FAQs

Where is Banbury Grassslands?
We are located on 80 acres west of Kitchener-Waterloo in southwestern Ontario.

How are your cattle processed?
Our cattle are processed at one of two, family-owned, government inspected facilities. Our beef is butchered by hand by conscientious butchers.

Are your cattle ever fed grain?
No, our cattle are grass fed and grass finished.

Is your grass fed beef organic?
Our beef is not certified organic. However, our cattle eat nothing but 100% forage. This includes grass and/or legumes from pasture during the growing season and stored forage during the winter.

What is the difference between grass-fed beef and organic beef?
A lot of organic beef is finished with organic grains, not grass. To get the highest nutrient content from your beef, it needs to be 100% grass fed from weaning to finishing. Since grain has fewer omega–3 fatty acids and vitamin E than grass (Garton), grain-fed animals have fewer of these important nutrients in their meat and dairy products. Grain-feeding also interferes with the creation of CLA (Dhiman).

What is CLAs and its link to grass-fed beef?
CLA is an acronym for conjugated linoleic acid. It’s a good, naturally occurring trans-fat. The special digestive systems of grass-fed ruminants produce CLA.  Some studies suggest that pasture feeding leads to dairy CLA levels 3-5 times that of grain-fed cattle (http://www.adsa.org/jointabs/iaafs108.pdf).

Is your product free range?
Yes, our cattle are never confined to a feedlot; they spend all of their happy lives with access to pasture.

Do you use hormones or antibiotics?
No, we do not use any antibiotics, hormones, growth implants, animal by-products, or steroids.

What does your beef taste like?
Our beef has a distinct “pure” taste. It is different than grain fed; we think it tastes better.

Is grass fed beef tougher than grain fed beef?
No, but our beef is leaner and needs to be cooked at a lower temperature and the internal temperature of the meat should be lower than grain-fed beef.

Is your beef lower in calories and saturated fat than grain fed beef?
Studies show that grass-fed beef is lower in calories and saturated fat than grain-fed beef.

Do you finish your grass-fed beef with corn?
No, we do not finish our grass-fed beef with corn or grain as studies show that the health benefits of 100% grass-fed beef are greater. The reason why some farmers finish with corn is to increase the fat content and therefore marbling to contribute to tenderness and flavor. Instead, we have concentrated on finding the right genetic mix to naturally achieve the desired tenderness and flavor.

Resources
Garton, G. A.. “Fatty Acid Composition of the Lipids of Pasture Grasses.” Nature 187(4736): 511-12.
Dhiman, T. R., G. R. Anand, et al. (1999). “Conjugated linoleic acid content of milk from cows fed different diets.” J Dairy Sci 82(10): 2146-56.