Grass vs Grain Finished beef

I had taken leave from work and as I often do every 2nd month I went to check on our operations and how the boys are doing at the farm. In my previous visit I had met Mr Muphonda who is the manager at Art Farm which is located on the other side of Harare drive opposite Mount Pleasant. If there is a thing I enjoy most its talking, interacting and learning from fellow farmers young and old alike.

Mr Muponda is one such person and the previous time he and his drivers had helped fine tune and test run my baler. It is then that I noticed a beautiful herd of around 500 steers roaming their harvested fields. When I went back this time around, I decided to go and check on him and the progress on his herd. This time around I had the pleasure of taking my dad along and we had a lazy cycle into the farm which isn’t that far from home.

Upon arrival I saw from a little distance, amongst the vast grey dry pastures and crop fields where patches of green dotted around the farm. These were 2ha plots of irrigated pastures which where used to finish their steers and they had 8 of these pastures.

They have a system whereby they choose the best 65-70 steers to go into what them term a leading herd and this goes into the plot first. It is then followed by another herd of 30-35 herd which enters a paddock when the leading herd leaves, after 7 days, for the next one. The systems goes on with the 2 groups of steers following each other. When the following herd leaves the plot, they apply AN and irrigate the kikuyu pastures such that by the time the leading herd comes back to that plot the grass would have rejuvenated already. This whole cycle goes on for approx. 90 days. They used to have a target average finishing weight of 600kg however due to the market dictates they now have a target weight of between 400-450kg. During this rotational grazing period animals are supplemented with what they term a pasture supplement which is inclusive of soybean straws, a little yellow maize for energy.

Upon further discussions with Mr Muponda he alluded to challenges faced in terms of marketing their meat. Apparently, some abattoirs pay less for grass finished beef compared to grain finished beef. An argument was brought up that the “traditional” housewife (excuse my stereotyping) was more inclined towards the conventional finished beef because it had a white fat deposit compared to the yellow fat deposit in the veld finished beef. As tradition goes the,” fattier the steak the more appealing it is”. This he argued influenced prices by some abattoirs towards their beef. This was can argument supported by one buyer at MC meats who said, “the price might remain the same but the supers finished on grass had a yellow fat which we struggle to sale to supermarkets but the cattle fed on grain had a white fat cover, thus other classified grass and grained finished cattle at different prices”.

It was at this part of our discussion that this article was birthed, Grass vs Grain beef.

Grain VS Grass

The USDA distinguishes between 3 main types of beef namely:

Corn-fed: otherwise known as conventional or grain fed. This is the widely used method in Europe and in South Africa. According to GrainSA at least 70% of SA beef comes from this system. It can loosely be termed the feedloting system. At approx. 12-18 months calves are moved to a feedlot where they’re fed scientifically formulated ratios of corn, silage, hay and distillers grains.

Grass-fed: most cattle spent a majority of their lives eating grass prior to being feedloted at approx 12-18 months where they’re kept on grass or moved to grain

Grass-finished: otherwise called free-range, this is the most common beef in Zim due to communal back ground. Cattle rely on grass or forage diet for their entire life. This is the system employed by Art Farm.

I find it only ideal that we try find the distinctions between the 2 “types “of beef as below.

Cost

Grain has a higher cost to finish due to feed cost whilst grass has is expensive compared to grain

Finishing period shorter

Grain takes an average period of 60-150 days compared to grass 24-30 months

Rib-eye area

Grain has a larger rib-eye area compared to grass

Fat Content

more white fat content for grain with less yellow fat content for grass

Omega3

Grain has less of this compared to grass

Weight

Grain is heavier compared to grass

Tenderness

Inconclusive

Marbling

Grain has a higher marbling percentage compared to grass

The table above tries to provide a “graphical” presentation of the distinctions between Grain-finished and Grass-finished beef.

The issue of cost is mainly associated with feed costs. This is the one reason why most farmers opt not to finish their own cattle rather sell them as weaners or feeding steers/heifers this being referred to as cow-calf operations. Feed is one of the major costs in feedloting (cattle finishing) at around 60% of feedlot costs. Compared to grass finishing where the costs is very low as cattle just roam the pastures

Ribeye area is a major determinant of the quality or grade of a beef carcase. The bigger it is the higher the carcase grade. According to a Uni of Florida article by a certain Dr Chad Carr (2016), grass fed meat tends to have a smaller ribeye area compared to grain finished which could be a reason some abattoirs pay less for grass finished as was the concern by Mr Muponda.

As stated previously grain finished beef has more fat content white in colour compared to grain which has less and being yellow in colour. Some scholars argue that grass has a more Omega3 compared to grain as was argues in an article by a certain Dr Smith at A&M Texas in 2013. The article titled, Ground beef from grass-fed and grain-fed cattle: Does it matter, states the, ” ground beef from grass-fed cattle naturally contains more omega-3 fatty acids than from grain-fed cattle (three times as much) but is higher in saturated and trans-fat”.

On the issue of tenderness one would argue that due to veld cattle doing more exercise compared to feedlot cattle, grass finished are mend to be a little tough and masculine. However the effect of feeding regime’s effect of tenderness of cooked beef is inconclusive.

Marbling is defined as the amount of intermuscular fat found in meat. Grain finished beef is renowned for it marbling qualities. It must however be acknowledged that breed type has serious impacts on the marbling percentage of cattle with certain breed being renowned for their marbling capabilities eg Angus and Wagyu.

Grain or Grass Beef finishing for the Rural Farmer

With our endeavours to make Zimbabwe “beef country” its just befitting that we bring relevance of the above case to the Zimbabwean communal farmer context in efforts to have them view cattle farming as a business.

Some of the questions I will try tackle below are:

What’s the ideal value addition method for the communal farmers?

What recommendations or suggestions do I have which can be employed to value add rural cattle?

Communals have vast tracks of land. Regardless of poor management it is still land that can be made productive. With this in mind one would want to quickly gravitate towards grass finished beef.

The costs involved are way less compared to the conventional method. In the rural context it will be mainly veterinary supplies as there isn’t a big feed cost except in drought years. There are however arguments/ideas that come to mind when it comes to beef finishing.

A wild thought, cropping cooperatives have had relative success in terms improving food security specifically at household level though it moves towards commercialization in certain areas. One is tempted to ask why the same model can not be employed for cattle finishing pastures. Same system as employed by ART farm can be implemented with the help of developmental partners or PPP with value chain players in the beef industry.

Whilst in the same vein, paddocking of communal pastures can also be explored. It doesn’t have to be high cost from perspective of fencing. Features such as roads, railway lines, fire breaks, pathways, natural features etc can be used to demarcate the paddocks. This I would imagine can help in managing pastures and ensuring maximum utilization of grazing lands. The African centre for holistic management has been trying to implement an almost similar system in parts of Matabaleland North communal areas close to it with relative success. A system where grazing lands are divided and communities “group” their livestock together and they move to predetermined grazing areas for a period of time (rotational grazing). This allows maximum utilization of lands plus fertilization of pastures and also allows the land time to recover. This also brings in the issue of pastoral cooperatives where farmers pool together their resources whilst returning ownership of individual livestock. This may help in attracting private partners, for instance farmers can pull together and hire a baler and tractor to save winter animal feed on state roads or school fields etc which can be used to finish their cattle in winter.

Farmers can also practice season finishing of cattle where they establish breeding season thus allowing them to finish their cattle in summer when there is plenty pastures thus cutting down on costs associated with winter finishing.

The conventional finishing method with its high costs is also a method to consider and seams more ideal. It is important to note how countries like Kenya and Botswana have most of their beef coming from communal/pastoral farmers but have created a value addition chain system to ensure high quality beef is produced which satisfies export market requirements.

In 2018 the Kenyan government moved to establish 12 feedlots in arid counties including Machakos, Lamn, Kwale etc. This was meant to limit communal farmer losses due to droughts and also to ensure value addition.

Botswana communal farmers accounted for approx. 80% of Botswana Meat Company’s slaughters (BIDPA 2011 PAPER 30). The conventional feedlot has played a vital role in value chain process for the communal farmer.

According to the FAO 2018 report, “ Livestock Production systems spotlight Kenya, Cattle and Poultry sectors”, capital is the major hinderance to the expansion of feedlots, though the system is ideal for higher yields and quality which in turn translates to higher profitability.

With the few arguments above it is important to note the role of private public partnerships in order to grow the communal beef industry. Makera Cattle Company, Tongaat Hullet are some of the companies with value addition systems which are meant to benefit the communal farmer though these come with their challenges as well.

One would also want to encourage growing of own fodder, however one cant also be oblivious of food security issues in a number of communal households. This then presents a challenge to this idea.

Training of farmers which further empowers then to take their operations as businesses not just view it as a tool to tend to their fields or a currency for traditional ceremonies. For instance in Kenya, FAO noted that ¾ of pastoral farmers had never had any exposure to the markets. One might argue this is a case too far afield but stories of how people exchange a cow for a bag of maize then brings all emotion to roost. We are currently going through a severe drought with high number of livestock loses. Destocking in order to purchase feed for livestock is a solution which has been thrown around but there has been a very slow adoption system due to lack of “business orientation” of the communal farmer. Closer to home there is the Eastern Cape Red Meat Project/ National Red Meat Program in South Africa where they developed a training program, market linkage program and animal husbandry program where farmers are exposed to things such as grading systems, abattoir procedures, marketing systems etc all in trying to have the communal farmer appreciate the beef value chain system and move towards commercialization.

Grass or grain finishing of beef was the initial question. All systems come with their challenges and require capital investment though of different proportions.

The conventional method however seems the way forward due to its higher levels of consistency, quality and importantly consumer preferences.

With regards to ideal method for communal farmers I will be inclined towards feedloting as well. I would go further to state that it doesn’t have to be a communal feedlot or private feedlot but rather a “shared” ownership system such as returned cattle ownership system of feedloting. This would a system that enables farmers to earn more from the value addition process whist still yielding profits for the “investor” and not restricting the farmer to selling unfinished animals.

All systems come with their challenges and benefits.

I hope however this article plants a seed or adds wood to the fire towards us commercializing our communal farmers

#ZimBeef