What Does Grass-Fed, Grain-Finished Beef Mean?
Grass-fed, grain-finished means the cattle spend most of their lives grazing, then eat a grain-based ration for the last few months before harvest. At Dot Seven Ranch, our cattle graze the hills around Sanger, California, and spend their last roughly 120 days on a ration a cattle nutritionist built for us with feedstuffs such as alfalfa, corn silage, rolled corn, molasses, and minerals.
We bring them onto that ration slowly. A sudden change in diet is hard on cattle, same as it would be on you.
Why we finish on grain
Flavor. Our family thinks grain-finished beef is richer and has more marbling, those little streaks of fat that melt while it cooks and make a steak juicy. When people tell us our beef tastes like a steakhouse at home, that last 120 days is a big part of why.
What else people ask us
Hormones? None added. Our calves grow well on their own, so we don't implant them.
Antibiotics? If an animal gets sick, we treat it. That's our job as ranchers. Any animal that needed antibiotics goes to market the conventional way and doesn't go into our beef program. It's rare, because good nutrition and low-stress handling keep our cattle healthy.
What breed? Angus. We've spent three generations building our herd, and 95% of our cows were born right here on the ranch.
Quick answers
- What does grass-fed, grain-finished mean?
- The cattle graze for most of their lives, then eat a grain-based ration for their final months. Dot Seven Ranch cattle graze near Sanger, California, then spend roughly their last 120 days on a ration of alfalfa, corn silage, rolled corn, molasses and minerals.
- Is grain-finished beef more marbled?
- Grain finishing typically adds marbling, which is why Dot Seven chooses it for flavor.