What's the Difference Between Grass Fed Beef and Grain Fed Beef?

Most likely you've heard that grass fed beef is better for you than grain-fed beef which is probably why you're here on the Heartstone Farm website. But you may not know why. Let us walk you through how we raise our animals are Heartstone Farms and why grass fed beef is far better than grain fed beef - for the animals and the meat you eat.

• Our animals are 100% grass fed and finished and graze on wide open pasture, breathing in the fresh air of Maine. Grass is the best nutrition for cows because they are ruminants and can digest clean, pesticide-free grass which is full of vi;and convert that into healthy protein. Grass fed cows that are moved on pasture every day actually reduce the carbon footprint by sequestering carbon in the soil. Healthy soil is critical for a healthy, sustainable environment and contributes to a healthy ecosystem for worms, bugs, birds and butterflies.
• We raise our animals with no antibiotics, no vaccines or growth hormones. Animals grow naturally, as nature intended. Remember you are what you eat so clean, nutrient dense meat contributes to a healthy diet for you.
• As a small, family-operated farm, we carefully oversee every step of the process — from raising the animals to partnering with third-generation butchers who respect the animals and treat the meat with the utmost care, to the best packing, ensuring your shipment arrives ice cold and in pristine condition.
• Healthier - nutritionally, grass fed and finished meat are higher in beneficial nutrients such as Omega-3 fatty acids, conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), and antioxidants like vitamin E and beta-carotene. 

Conventionally-Raised, Factory-Farmed Cows - Grain Fed:

• Factory-farmed animals are raised on crowded feedlots where the cattle are confined, never moved, and their feed is dumped in troughs. The land that they are raised on lacks any nutritional value - it's dirt, not living soil, which is deplete of any nutritional value and negatively affects the health of the animals and the overall ecosystem. It is a stressful, unhealthy life for the animals which highly compromises the meat you eat.
• After they are weaned from their mother's milk, conventionally raised cows are fed grass for the first year of their lives and then switched to a diet of genetically modified corn and grains for the rest of their lives. This diet is unnatural and often leads to inflammation and acidosis in the cows, which can cause frequent illnesses that require antibiotics.
• Grain and corn are the diet of choice for conventionally raised cows not because they nourish the cows, but because they fatten them up quickly. If you want to eat clean, healthy meat, this is not the way to go. 

At Heartstone Farm, we are committed to producing high-quality grass fed and finished beef that is sustainably and humanely raised. We believe that the extra effort and cost of raising clean, grass fed beef is worth it, both for the superior taste, for the health of the animals, you, and the planet.