Grass-Fed vs. Grass-Finished Beef: What's the Difference?

Terrific question came in from one of our subscribers.

"Can you explain the difference between Grass-Fed and Grass-Finished?"

This is the kind of info that a grass farmer can take for granted, so I'm glad someone asked. Short answer: grass-fed vs. grass-finished is one of those distinctions that sounds like marketing nitpicking until you understand what's actually happening to the animal (and your food).

What does "finished" actually mean?

Let's start with what "Finished" means in cow lingo.

Finishing an animal refers to the final stage. It's basically fattening them up.

Once an animal has reached roughly their full adult size, they devote more resources to gaining weight and putting on muscle and fat.

For a lot of cattle in America, this last "finishing" stage is where corn and other grains are first introduced to their diet.

Grass-fed vs. grass-finished: why the diet at the finish line changes everything

Because there is a BIG difference in how fast you can get a cow fat on grain vs. 100% Grass.

On a feedlot, they can achieve that in as little as 4-6 months.

In a 100% Grass-Fed/Finished/whatever system it takes 2-3 times longer on average.

This is important because the diet an animal is finished on has an enormous impact on the quality of their fat.

The difference in fat composition (fatty acid ratios, density of important fat soluble vitamins, etc.) is one of the biggest differences between truly Grass-Fed Beef and beef that was fed grains. (For more on what a real grass diet actually looks like, here's a list of 40+ plants our cows actually eat.)

Grass-fed vs. grass-finished, side by side

Why some farmers still just say "grass-fed" (and why that's not always a lie)

Now, remember what I said about most cows not eating grain until the finishing stage?

Well because of various loopholes and imprecise labeling standards, some unscrupulous businesses can get pretty fast and loose with what they call "Grass Fed" Beef. They might conveniently ignore the last bit of their lifetime diet, focusing on the majority of the time that they were eating grass. (This is closely related to why grocery store beef ends up so watery in the first place.)

So obviously Grass Fed AND Finished is better than just Grass-Fed and we should look for that?

Right? Right?

WEEELLLL it's complicated.

Tempting as it is to promote a hard and fast rule and tell folks to only buy beef that's 100% Grass Fed, or Grass Fed and Finished, or Lifetime Grass Fed or something like that.

There's also a nuance here.

Sure there are businesses (especially big corporations) that abuse the whole "letter of the law" concept. They try to skirt the spirit of the rules and do the bare minimum to call something Grass-Fed.

But there are also a lot of folks who just use Grass-Fed because that's the term they are familiar with.

A lot of farmers aren't terminally online and hip to all the different schemes and swindles. So they just keep on using "Grass Fed" because that term had real meaning for most of their careers.

And often those are the farmers producing some of the best truly grass-fed beef in the country!

They are OGs, they've been doing and perfecting this since before it was cool, they're true believers and spend their time raising cows and not worrying about marketing lingo.

So.....

How to tell the difference when you're shopping

What is a consumer to do?

Here's what I recommend.

If you are standing in the meat aisle at your local grocery store, look for terms like 100% Grass Fed or Grass Fed AND Finished or Lifetime Grass Fed.

Any beef that makes it into a big retail chain has someone thinking about the marketing and labeling claims. So if it's in Whole Foods and just says "grass fed" or "pasture raised" or something not super definitive, there's a decent chance that is intentional.

But the best option?

Find someone you can trust, and who you can actually ask.

Find a local farmer. Call them up. Stop into their farm store.

Or just place an order for 100% Lifetime Grass Fed and Finished, Pasture Raised, No Grains EVER Beef.

Kind of a mouthful, but one must be thorough these days. (And if you want to know what the real cost looks like before pulling the trigger, here's an all-in price breakdown of a half cow.)

P.S. Not sure what size is right for you? Take our Beef Share Quiz for a personal recommendation. Everyone loves a quiz.