Grass-fed means that the animal grew up eating grass or hay and had grass and/or hay its entire life. Corn-finished means that the animal was finished on a corn diet the last few months before processing.
We believe that finishing an animal on corn adds marbling, taste, and tenderness to the meat. Technically, the corn plant is classified as a grass and the corn kernel is simply the seed from that grass. An animal that never gets corn will have little marbling and tends to be less tender. Our cattle are finished on corn, but always have access to grass and/or hay. Currently, we are feeding alfalfa hay grown in the Nebraska panhandle, and is of the utmost quality! The cows love it too!
Heavy-aged beef comes from steers that have been fed until they reach the age of 24-30 months. The beef is then processed and allowed to hang in a climate-controlled environment with very strict temperature and humidity controls for 14 – 18 days, thus completing the aging process. During this process of aging, the natural enzymes in the meat act upon the muscle fibers making it more tender and delicious. This is not a new practice. There was a time when almost every town had a meat processing plant (often attached to the schools) and it was common to have aged beef when one took an animal to be processed. However, with increasing government red tape and lobbying from the major packers, those small processors fell by the wayside. However, we have seen a revitalization of small processors scattered across the country. Covid had a lot to do with this because of food shortages and supply chain issues.
No supermarket beef is not aged. The animal is butchered, the carcass chilled, the meat cut into various cuts, and is usually on the supermarket shelf in about four to five days.
The primary reason is likely the cost involved in running large coolers for the time required to age that immense amount of beef.
Absolutely not! Aged beef is a darker, richer shade of red that is a result of aging. Thus, giving it the tenderness and taste that aged beef is famous for.
Some of the high-end steakhouses do and a ribeye will cost at least $70.00 per plate but typically the chain restaurants do not. If the steaks are showcased when you walk through the door and the meat is bright red, it is not aged.
A tomahawk steak is simply a bone-in ribeye with the bone left very long resembling a tomahawk. It is the exact same cut as an ordinary ribeye but with a hefty price tag. We don’t ordinarily stock the tomahawk steak because we see no sense in charging a huge price for a bone. However, if an individual orders a custom beef and wants the tomahawk steak, we can provide that.
No. Beef and pork are exempt from the Country-of-Origin Labeling. The animal can be born, fed, and processed in other countries and still carry the “Product of USA” label if the meat was packaged in the USA.
Yes. In 2023 there were 2.7 billion pounds of beef imported into the U.S. That’s 8.1 lbs. per US citizen.
There’s no way to know. That’s why it’s important to buy locally and know your farmer or rancher. We, at Powell Farms as well as many other cattlemen and ranchers, have undergone training through the Beef Quality Assurance Program that teaches best management practices for the cattle industry, from calf-hood through market animals.