What are the differences between grass-fed, grass-fed grain-finished, and grain-fed grass-finished animals? What is a grass, a grain, a grain by-product in terms of the grass-fed claim? What are the standards? Are there standards? Can grass-fed animals get a "little" grain, occasional range cubes, or protein supplements? These are all questions that are misunderstood by consumers and producers alike. All ruminants, including bison, eat grass, after all. It's what they do, and what they have done for centuries. So aren't all ruminants and bison "grass-fed"? For this reason, the term has become somewhat meaningless, cryptic, and possibly even deceitful.

In 2016, the US Department of Agriculture dropped its official definition of "grass-fed" claiming that it doesn't have the authority to define and determine whether specific grass-fed claims that companies make on their packaging are "truthful and not misleading." That means that, while the USDA still evaluates and approves grass-fed claims, the government no longer has an official definition of the term "grass-fed," which means the phrase is open to interpretation. The American Grassfed Association, an organization that originally helped USDA develop its official grass-fed definitions and standards suggested that "... grass-fed will become just another feel-good marketing ploy used by the major meat-packers to dupe consumers into buying mass-produced, grain-fed, feedlot meat" and suggested that the USDA's withdrawal of the grass-fed marketing claims was a result of "pressure from big cattle producers"

USDA is not going to argue with a National big chain store or operation about their grass-fed claims. So, even if the label says 100% grass-fed doesn't mean it really is, at least within recognized standards. Many commercial companies have their own standards, that may or may not be published, which may or may not coincide with industry recognized standards or contain loopholes to widen the availability of grass-fed animals. Others offer incentives for grass-fed animals that promote dishonesty.

Do you think that USDA questions Walmart, Kroger, Whole Foods, Costco, Sam's Club, Wild Pastures, Omaha Steaks, Force of Nature, etc. regarding their grass-fed claims? That does not mean that their meat is not grass-fed only that we do not know their definition or their standards.

False claims are not necessarily intentionally dishonest.

As noted above, there is a great deal of confusion and misunderstanding of what constitutes a grass-fed animal by both the producer and the consumer. A recent auction selling 100% grass-fed bison stated in description "Animals are not fed any grain, only hay in the winter, with mineral and salt supplements offered free-choice all year. Animals also have access to 30% protein lick tubs". A "protein lick tub" is composed of grain by-products with mallasses and at 30% the tub contains urea. These animals are not grass-fed under any recognized certification program. Speaking with grass-fed operations that sell 100% grass-fed bison I have told me that:

• "Grass-fed simply means we do not feed any grain.";
• "Feeding grain by-products is not the same as feeding grain";
• "I only feed my animals a little bit of grain to keep our animals accustomed to us and to move them into different areas";
• "I only supplement my grass-fed animals with protein tubs";
• "We do provide some supplements in addition to hay and pasture";
• "It is okay to feed grain if it is part of the whole plant";
• "Our grass-fed animals get fat from grazing on wheat and corn fields which are grasses";
• "Corn is a grass";
• "In the GTSS catalog, an animal description stated "100% Grass-Fed supplemented with grain"
• Any many more

Everything is up to the interpretation of the farmer, rancher, and corporation and what they think is grass-fed irrespective of what USDA allows on their label.

I have tried to purchase grass-fed 2-yr old bison bulls or heifers in the past to supplement our meat or whole animal demand and market to no avail. None have met the criteria of truly 100% grass-fed or by certified grass-fed standards. It is not dishonesty as they admit to what they feed - it is just a misunderstanding of what gras-fed is and means.

What are the Differences?

Understanding the differences between all the different grass-fed and grain-fed claims is important to understand exactly what you are paying for and why there are price differences. All apples are not the same and neither are bison.

By recognized stanadrds, there is only grass-fed. There is no 100% grass-fed, no grass-fed and grass-finished, etc. All the other terms and phrases are simply used to add clarity and or confusion to what the terms really mean

Pasture Raised

This simply means they are raised on pasture; there is no strict definition. Whether they are raised completely on pasture or are sometimes removed from pasture and placed in paddocks or on concrete (for finishing or some other reason) would be up to the person making the claim. There is generally no defined length of time the animal is, or has been, on pasture and the word "always" can be subjective, leaving off prefixes and suffixes.

Grass Fed

By certified grassfed standards, the diet of grassfed animals must be acquired solely from grass and forage (including grass, legumes, brassica, and browse) throughout the animals' life, except for milk consumed prior to weaning. They are never fed grain or any grain by-products for their entire lives and exposure to grain or a grain by-products, even by accident, precludes the animal being marketed as grass-fed. In addition to grain and its by-products, certified grass-fed animals are specifically excluded from injesting dry harvested legumes, corn/maize, soya, grain residues, sprouted grains, molasses, all fruits including apples, cottonseal meal, citrus pulp, beet pulp, almond hulls or almond hull pellets, corn cobs, cottonseed hulls or cottonseed hull pellets or cubes, cotton gin trash, oat hulls or oat hull pellets or cubes, peanut hulls or peanut hull pellets or cubes, rice hulls or rice hull pellets or cubes, soybean hulls or soybean hull pellets or cubes, or any hay containing any of these components. Consumption of any of these feeds precludes animals from beig marketed as grass-fed. Acceptable supplemental pellets allowed are limited to alfalfa pellets or cubes, forage cubes, grass cubes or pellets. Quite simply, if it is not a grass or forage, it cannot be fed to any grass-fed animal at any time of its life.

However, outside the certified grass-fed standard, grass-fed may mean almost anything from simply feeding the animal grass. It does not necessarily mean the animal is fed exclusively grass, the quality of the grass, and whether the animals are fed supplemental grains or grain byproducts. It also does not define how long the animal has been fed grass. A skinny old cow or bull fed moldy poor quality hay would be grass-fed. Thus, simply grass-fed does not necessarily mean what is implied and/or the quality of the meat. Often times animals are grass-fed, but grain-finished. There are also now operations (particularly in the beef industry), that feed "grass" within a feedlot system as opposed to out in pasture. Other than certified, the definition of grass-fed is left to the producer.

Grass Fed does not simply mean that the animals are not fed grain Common ingredients used in grain-free diets to increase the feed's calorie level include wheat middlings; fermentable fibers, such as sugar beet pulp and soy bean hulls; and fat sources such as rice bran and vegetable oil.

100% Grass-Fed

There really is no such thing as 100% grass-fed. An animal is either grass-fed or is not. Thsi is As above, this simply means that the animal was been fed 100% grass or other forage (including grass, legumes, brassica, and browse) all of the time, but does not define how long, the quality of the feed, and/or whether "close-to" 100% counts as 100%. The feeding of grain during increment weather is often considered acceptable and within the 100% parameters, even within USDA parameters.

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Certified Grass-Fed

This is the absolute strictest of the grass-fed classifications and has a strict set of regulations, standards, and definition. A Certified Grass fed animal is fed exclusively forage (grass, legumes, brassica, or browse) from birth to death, excluding the consumption of milk prior to weaning. In addition, the mother of the calf cannot be fed anything other than forage during anytime the calf is nursing. Should supplemental feeding be necessary during increment weather or other conditions, small defined amounts of approved supplements may be fed but these supplement must be consistent with the characteristics of forage (e.g., alfalfa pellets) and cannot contain any grains. Ozark Valley Bison Ranch is Certified Grassfed by A Greener World (AGW), the only certification and logo in the U.S. and Canada that guarantees food products come from animals fed a 100 percent grass and forage diet, raised outdoors on pasture or range and managed according to the highest welfare and environmental standards on an independent farm.

Grass-Finished

As noted above, feeding grass does not necessarily mean what the wording implies and/or what is perceived. An old cow fed poor quality moldy hay would be grass-fed, but the meat would be tough, nutritionally poor, and poor bitter taste. Grass finishing on the other hand generally means that animals are finished on fresh young spring-summer pasture grasses as opposed to grain-finishing. As Animal Welfare Approved our bison are always on pasture and allowed to graze even during the winter. They are never enclosed in paddocks and always have access to grass.

Our Bison

Our bison are Animal Welfare Approved and Certified Grass-Fed with annual on-farm audits to insure compliance. Our animals are never allowed to be placed in paddocks and must be on pasture 24/7, 365 days a year, thus providing native edible grasses year round (supplemented with hay during the winter). At the end of February, the bison are moved onto sacrificial pastures, sacrificial in the sense that the bison are expected to destroy the pastures. This is done to allow the other pastures to be fertilized and allowed to grow during the early spring months. When the pasture grass is approximately 6-10 inches high the bison are released back into the other pastures and efforts are made to rejuvenate the sacrificial pastures.

The bison will fatten up and finish on this luxurious and nutritious green pasture grasses. This is grass-finishing - having the animals put on their final growth and weight on fresh green grass rather than on grain in a feedlot. It is the grass finishing that gives the meat that great flavor and tenderness that can only be achieved by grass finishing.

It is also the reason we only process animals in late summer or very early fall. Logic will tell you that you cannot process animals during the winter or spring and have them grass finished.

Why the difference in cost?

Grass-fed meat is almost double the cost of grain fed animals for several legitimate reasons beyond public demand. As noted above, there is a finite time when animals can actually be processed and all animals must go to slaughter irrespective of weight or when they were born. Grass fed and finished bison have a much lower Average Daily Weight Gain (ADG) than grain-fed animals so slaughter weights will be lower, hence the cost per pound of meat higher. Maintaining and managing quality pasture is far more expensive than feeding a few bags of grain byproducts. The end result is a much higher cost to produce a pound of grass-fed bison (or beef for that matter). See additional information on cost