Craft Beef

You have all heard of craft beer and craft or artisanal chocolate, but did you know that grass fed and grass finished beef is a craft product too? In the same fashion that craft beer flavour and aroma varies based on the type of barley and the conditions it was produced under, so too does beef! There are so many factors when it comes to beef taste, texture and marbling, including genetics, what the cattle were fed, how they were handled, what age they are harvested, if it was dry aged, and how it was butchered.

Every ranch is different, and creates its own niche

Grassfed beef is the healthiest form of beef to consume because of it's higher level of key nutrients like antioxidants, vitamins, conjugated linoleic and omega-3 fatty acids; however, it's a generic term because there is no standard. Grassfed beef can be raised on native grass, tame grass, forage crops, and even in a feedlot on grass rated rations and pellets. And then once the cattle are raised on grass how are they “finished” or fattened? This can be on more grass, hay, alfalfa, pellets, silage, grain, barley or corn. And then this occurs either in confinement or free range.

Therefore as a consumer you can’t expect grass fed to have a standard taste. It is a truly craft product. And if these factors matter to you, like they do to so many of our customers, then you need to get to know your rancher and ask questions. There are so many variables. Every ranch is different, and creates its own niche.

As a consumer you can’t expect grass fed to have a standard taste. It is a truly craft product

At Burke Creek our black angus cattle are born and raised on native grasslands and supplemented over the winter months with tame grass and alfalfa hay. They are watered on natural spring water. The cattle roam and calve open range in our foothills pastures. They are handled in low stress environment which keeps the cattle happy and the beef tender. They are under our care their entire life cycle. Then all the beef is dry aged and cut to our consumer specifications.

We are often asked: “I’ve heard grassfed beef has a wild and gamey taste”. We can honestly say this is feedback we have never ever had from our customers. What we do hear is “the beef has such a rich, beefy flavour” and “it is like farmer’s market tomatoes, beef that tastes like beef!”