Ground beef from Sweet-CoOp, topped with a mango -bourbon chutney
Grass finished and grass fed – what is the difference? Think about it. There is no such thing on this continent as a cow that is NOT grass-fed. Cattle are raised in areas where grasslands are vast – the US West, Argentina, etc. All cattle are grass fed for at least a portion of their lives. So “grass fed” as a label is hardly a distinction, and almost misleading. Furthermore, conventionally raised cattle then spend months in a CAFO (concentrated animal feeding operation) where they are stressed, grain-fed, bedded in manure, breathing toxic ammoniated air, lacking exercise, injected with hormones and antibiotics …and all the rest you probably know. In contrast, cattle that are grass finished to the very day of their demise assure the consumer of meat that is high in Omega 3’s (the excellent fats), CLA’s (claimed in some research to reduce cancer susceptibility) and numerous other healthy components derived from a natural bovine and hoofed-animal diet and life-style. Also, local ranchers who grass finish their stock, routinely send animals to processing plants in small “family” groups, thereby not disrupting the herd order. This reduces the herd stress as they are comfortable with their buddies with no need to sort out dominance and a new pecking order in the last days of their lives. This reduction in stress along with being far more compassionate allows for a more tender meat, as tissues are not filled with adrenaline. Joe’s grass finished beef is from Soaring Eagle Ranch, lamb is raised on the sweet mountain grasses near Chama by Antonio and Molly Manzanares and bison from Monte and Lana of LaMont’s Wild West Buffalo.