Where does our 100% Grass-Fed Beef come from? Where the green grass grows, year-round!
Meridian Grass-Fed Beef
Our Free Range, Grass-Fed Beef is 100% Grass-Fed and Grass-Finished, meaning it is beef that comes from cattle that eat grass – or other green forage – while grazing in open pastures their entire life.
These beef cattle are never confined to feeding paddocks, or fed corn or grain. All they eat, is fresh, green and growing out of the ground – the way nature intended.
Why New Zealand?
Our Free Range 100% Grass-Fed Beef is raised on the lush green pastures of New Zealand.
Here’s why:
Locally, and in the rest of North America, raising grass-fed beef cattle is a challenging endeavour most months of the year. Due to conditions of our environment, grass typically only grows 5 months of the year, and the growth rate can diminish significantly in the later part of the growing season. This makes raising 100% grass-fed beef cattle through the cold months costly when they must be fed hay and silage.
During the winter, the animals use more of their energy keeping their bodies warm and therefore gain less weight. This takes them longer to reach market weight. As it is, raising grass-fed beef cattle in the best of conditions takes 50% longer than raising grain-fed beef cattle, which reasserts that raising grass-fed beef in our part of the world is an expensive enterprise.
Because of the adversities involved in raising grass-fed beef cattle in our climate, the vast majority of locally raised beef cattle is grain-fed and the supply of fresh, grass-fed beef that is available in the local market is very limited, and often subject to availability.
Grass Is the Only Way in New Zealand
We have been procuring our Free Range 100% Grass-Fed Beef from New Zealand since 1996. Over the last several years we have spent time visiting New Zealand and forming stronger relationships with the farms and stewards who cooperate to provide us with an exclusive supply of Free Range 100% Grass-Fed Beef of exceptionally high standard.
Ask any of our farmers who raise our beef cattle why they choose to feed their animals grass, and they will tell you there’s no other way!
In New Zealand, grass-feeding beef cattle is just as common as grain-feeding in North America. Grass grows 10 months of the year In New Zealand’s temperate climate making it an ideal renewable energy source for feed, while allowing us to purchase grass-fed beef year-round.
In a way, New Zealand beef cattle farmers are grass farmers, keeping their grassy pastures tall, green and nutrient rich is essential to the rearing of their animals.
High Animal Welfare Standards
New Zealand has a well-deserved reputation for producing some of the world’s finest beef and upholding some of the highest global standards for livestock animal welfare, setting the bar higher for other nations; even Canada.
Raising beef cattle Free Range in open pasture their entire life allows them to behave and socialize naturally and live in a stress-free peaceful environment. By contrast, cattle transferred to feed lots or paddocks can experience stress from crowded conditions, alternative diets, and travel to their temporary facility.
Go Where the Grass is Greener
To find the best source of Free Range 100% Grass-Fed Beef in the world, one needs to go where the grass grows green most often, and where old fashion style cattle farming and husbandry practices haven’t changed for generations.
We’ve found that source and are proud to represent what we believe to be the finest 100% Grass-Fed Beef available year-round, raised without added growth hormones or supplements, Free Range on open lush pasture by people who care.
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