Here's Why Our Grass Fed Beef Tastes So Good - Heartstone Farm

Here's Why Our Grass Fed Beef Tastes So Good

By Dan Kaplan

I’m 67 years old and I’m being honest when l tell you l have always used ketchup on meatloaf But no more - the flavor is incredibly delicious.”

- Tom Cote, North Berwick, Maine

Who knew meatloaf... and roasts and steaks could taste so good? 

it takes more than just grass to create great tasting beef

it takes more than just grass to create great tasting beef

The one thing I’ve learned about the folks who buy our beef is this: they come for the “Grass Fed” and the “local”....but they stay for the taste!

And Tom’s not alone. You can go to our Customer Reviews page and read dozens of comments - just as enthusiastic as Tom’s - about the taste of our beef. Sure, it’s Grass Fed and all natural and local - but “best tasting beef I’ve ever had” is a line I hear over and over.

Sometimes I’ll be talking with someone who’s thinking about buying our beef and they’ll tell me they’ve had Grass Fed beef before but didn’t like it. I’ve even heard stories of people who bought a side from a friend, and didn’t eat it  because they didn’t like the taste.

They key in my opinion is that Grass Fed alone isn’t enough.

The taste our customers rave about is no accident. It’s the product of everything we do here at the Farm.  From the time a calf is born until the ride to the processor, we’re obsessive about things that will affect the taste of the meat.

This includes things like genetics, our pasture management and grazing protocols, weighing every single cow every 30 days...and that’s just to name a few things.

Take weighing the cows - we do that because the science behind producing great tasting beef is that in the 3-4 months before a beef cow is slaughtered, they need to be gaining at least 2 ½ pounds a day. And you don’t know if that’s happening unless you weigh them! An old business axiom that I learned was: you can't manage what you don't measure. And that sure applies to raising beef cattle!

Another example is that we believe strongly in our herd having no stress in their lives. We even prohibit the kids from yelling around the cows! Yes, it’s humane, but it’s also a proven scientific fact that stress impacts the quality and yes, the taste of the beef.

So, we do things differently here. Sometimes my farmer friends will give me a look that suggests I'm going a bit overboard. But, hey, I'll tell them, it's working. And then I'll grab a pound of hamburger and tell them to cook it up tonight and let me know if it's not the best tasting burger they've ever had. So far, I've gotten no complaints.

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Pasture-Raised Chicken