Why Indiana Is Such a Good Place to Raise Grass-Fed Beef

Here we are in the middle of September at Tyner Pond Farm, and our cattle are still putting their heads down into bright green grass.

That may not seem remarkable until you think about what grass-fed beef actually is.

Our cattle never receive grain. Everything they build—muscle, fat and eventually the beef on our customers’ tables—comes from forage. So where that forage grows matters enormously.

And after 16 years of raising 100% grass-fed beef in east-central Indiana, I have come to believe this is an unusually good place to do it.

Grass-Fed Beef Begins With Grass

When people talk about grass-fed beef, the conversation often starts with the cattle.

We think it should start with the pasture.

Most of the perennial grasses in our grazing system are cool-season plants. These grasses generally grow best when air temperatures are somewhere around 60°F to 80°F and moisture is adequate. Once temperatures remain above that range, growth can slow dramatically during what forage specialists call the summer slump.

That makes spring and fall especially important.

And those shoulder seasons are one of Indiana’s great advantages.

Indiana Has Long Spring and Fall Growing Seasons

Much of America’s traditional cattle country is farther west and south, where heat and limited rainfall can place very different constraints on pasture.

East-central Indiana has a different climate.

Our summers certainly get hot, but spring arrives early enough to give us a long period of cool-season forage growth before summer. Then, as temperatures begin falling again toward the end of August and into September, those same pastures can start growing strongly again.

Purdue Extension specifically notes that cool-season grasses begin growing well again in late summer and fall, particularly when moisture is available.

September illustrates the point well. Indianapolis climate normals show an average September high of about 78°F and an average low around 57°F—almost exactly the kind of weather cool-season forage likes. October remains relatively mild as well, with a normal average high around 66°F.

That is why a photograph of a cow eating lush green grass in the middle of September is not unusual here.

It is part of the advantage of this place.

More Than 40 Inches of Rainfall Matters Too

Temperature alone does not grow grass.

You also need water.

Central Indiana averages about 43.6 inches of precipitation per year, based on the current 1991–2020 climate normals for Indianapolis.

That rainfall, combined with our soils and long spring and fall seasons, gives us the opportunity to grow a tremendous amount of forage over the course of a year.

Of course, no two years are the same. We experience dry periods, excessive rain and occasional drought just like every farmer.

But the underlying climate gives us an excellent foundation for pasture-based agriculture.

Grazing Does Not Have to End When Grass Stops Growing

There is another important distinction between growing grass and grazing grass.

Eventually temperatures fall enough that active pasture growth slows or stops. That does not necessarily mean the cattle immediately switch to hay.

One of the tools we use is stockpiling—allowing forage grown in late summer and fall to remain standing so the cattle can harvest it later.

Purdue describes stockpiling specifically as a way to extend Indiana’s grazing season into late fall and winter. Tall fescue is especially useful because it holds its nutritional value remarkably well after the growing season ends.

We certainly feed hay when conditions require it. There is nothing wrong with good hay.

But our preference is to let cattle harvest forage themselves for as much of the year as the land and weather will responsibly allow.

Why Place Matters for Grass-Fed Beef

This is where grass-fed beef becomes very different from a commodity.

A label can tell you that cattle ate grass.

It cannot tell you what kind of place produced that grass.

Was there adequate rainfall? How long was the grazing season? What plants were available? How were the pastures managed? How much time did the cattle spend harvesting standing forage rather than relying on stored feed?

Those things vary enormously from farm to farm and region to region.

The beef we raise at Tyner Pond Farm comes from this particular place: east-central Indiana, with its rainfall, soils, long springs and long falls.

Our job is to work with those conditions rather than try to make every year or every pasture identical.

Indiana Grass-Fed Beef Reflects Its Place

I have started thinking about grass-fed beef a little like wine.

Wine reflects a vineyard, a climate and a particular growing season. I think truly grass-fed beef can reflect its place in much the same way.

The cattle are part of that story, but so are the soil, rainfall, temperature and plants beneath their feet.

Here in September, when a cow can still bury her nose in green grass and take another mouthful directly from the pasture, you can see that relationship pretty clearly.

That is what we mean when we say:

Good food begins with a place.

And east-central Indiana is a very good place to raise grass-fed beef.