A while back, my friend Vicky Fair told me she didn’t really care for grass-fed beef.

Vicky grows produce here in Central Indiana, so I gave her a little grief about it.

Not because I thought she was wrong. If she had eaten grass-fed beef she didn’t enjoy, then she didn’t enjoy it. There was nothing for me to argue with.

What struck me was the idea that one experience with grass-fed beef could tell you very much about grass-fed beef as a whole.

Then one evening I was cutting up a couple of tomatoes from Vicky’s farm, and I realized I had the perfect way to explain what I meant.

Look at the two tomatoes in the picture.

Both came from the same local farm. Both were raised by Vicky. Both are unquestionably tomatoes. Yet when you cut them open, they barely look like the same food. Their flesh is different. Their seed cavities are different. Their moisture and texture are different. And when you eat them, their flavor is different too.

Vicky would never tell you that because both are tomatoes, they should taste the same.

She knows better.

That is what growing food teaches you.

Grass-Fed Beef Has Just as Much Variation

After 16 years of raising cattle, I think one of the biggest misunderstandings about grass-fed beef is that people expect it to be a standardized product.

It isn't.

Our cattle eat what grows here in Central Indiana, and what grows here is constantly changing. Spring pasture is different from August pasture. A wet year is different from a dry year. One paddock may contain a lot of clover while the next contains mature grasses, broadleaf plants, and seed heads.

Even within the same farm, no two grazing seasons are exactly alike.

Then add the cattle themselves.

We have spent years developing a herd that works in our particular system. We want smaller-framed cattle that mature well on forage and can walk into a diverse pasture and make use of what is there. Around here, we joke that we want cattle that “eat like goats.” We mean animals that are curious grazers rather than cattle waiting for one particular grass to show up in front of them.

Those genetics matter to the finished beef.

So does the age of the animal. So does how well it was finished. So does the condition of the pasture during those final months. So does handling, harvest, dry aging, cutting, freezing, and eventually how somebody cooks it.

There are a lot of decisions between a calf being born and a steak reaching your plate.

The words 100% grass-fed describe an important part of what we do, but they cannot possibly describe all of it.

Farming Has Made Me More Comfortable With Variation

I think farmers understand this more easily because we see variation every day.

We don't expect every calf to grow exactly the same way. We don't expect every paddock to produce exactly the same forage. We don't expect rainfall to arrive on schedule or plants to mature on the same date every year.

We manage within that variation.

In fact, much of what we've learned about regenerative grazing has been about becoming more comfortable with it.

Years ago, I might have looked at a pasture and paid more attention to which particular species were growing there. Today, I'm much more interested in whether we have enough forage density, whether the soil is protected, whether the cattle are getting what they need, and whether the pasture will have enough time to recover before we return.

We aren't trying to manufacture identical grass.

It would be strange to expect identical beef to come out the other end.

That doesn't mean quality doesn't matter. Quite the opposite. It means quality has to be managed rather than assumed from a label.

One Grass-Fed Steak Isn't All Grass-Fed Beef

So when someone tells me, “I tried grass-fed beef and didn't like it,” my response isn't that they're wrong.

My response is that they tried somebody's grass-fed beef.

Maybe the animal wasn't well finished. Maybe the genetics weren't well suited to an all-forage diet. Maybe the beef was extremely lean. Maybe the processing wasn't particularly good. Maybe the person cooking it treated it exactly like heavily marbled grain-finished beef and ended up overcooking it.

Or maybe it was perfectly good beef and simply wasn't to their taste.

All of those possibilities exist.

But saying you don't like grass-fed beef after one experience still strikes me as a little like eating one tomato and deciding you don't like tomatoes.

There is simply too much variation for the category alone to tell you much.

A better question is where it came from.

This Is Why We Want You to Know Our Farm

This is also why we spend so much time showing you the cattle, the pasture, the people doing the work, and even the mistakes we make along the way.

We don't want Tyner Pond Farm beef to be anonymous.

We want you to understand why we chose South Poll genetics. We want you to see the cattle moving through diverse Central Indiana pasture. We want you to know that they remain on forage their entire lives and that we finish them when our pastures are at their best rather than trying to push them through a production schedule that doesn't fit the land.

We want you to know our butcher and understand why processing matters. We want you to know why we pay attention to soil, biodiversity, grazing recovery, and low-stress handling.

Those details are what give 100% grass-fed beef meaning.

Vicky's tomatoes made that easier for me to explain.

Two tomatoes from the same farm can be remarkably different, and nobody finds that surprising. We understand that a tomato reflects its variety, its growing conditions, its maturity, and the farmer who raised it.

I think meat deserves the same understanding.

So the next time someone tells me they don't like grass-fed beef, I may just show them a picture of Vicky's tomatoes.

Then I'll ask a different question:

Whose grass-fed beef did you try?

Good food begins with a place.

FAQs

Why does grass-fed beef taste different?

Grass-fed beef can vary because cattle are eating forage produced by a particular farm and season. Cattle genetics, pasture quality, rainfall, plant maturity, the age and condition of the animal, grazing management, processing, aging, and cooking can all influence the finished beef.

Does all grass-fed beef taste the same?

No. “Grass-fed” tells you something important about an animal’s diet, but it does not tell you the breed, genetics, quality of the pasture, how well the animal was finished, its age at harvest, or how the beef was processed. Two farms can both produce grass-fed beef that tastes quite different.

Why can one farm’s grass-fed beef taste different from another farm’s?

Each farm has different soil, rainfall, forage, cattle genetics, grazing practices, and finishing conditions. Processing and aging can add even more variation. The farm behind the beef matters just as the farm and variety matter when comparing tomatoes.

Does cattle genetics affect grass-fed beef quality?

Yes. Different cattle mature and finish differently on forage. At Tyner Pond Farm, we have spent years selecting cattle that are well suited to our Central Indiana pasture system and can thrive on a diverse forage diet.

Does the season affect grass-fed beef?

It can. Forage changes throughout the growing season as temperature, rainfall, plant maturity, and pasture conditions change. Those differences affect what grazing cattle are eating and how they finish.

Is grass-fed beef always very lean?

Not necessarily. Grass-fed cattle can develop good fat cover and marbling when genetics, forage availability, maturity, and finishing conditions are well matched. The term “grass-fed” alone does not tell you how well an animal was finished.

Why does knowing the farm matter when buying grass-fed beef?

Knowing the farm gives meaning to the label. You can learn about the cattle genetics, pasture, grazing practices, animal husbandry, finishing, and processing behind the beef instead of relying only on the words “grass-fed.”

What does “100% grass-fed” mean at Tyner Pond Farm?

At Tyner Pond Farm, our cattle are raised on forage rather than grain. But we believe the more important story includes the land, cattle genetics, grazing management, animal husbandry, and processing that together determine the quality of the finished beef.