Grass-fed Beef in East Texas and Shreveport

We sell really grass-fed beef by the cut in individual packages, or cut and wrapped in bulk at a discount. Our beef is 100% grass-fed and grass-finished and available throughout the East Texas (Longview, Tyler, Marshall, Jefferson) and North Louisiana (Shreveport, Bossier) areas. Visit our new online store to check out what’s in stock and to place your order!

What does Grass-fed Beef Mean at Shady Grove Ranch?

Buyer Beware

Unfortunately, there is TONS of green-washing in the grass-fed beef industry these days, from feedlot situations and antibiotic abuse to undisclosed importing of beef from as far away as Australia! The USDA no longer upholds any standards for use of the term “grass-fed,” and it is now considered merely a marketing term, internally defined by the company using it. On top of that, the Country of Origin Labeling laws were revoked in 2015, and now, even if meat is imported, so long as it is repackaged in a facility on US soil, it can be labeled “Product of USA.” These backward steps have led to rampant abuse of customer trust.

Shady Grove Ranch Standards

First and foremost, we believe in not tricking the customer. You need to know how your food is raised so you can decide if you want to support that type of food production. But it takes some education, and we are happy to help you learn about how food ought to be raised. We offer farm tours as an opportunity to ask questions, see the animals and visit the fields where they grow, and learn about why we do things the way we do, and what it means for your health and happiness.

Our beef is 100% grass-fed and grass-finished. We never feed grain concentrates EVER. There are no protein tubs or licks, no range cubes, no creep feeders. The cows eat grass growing in the field (which includes all sorts of legumes, herbs, forbs and true grasses), and hay cut from such grass. Some producers bend the rules, citing that soybeans are just a legume and corn is just a grass, so it follows that it must be legitimate to feed cows grain in a grass-fed operation.

It is true that a grazing cow will consume mature seed heads, but we believe they should also consume the rest of the plant in order to have a balanced, natural whole-plant diet that helps them thrive in the same way the buffalo did on the American prairie. Think of it as a “salad bar.” It’s not just olives and croutons. It’s greens and lettuces and herbs and a whole host of variety of plants. 

What distinguishes us from organic beef?

Many consumers assume that “organic beef” is the gold standard. However, organic standards for beef allow the last 120 days of the finishing period to include an organic corn feedlot, and cattle are basically exempt from the requirement to get so much percent of their diet from grazing. Organic beef also falls prey to the same loopholes as conventional when it comes to imported meats. Unless you check with the company, you can’t know whether that beef was actually produced in the USA.

Medications

A major distinction between us and organic is in the use of medications. Under organic standards, a cow can never be medicated for any reason, or else it must be completely removed from the program, presumably to eliminate abuse of the standard. (Certain medications are routinely used in conventional beef feedlots to promote rapid growth in spite of filthy, stressful living conditions. In fact, most of the antibiotics produced in the US are fed to livestock for subtherapeutic use!)

This “zero tolerance” policy may be ok for very large organic producers that can funnel those animals into the commodity market and still make a profit. But for very small producers like ourselves, it means taking a perfectly good, ideal genetics animal with an injury and selling it at a salebarn where it ultimately ends up at a feedlot, to end its life in misery under a terrible food production system. It’s a dirty little secret in an industry with a much-coveted name.

We believe there is an appropriate place for live-saving medicines, coupled with a strong commitment to continual husbandry improvement. Translation: If a cow gets tangled up in barbed wire, or has a retained placenta, or gets bit by a water moccasin, we will intervene to help it heal, while actively evaluating the situation to see if there is something we need to change about our management that will prevent that particular incident from happening again. 

It’s just like how we manage our own human health: We strive to maintain good health through healthy living, but there will be injuries and mishaps sometimes, and we are grateful for the medications that are available to restore us to health in those acute situations where full healing on our own is not likely. We are NOT ok with chronic medication to mask the effects of an unhealthy lifestyle, in ourselves OR in our livestock. Instead of asking, “What drug do we need to treat X disease?” We ask, “How can we change our management to prevent X disease?”

That said, the times we have had to use medications for our cattle in the life of our farm are fewer than a dozen, TOTAL! That’s pretty amazing considering the vast number of cows we have and how long we’ve been doing this. All the incidents so far have been with breeding animals (i.e. not an animal intended for immediate slaughter), but we employ a 1-year waiting period, should we ever have an injury situation with a for-slaughter animal.

Instead of using drugs as a crutch, we choose animals that thrive in our wild Texas weather swings without grains, concentrates, vermicides, etc. We also strive to manage our pastures well, rotating and focusing on natural soil building. By starting with healthy animals that are genetically well-suited to a grass-only operation, then carefully managing them and their environment to keep them healthy, our animals do quite well without industry shortcuts like grains and medications.

 

How Does Our Grass-fed Beef Taste?

Our grass-fed beef is tender, flavorful, and not too lean. We choose animals that are bred to produce superior beef on forage alone, including breeds such as Devon, Limousin, Angus, and South Poll. No tough, gamey steaks from our cows! Only versatile, delicious cuts to nourish your family.

Try a single package of ground beef, a variety sampler, or order a quarter cow! We started farming because we needed excellent quality food for our own family–now we are able to serve yours. Please let us know what you are looking for and we will try to accommodate you. We keep our grass-fed beef in stock year-round. All packages are pre-weighed and frozen. Give us a call to schedule a farm visit to pick up your grass-fed beef today!

Is Your Grass-fed Beef Super Lean?

Please note! Many of our customers report having previous experiences with other grass-fed beef producers that delivered an extremely lean product. This is not the case with our beef! We will never process a skinny animal.

We believe that many of the critical nutrients produced only in a naturally-raised animal are found in the fat. We also believe the fat not only makes the meat taste better, but it fills hungry tummies faster and helps your body digest protein more effectively. The fat is not greasy, grayish, and tasteless like conventional products. It is rich, flavorful, and adds a golden hue to the dish.

If you prefer very lean beef, we may not be what you are looking for, but we encourage you to do your research and learn why animal fat can be great for you!