws so you should get the information right from the source, and then come here and ask questions about any parts of it you don't understand.

[Reed77]

what should I put in the search engine? I've scanned over a few articles but didn't find anything (ctrl+F)

[Ken Scharabok]

All right, if this stays within reason fine. If it goes on another tangiet, it will be locked also.

[Ken Scharabok]

Give you my own opinion, my ladies and their calves are about 99.9% grass-fed. They currently look like they were crossed with a rhino or such. I sweat some of those girls have to weight between 1,400 and 1,600 pounds. One, I think, is larger than the three-year-old bull in with them. I suspect I'm going have to put them on a winter diet to where they actually lose weight before next calving season.

Now how they would grade out is a totally different subject.

[Reed77]

I'm not trying to start a huge debate here. I wasn't really aware there were more then one answer that will start an argument. I'm just wondering if you can feed your livestock any kind of grass (alfalfa, wheat, oat, timothy, ect.) and still call it grass fed

[tinknal]

As far as I am concerned, any bovine that spends it's entire life on free feed hay or graze is "grass fed" weather they receive grain or not.

I am prepared to be trashed.

[springvalley]

I`m not sayin anything > Marc

[MO_cows]

www.cdfa.ca.gov/ California dept. of agriculture.

www.usda.gov US Dept of agriculture.

Search those sites to see if there is a legally defined description for labeling beef as grass fed/finished. I don't believe that there is. Alfalfa is a legume, is it not? So technically, not "grass" but it sure is good feedstuff and is not grain.

[Ronney]

Originally Posted by tinknal

As far as I am concerned, any bovine that spends it's entire life on free feed hay or graze is "grass fed" weather they receive grain or not.

I am prepared to be trashed.

This is NZ's stance also.

I quote from a declaration that has to go with any animal going to the works:

PASTURE FED: means that the animals have been raised under normal New Zealand farming conditions with year round access to grass (hay, silage, lucerne (alfalfa for you people), feed crops) and other supplementary feed (including manufactured feeds provided that you have a statement from the manufacturer that the feed does not contain animal protein or animal fat other than dairy). You must keep manufacturers declarations. Where animals have been fed on a feed pad or feedlot other than for short periods then they would not be "pasture fed" because of not having year round access to grass.

The bit that I have highlighted takes into consideration the sale to the works of weaner calves still being fed milk.

Cheers,
Ronnie

[Gabriel]

Well, in a legalistic sense, any animal that eats grass is "grass fed". But, in the customers mind, they want to know that it didn't get grain. Obviously, I'm only speaking from my personal experience, your customers may vary, yada yada. As to the types of grass, I think "pastured" might be more accurate technically, but surely nobody cares that the cattle got legumes as well as grass...

[agmantoo]

You may want to read this
http://www.grass-fed-beef-101.com/de..._fed_beef.html

[greengrow]

The USDA definition of "Grass Fed Beef" is that the animal should have access to grass/pasture and the majority of it's feed be grass.

There is no stipulation that you can or should not use hormones, medicated feed etc,

Grass or pasture depends on where you are. All good pastures will be a mix of grasses, and most will included legumes.

With the correct animals and good forage it is possiable to achive very good growth rates on a forage diet alone with no grain, hormones etc.

It is very possiable to finnish animals on forage diets in 15 to 18 months with no grain, no hormones and only medication to treat illness, vaxinations etc.

[trbizwiz]

Consider your animals carefully when choosing to go grass fed or grass finished or pastured ot foraged based diet or what ever you decide. I started with 2 heifers and a goal for an all forage diet. Each came from a different farm so they had different parentage but were of the same breed. One is doing excellent in the system and the other is struggling. Infact the second cow may require supplemental grain to get back to breeding condition. IF I have to go that route, Ill likely sell her. In my system i dont need any cows that can sustain adn breed back on an all forage diet.
I am going to watch her for a while and see if she improves. It is her first calf. Maybe she is just slow to adapt to being a momma. BUt for you I recomend you are careful about what you start with. Not every animal is suited for this. They have been selected for grain diets.
mine also get an all forage diet. I plant cereal rye, sorghum, and other grain type plants. bBu all are eaten in an immature state long before grain comes into the equation. Seasonal annuals help you make it through the tough seasons with out hay.

[Reed77]

Pastured Beef

Another important thing to remember, besides just the literal definition of grass fed beef, is that you want to obtain grass fed and finished beef that has been pastured all of its life and not kept in confinement.

Is confinement a stall, or small area? does 1-2 acres count as confinement?

[greengrow]

Confinement would mean stall, shed, small area of yard etc.

Weather 1-2 acres is confiement would depend on the number of animals that are on the 1-2 acres, and if they can move onto a new area or stay there etc.

In MIG cows animals are in a small area daily but move to fresh ground every day, where as the same number of animals may be "confined" on that area and fed there daily.

[tinknal]

I would define "confinement" as an area too small to provide adequate grazing (during grazing weather) to provide for the cattle housed in that area. In other words, a 2 acre pen with one or two cattle would not be considered "confinement" but a 2 acre pen with 100 head would be considered confinement.

[Ken Scharabok]

It does vary from area to area. People use to critize LBJ for owning a thousand some acre ranch and only running less than 100 cattle on it. In his part of TX, that was probably as much as it could support.

Rule of thumb in this area is it takes an acre and a half of good pasture/hay field to support a cow and calf. I've found some years that is conservative and some years I've sold cows/calves I didn't want to do so.

Right now my cows look like barrels with short legs on them them. Nice calf crop, but found two dead calves and one cow which either didn't rebred or aborted. They are on my short list.

I suspect I'm going to have to give up the cattle and hay fields within a year or so as fertilization and liming has simply gone the way of gasoline. I just have a hard time justifying to myself why I keep them.

For the coming year I suspect I'm going to have to put my cows on 'short rations' this winter to bring them back into good calving weight.

One extreme to another.

There is an excellent sticky on this particular forum about rotation grazing. Everyone's opinion.

Personally, I have found four pastures to be manageable. But, have cut down cow herd down to about 20%. I kept the ones I liked or had names.

[tinknal]

Originally Posted by greengrow

It is very possiable to finnish animals on forage diets in 15 to 18 months with no grain, no hormones and only medication to treat illness, vaxinations etc.

It really depends on your definition of the word "finished".

I'm guessing that your definition is different than mine. I respect your definition. I hope you respect mine.

[ksfarmer]

Like Ken Sharabok says; a lot depends on the area of the country you are in. Here, we figure at least 7 acres per cow/calf on a average year with a 5 month grazing season. Grass pasture from May 1 to Oct.1 , then we try to graze corn or milo stalks for a month or so with a supplement of protein. If its available we utilize fall wheat pasture. Depending on the winter and early snows, but usually by sometime in December we are bringing the cows closer to their winter feed supply of hay. Most aren't in confinement but are in reduced acerage for ease of feeding and care. January through April seems to really drag , with feeding hay every day, and then calving in March. I would call my cows "grass fed" and the calf crop sold as short yearlings will have some grain but are mostly grass or hay or silage fed. The calves are sold, usually to a stocker who will grow them some more on hay or grass till finishing them on 90+ days of grain. We feed corn silage, alfalfa, brome hay, and native grass hay.