Copyright 2011 Baron Farms

Pasture Power

Pasture vs. Scrub.  Is an Animal What it Eats?

You've heard the saying 'you are what you eat.'  The same can be true of beef animals.

Thousands of beef animals spend most of their summers in the hills around here eating what we affectionately call 'scrub.'  You might also see them described as 'range' fed.  Since not much grows on the hills of Eastern Washington and Oregon and parts of Idaho, what these animals eat is a far cry from what's available on a lush irrigated pasture.

Most of these animals are destined for the feedlots and after fattened on a diet rich in corn and other grains, they'll soon appear on your local grocery store's meat counter.

Unfortunately, some of these animals will be represented as 'grass-fed' and made available. These are not 'premium' beef animals. They were not fed a diet rich with a variety of green grasses and legumes.

How do you protect yourself? Ask to visit the farm and ask to see the pasture the animals have been grazing on all summer.  If no pasture is present or no animals grazing it, then you may wish to purchase your grass-fed beef elsewhere.