Grass Fed vs. Pastured

Savvy shoppers often ask us if our beef is grass finished - yes, it always is. All our animals live their lives out on pasture, but only the beef and sheep are grass fed. When we use the term 'grass fed' we always mean 100% grass fed and grass finished. If we say our beef is 'grass fed' we mean that animal never got grain or grain byproduct at any time in the cow's whole life. And neither did its mother while she was lactating. Unfortunately this is not the case for all farms.

So, are our pigs grass fed? In our book, no, even though they eat a lot of grass and other pasture plants in its life. "Grass fed" should refer only to animals that have never had any grain ever and our pigs do get a non-GMO grain supplement to meet their energy and protein growth requirements. It is possible to raise pigs without supplements, but they grow slowly, are always hungry, and the pork doesn't taste as good as that from a properly 'happy' pig. Cattle and sheep have digestive tracts well suited to breaking down coarse feeds (grasses). With the right management of their grazing behaviors it is fairly straightforward to raise really wonderful beef and lamb exclusively on grasses. If you're interested, there's much more to say about grass fed pork

It's worth noting that the numbers here don't tell the whole story about how "good" pasturing is. There is a world of difference between a "pastured chicken" and a "free-range chicken" raised in a barn. Free-range may sound like the birds can go wherever they please, but this is emphatically not the case. They're confined to the inside of a big barn for their entire lives. They live on top of a 'litter' of their own droppings that contaminates the air they breath with ammonia and sticks to their skin and feet. Pastured chickens are contained within shelters (every predator known to man loves chicken dinner), but the shelters skid to fresh grass every day so there're always greens and bugs around for the chickens to peck at as well as clean ground to sit on. Air circulates readily through the shelters which is good for both the bird's health and the respiratory health of people who work with them.

And it's similar with hogs. From an animal welfare perspective raising hogs inside a barn for their whole lives pales in comparison to giving them space on a pasture to romp and roam, root about for grubs and tubers. Pigs are happiest when they can lie in the shade on hot days and get out in the sun on cool days. Pigs should be given as much space as necessary to fulfill their various instinctive drives for grazing, rooting, frolicking, and napping. We believe strongly that only pasture can provide the space for this to happen. We do rotate our pigs with portable electric fence the way we do with cattle and sheep, but we move them less often. Pigs get 1 to 2 weeks per paddock before they move to fresh ground. They're incredibly hard on pastures because they dig up the grass to eat worms, grubs and the plant roots themselves. By keeping them on a slower rotation we limit the amount of pasture they plow in a given year. Once they move on, the pasture recovers well because the supplemental feed we give them brings in fertility from wherever the grain grew.

So, to summarize what we mean when we use terms -

Grass Fed - always and at all times 100% grass/pasture plants. No grain. No grain byproduct ever at any time in the whole life of the animal.

Pastured - space provided outdoors on grass. Pastured animals do eat grasses, but it is not their sole source of calories. Supplements of grain or other highly digestible feeds are provided to pastured animals.