where can I find "pasture finished" beef?

[CTyankee]

I'm guessing that it is from cattle that have been fed in lots up till a certain time and then spends its final days feeding on grass...but I don't know...

[housewolf]

1. You migiht be able to find something local here

http://www.localharvest.org/

It's a source for local growers/farmers/sources of a great variety of sorts.

Also check with any local health food store and/or co-ops, they may be a good source of local resources.

[CTyankee]

2. Thanks. It's a nice site...

[csziggy]

3. Around here some of the ranchers advertise on Craigslist

To sell their pasture raised beef. Locally, they simply keep the beef steers on pasture until they are the right size to butcher.

I have no clue what "pasture finished" beef is - maybe just indicating that unlike most beef steers, they leave them on pasture all the way through. Or maybe they have special pastures to get those last pounds on them?

Check on Craigslist under "farm + garden" - that is where I have seen the ads. Also check for eggs, free range chickens, quail, duck and more.

[CTyankee]

4. Thanks for the tip!

[housewolf]

5. I saw someone at my farmers' market yesterday

It's a small fm but someone had a stand there for pasture-fed beef, might be another source for you to check out if you have local farmers' markets

[CTyankee]

6. durn, I was just there yesterday and forgot to ask...

I also wanted to check out locally produced eggs...

[grasswire]

7. here is a site for a ranch in Oregon -- explains about "pasture finished"

I have had this particular beef, which is finished on meadow wildflowers...! I didn't find it very tender, because there's so little fat. But it's surely better for you.


http://www.nickyusa.com/silviesvalley.html

[Angry Dragon]

9. Handsome animals

[Warpy]

8. You've got that backwards

Cattle are range fed until they get close to slaughter. A month or so before slaughter, they're crowded into feed lots where they have nothing to do but stand in their own waste and eat high calorie grain. This makes them put on extra weight and accounts for all the fat in the muscle tissue called "marbling" and contributes to tenderness. In other words, they're made very unhealthy for themselves and then for us right before slaughter.

Range fed beef is a bit different and must be handled and cooked a little differently in order to make it tender. I know it's available here and there but you're not going to find it in a supermarket.

[CTyankee]

10. The wording "pasture finished" makes it sound the other way around.

Your explanation makes more sense, tho...

[Warpy]

11. Yeah, I live in cow country

and there is nothing like driving past feed lots in August except maybe living downwind from a factory hog farm.

If you do get pastured beef, you need to realize that long, moist cooking is the best way to avoid shoe leather. If you must have steak, physically tenderizing it plus using enzymes in your marinade are the only ways.

[CTyankee]

12. thanks. Every once in a while we'll get Angus steaks, the littler ones

with less fat. But now we are eating more chicken and fish.