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Author Topic: Beef question  (Read 658 times)

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yorkdude

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Beef question
« on: May 08, 2020, 03:34:34 PM »

Someone started a Facebook group that is allowing all the Kansas Farmers, ranchers, honey producers, milk producers etc. list their wares.
Not much of a facebook guy but this is really pretty neat and has a whole bunch of smaller operations that I never even knew about.
That leads me to my question, I am particularly interested in one beef outfit and he has 2 options for beef. One is grass fed and grain finished and the other is grass fed and grass finished.
80/20 gb is 4.49 & 5.99 respectively.
Can anyone tell me if the taste is even discernible?
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Bentley

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Re: Beef question
« Reply #1 on: May 08, 2020, 04:03:00 PM »

To me there is a difference in taste.  I have not had a lot of grass fed or finished, but it seems tougher and has always had a slight metallic tinge to its flavor.  I know it is supposed to be healthier.  I also know that many of my friends in Australia eat grass fed (just not as much corn/grain finished beef)  and say just the opposite about it regarding taste and tenderness.
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Bentley

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Re: Beef question
« Reply #2 on: May 08, 2020, 04:04:04 PM »

Sorry, question was about ground beef, never had grass fed GB to the best of my knowledge! 
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ICIdaho

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Re: Beef question
« Reply #3 on: May 08, 2020, 04:47:08 PM »

I would have to have them side by side to notice flavor difference I think, but grain fed is a whole lot more tender on what I have had. Probably because they were kept in pens and not free range.
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SmokinHandyman

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Re: Beef question
« Reply #4 on: May 08, 2020, 06:13:19 PM »

I have had grass fed burger. to dry for me. Need some fat
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BigDave83

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Re: Beef question
« Reply #5 on: May 08, 2020, 07:20:12 PM »

I don't know that I have ever had grass fed 100% I have had from local farms but I believe they were pastured and also grain fed.

The price per pound seem reasonable. I could not believe when we went to the store on Tuesday, 85/15 was 6 bucks a pound, 93/7 was close 8 bucks. The GF asked me if I was buying some I told her I would add 2 bucks to it and have me a nice steak. Pork buts were $4.69#
Gordons food service where we go always has the 10# tubes of ground beef 80/20 they were usually 1.99 to 2.29 a pound now 3.49.

I would pay 5 bucks a pound for local farm ground beef. I used o have a customer that had a farm, he would send whole cows to be ground and sold it for 2 bucks a pack a little over a pound. This was a long time ago but the difference in taste between his and what you bought in the store was very noticeable.
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Brushpopper

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Re: Beef question
« Reply #6 on: May 08, 2020, 11:02:48 PM »

The fat on grass fed is kind of yellow is the only way I can explain it and it has a different taste.  When I was a kid we had a cattle operation and would raise them on grass and then grain feed them for three months or so.  My dad never got a day off.  The cattle didn't care what day of the week it was or if he was sick or banged up from wreck on one of our horses.  He had quite a few of those.
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Brushpopper

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Re: Beef question
« Reply #7 on: May 09, 2020, 10:45:53 PM »

I have about one acre of pasture, and we raise two steers each year. I use to finish them off with either grain, or ground corn. The last couple of years I have finished them on grass. Either way you'll notice a significantly better flavor than anything you can buy in the store, but  I really like the grass finished beef better. Plus, grass fed beef is better for you.

I'm impressed with this!  Must be plenty of rain where y'all are.  We always ran 10 to 20 acres per head depending on rain and where we had the cattle.
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Canadian John

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Re: Beef question
« Reply #8 on: May 10, 2020, 09:19:25 AM »


  I have always noticed a difference. I prefer grain fed.. Much like the milk when I was a child. The cows were fed hay in the Winter and pastured in the Summer. There was a marked difference in the taste of the

 milk.

 As far as taste goes, it's dependent on food the animal eats. White tailed deer in our Northern forests have a much different taste than the deer here in S W Ontario that feed on farmers crops of corn, beans ...
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Brushpopper

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Re: Beef question
« Reply #9 on: May 10, 2020, 11:16:33 AM »

Sprinklers are a game changer.  No wonder you can do that then.  :clap:


  I have always noticed a difference. I prefer grain fed.. Much like the milk when I was a child. The cows were fed hay in the Winter and pastured in the Summer. There was a marked difference in the taste of the milk.

 As far as taste goes, it's dependent on food the animal eats. White tailed deer in our Northern forests have a much different taste than the deer here in S W Ontario that feed on farmers crops of corn, beans ...

I prefer grain fed also.  We had a milk cow when I was young and we could certainly tell a difference in the taste of the milk depending on what she was fed.  I grew up in a farming and ranching area and some folks would buy cull vegetables from the packing sheds and dump them out for their cows to eat.  I can't imagine what the milk was like from them eating strictly cabbage or carrots and hay after a few days.  The calves still drank it and it kept them alive but I think it would be a strange flavor.
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yorkdude

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Re: Beef question
« Reply #10 on: May 10, 2020, 12:05:10 PM »

Everything I have read I will not be a grass finish guy. I am smoking some grass fed buffalo as we speak. Buffalo may be a great meat but I am going back to 80/20 on anything. Best tasting in my opinion.
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