I finish my angus beef cattle in two ways - solely on grass or on 'granola', which is a mixture of grass and grains and corn. The meat takes on differing flavor profiles and fat contents depending on which method I use.

For my 'granola' or 'grain' fed, the cattle during their finish period of around 120-150 days eat a high protein diet of corn, distiller's grain, hay and a mineral supplement. This finish period gives the beef a rich, buttery taste and wonderful tenderness.

I don't give antibiotics or growth hormones for the entire life of the cattle. Here's why.

During the finish period the cattle are not given antibiotics either directly (via an injection) or indirectly (in their feed). It's not commonly known but most cattle finishing operations put a low level of antibiotics into the daily feed ration as a preventive measure for sickness. Though I read that mainstream science says this practice is without harm to either the cattle or the people who eat the meat, my feeling is with antibiotic resistance appearing to be on the rise, it just makes more sense not to put antibiotics in the feed everyday. It takes different and arguably better livestock management skills to finish without this low level of antibiotics in the feed but I think people would rather have beef raised this way.

I want to also stress that during this finish period I don't use growth hormones. It is more expensive to finish cattle this way because the 'conversion factor', the number of pounds the cattle gain for a given amount of feed, is lower. The cattle gain less weight per pound of feed which means it takes more feed to fully grow the animal. Again, there is lots of science and written materials that say growth hormones fed to cattle have no negative affect on us, but with the human puberty age decreasing, I just think food, whether animal or vegetable, raised without growth stimulants is better.

I love my grain finished beef. I'm very confident you will as well.

I don't know who I was talking to in this photo but I'm off my horse so I'm either done, bucked-down or it's my turn to open the gate.

GRAIN FED NATURAL ANGUS