Grass-Fed vs. Grass-Finished

Grass-fed and grass-finished are often used together when describing beef,
but they answer two slightly different questions: what did the animal eat,
and how was it finished before slaughter?

All cattle begin with forage

Cattle are ruminants designed to consume grasses and other forage. Many
Canadian beef cattle spend much of their lives grazing pasture and may
receive hay, silage or other stored forage when pasture is unavailable.

What does grass-fed mean?

Grass-fed describes a forage-based feeding system. The important thing for
consumers to understand is that the phrase by itself may not explain the
animal’s entire feeding history or exactly how it was finished.

What does grass-finished mean?

Grass-finished generally describes cattle that remain on a forage-based
diet through the finishing period rather than being transitioned to a
grain-based finishing ration.

Why does finishing matter?

The finishing system can influence growth rate, age at harvest, fat
development, marbling, flavour and seasonality. Climate, available land,
forage quality and the genetics of the cattle can all affect how a farmer
designs a finishing program.

Is one automatically better?

That depends on what matters to you. Different systems have different
management goals and trade-offs. PureBeef’s role is to explain the
production method clearly rather than decide which system you should prefer.