Grass beef!

[Ianab]

Like was mentioned genetics and how that certain breed reacts to different feeds can be a major factor. Was this animal a different breed by chance?

Genetics and diet both make a difference. NZ beef is generally 100% grass fed, with some hay / silage to make it through winter. Yellow fat is generally genetic, usually a bit of Jersey in their breeding, at least locally. Other breeds simply dont marble up, or haven't quite been finished.

[Southside]

As far as the fat goes the minerals taken up by the corn are fewer than a variety of grasses and legumes would be, that imparts the flavor, good or bad, into the fat profile. It's just the nature of one plant vs another, orchard grass has a different mineral profile than crab grass, clover, etc. Soy does the same thing. 

The yellow color comes from the choloryphill in the grass, feeding corn sileage would get you more yellow fat, not as much as straight grass fed / finished. 

Commodity beef is desired to be very bland so that it's all the same, otherwise Sizzler couldn't have their steaks taste the same when the beef came from different suppliers. 

I am not sure what would cause an off flavor in your steers, unless there is a really heavy mineral in the soil that's being taken up by the grasses and imparted into the fat.

[Firewoodjoe]

Nothings any different. Same animals. Only difference is I've been eating there calves. These are cows I just butchered.  And not feeding any corn. All the previous steers I've ate had corn.  One friend uses silage one uses sweet feed mix and one uses his own ground grain. All have there own taste but not dark strong gamey. 

[Firewoodjoe]

And there's everything from angus shorthorn Hereford jersey and sure lots of cross breeding in those I've ate. I had a dairy friend that milked Holstein and that was some of the sweetest tasting burger I've ate. But they get good feed and lots and lots of corn based feed. 

[Firewoodjoe]

Actually just out of curiosity. I still about ten pounds left from the steer last year. This cows son. I'll thaw both out and compare. Might be kinda interesting. 

[newoodguy78]

You might be onto something when you mentioned them being cows, age can certainly affect flavor. The older an animal gets the more enhanced the flavor and not necessarily in a good way.

[SwampDonkey]

I remember ours were grass grazed, timothy and clover mix in winter with some mash in the winter that often had molasses in it. Our cows never saw any corn, no one around here in those days ever grew corn for feed. I never saw corn fields until the 90's. Just wasn't grown. Lots of corn grown now and not that many cows these days. Local dairies are all gone, and just small beef herds now. We buy some local beef and we avoid overpriced beef that is no different than their neighbor's. :D

[Sedgehammer]

The only way to get the benefits of grass fed if they are on grass for a minimum of 30 days prior to butchering. I would prefer longer myself

Baleage vs hay is you can get the cows to eat poorer hay/grass they normally wouldn't eat, since they can't sort it with their tongues. Many farmers think they are tricking the cow this way, but she's the one that does the tricking. They don't milk or gain better on the poorer grass you got them to eat

Most what I've found is people are used to the blandness of grain fed, since that's all they've ever had

I've had bad grain fed also, so just because they are one or the other doesn't mean this or that

Different grasses impart different flavors if you will, in the meat and fat

All our beef no matter the breed, the meat has yellow fat

[Southside]

My own experience is that dry hay put up at the same time as baleage won't produce milk, but the baleage will. The nutritional requirements of dairy are higher than beef so maybe that's why you don't see the difference.

[Ianab]

My own experience is that dry hay put up at the same time as baleage won't produce milk

Probably true, locally hay is generally used as a supplement to get dairy cow and beef cattle through the winter, when they aren't milking. They will still be getting grass, but grass growth is slow for the next few months, so that gets rationed, and supplemented with hay (or baleage) to keep them going. Given the choice, they do prefer the baleage, and I think you are right about it feeding them better, Maybe more digestible? 

Likewise for beef, no one expects them to put on much weight over Winter. You don't want to be losing weight, but you can't expect a lot of gain if food is rationed. 

[Firewoodjoe]

I don't think I can post it on here but beef research.org has a article on The chemistry of beef flavor. Long story short grain takes some of the strong taste out. And beef wintered on hay has less desirable flavor. So grain would help or butchering after the good feed season. 🤷‍♂️ Makes sense. Unfortunately I did both wrong this time. No grain and wintered beef. Learn something new everyday. 

[Sedgehammer]

My own experience is that dry hay put up at the same time as baleage won't produce milk

Probably true, locally hay is generally used as a supplement to get dairy cow and beef cattle through the winter, when they aren't milking. They will still be getting grass, but grass growth is slow for the next few months, so that gets rationed, and supplemented with hay (or baleage) to keep them going. Given the choice, they do prefer the baleage, and I think you are right about it feeding them better, Maybe more digestible?

Likewise for beef, no one expects them to put on much weight over Winter. You don't want to be losing weight, but you can't expect a lot of gain if food is rationed.

They mainly prefer baleage due to it being wet, plus it's softer. It's not a higher quality if put up the same time as dry hay. Actually it's not as good, as cows sort out the poorer grass in the hay

On your last paragraph. Cattle for beef must maintain daily energy levels or if they go negative it negatively affects tenderness and can be quiet severely

[Southside]

So sugars are actually consumed in the drying process of hay, that's why you end up with less energy in dry hay vs baleage, if you run forage tests. Protein may be similar when it comes to legumes like Alfalfa, but TDN or Total Digestible Nutrients will be lower and it's those extra carbs that make milk or fat. 

Dry hay will keep dry cows in condition, but alone you won't get good gain.

[GAB]

Can balage be fed in the glaciated north when the temperature is -40 or lower?
GAB

[chevytaHOE5674]

It can be fed but it can freeze expecially on the outside. Getting the net wrap off under the plastic can be a pain.

I have fed thousands of dry hay bales and balage bales. I've baled the same field 50/50 dry and wet then fed it to groups of cattle running them across the scales often. I've seen Zero statistical difference in their rate of gain between the two. This is strictly beef cattle, dairy animals are different and have much higher nutritional requirements. My replacement heifers are chosen from cows that maintain and grow the best when given some rather lousy forage. I want cows that can maintain condition and produce a healthy calf when faced with 7 months of snow, -40°, and unimproved native grass pastures.

[Southside]

You are so right, I have one group of dry cows and young bulls on late, dry, crabgrass hay right now and they all look great. If those were my cows in milk they would look like death and be producing milk powder at best. 

[Ianab]

And there's everything from angus shorthorn Hereford jersey and sure lots of cross breeding in those I've ate. I had a dairy friend that milked Holstein and that was some of the sweetest tasting burger I've ate. But they get good feed and lots and lots of corn based feed.

All the McDonalds meat patties in this part of the World are "retired" (mostly holstein) dairy cows. As they are older, and generally pretty lean when they are culled at the end of the milking season, they will never make prime cuts, but perfectly good lean beef for hamburgers. Of course once McDs have dealt to it, it could be pretty much anything in there, and no one would know. :D 
There was a news article a few weeks back about some budget supermarkets selling "cheap" whole beef fillets. What was the catch? As far as anyone could work out they were from dairy cows, and either didn't make export grade, or shipping problems meant they were sold cheap locally. Consensus was they weren't top quality, but they were whole beef fillets (as described), and at least the price was sensible. Nothing a good marinate couldn't fix anyway. 
The common "beef" raised here is Holstein X, cows the dairy farmer doesn't want to breed are run with a well bred Angus or Hereford bull (or Artificial Ins). That gives calves that are either black Angus looking, or white headed (either black or red), that will all grow into decent beef. So the unwanted calves are saleable at a week old for beef farmers to rear and fatten up. Means the beef farmers don't have to run the beef cows, just to get the calves to rear each spring. So probably 2X the number of finished heifers / steers out the gate per year. You can also fatten Holstein steers for beef, but they are tall lanky things after 18 months, need 2 1/2 years to stop growing and fatten up. They are big boys by that time. An 18 month holstein X angus grass fed heifer is about the best beef you can get IMO. 

[SwampDonkey]

Anyone I knew around here back in the day, anything baled was timothy and clover/alfalfa mix. And there is a big difference in grass feed when cut young versus old dry stuff the seeds are falling off. You get higher fibre in that old stuff and not that great. The best was cut in June up here. We never baled weeds and trash. Timothy hay promotes good bowel health and studies show it is the best for pregnant and lactating cows. And too much clover will give cows the runs. My firewood guy that I used to buy from said they always had a tough time getting good feed from old run out weedy fields.

Don't count me as any expert, I only know what was done and have been told by folks I grew up with. Anything I've checked into from online literature confirms my limited knowledge.

[JD Guy]

When I was making hay always tried to cut just prior to the grass going into the "boot" stage. The time before when the seed head is formed. This produces the best highest quality in my experience. Of course timing is everything in all farming and if you got long periods of rain then your best laid plans on cutting before boot stage went out the window! Sold hay primarily to horse people and they are generally very particular about the hay. Our predominant grasses are fescue, rye, bermuda and orchard grass as we don't have the soil conditions or cooler weather for successful fields of alfalfa or clover. Baled large rounds and small square but gave it up about 5 years ago.

One of our sons raises all grass fed and his quality of meat is quite good, but I always wondered if there would be a difference if it was finished off on grain for about 90 days?