An All-Around Better Grass Fed, Grass Finished Beef
December 12, 2022
What sets Certified Piedmontese grass fed, grass finished beef apart from others in the industry?
It's 100% source verified.
Did you know finding grass-fed, grass-finished beef raised in the U.S. is the exception rather than the rule?
According to a 2017 Stone Barns report, 75 to 80% of grass-fed beef sold in the U.S. comes from abroad, mainly from Australia, New Zealand, and parts of South America.
As long as imported beef passes through a USDA-inspected plant (a requirement for all imported beef), it is labeled Product of the U.S.A. --even if the cattle the meat came from never took a breath in the U.S.
At Certified Piedmontese, we welcome accountability and transparency, and we’re proud to let consumers know exactly where and how we raise our grass-fed, grass-finished beef. Our grass-fed, grass-fed cattle call Nebraska's spacious grasslands home.
This also means our facilities are located in the middle of the country, so food miles are reduced, no matter where we’re shipping. Our grass-fed program and our core Certified Piedmontese beef and Dynasty Selection — is Where Food Comes From source-verified by IMI Global, an accredited source for third-party verification of food production practices.
By subscribing to self-imposed audits regularly through IMI Global and other agencies, Certified Piedmontese verifies every process and claim. You can be sure the grass-fed, grass-fed beef you're eating came from family ranches across Nebraska and southern South Dakota--and that it was raised the right way, with absolutely no antibiotics, hormones, or animal by-products.
It has TONS of nutritional benefits.
Because Certified Piedmontese grass-fed, grass-finished cattle eat grasses rich in heart-healthy fatty acids, they produce beef rich in these essential nutrients. Our grass-fed, grass-fed beef is even leaner than our traditional Certified Piedmontese beef—which is already leaner and more tender than most breeds—providing health-conscious customers a beef product that’s low in fat and calories, packed with nutrition, and exceedingly tender and flavorful.
Its nutrition is pretty astonishing. For example, our grass-fed, grass-finished sirloin filet (pictured above) has 0 grams of total fat and saturated fat. Certified Piedmontese grass-fed beef is also an excellent source of omega-3s and conjugated linoleic acid, a polyunsaturated fat high in antioxidants and protects against heart disease, diabetes, and cancer and has been linked to weight management. Plus, it’s an excellent source of stearic acid, which helps regulate mitochondria—the energy powerhouse of our cells. It's also an excellent source of essential minerals like zinc, iron, phosphorous, selenium, and essential vitamins like B3, B6, and B12. Check out the nutrition of some Certified Piedmontese grass-fed, grass-finished cuts below.
It has unbelievable tenderness & taste.
Grass-fed, grass-finished beef has a reputation for having a more complex, beefy flavor but less tenderness. Certified Piedmontese grass-fed, grass-finished meat defies this notion with its natural love, which comes from the Piedmontese breed. There is no need to sacrifice passion for grass-fed, grass-fed beef nutrition. Certified Piedmontese beef boasts a clean, beefy flavor that leaves you feeling satisfied--not overstuffed and bogged down.
It's made with both animal- & environment-welfare in mind.
Interest in grass-fed, grass-finished beef also stems from concern for animal welfare. Certified Piedmontese ranches span thousands of acres across north-central Nebraska and southern South Dakota, a region known as the Sandhills. As one of the most extensive unadulterated grasslands in the country, the Sandhills are the perfect home for Certified Piedmontese cattle. They provide high-quality nutrition for our grass-fed, grass-fed herds.
Certified Piedmontese ranchers ensure cattle sustain a symbiotic relationship with the land, employing regenerative ranching practices to safeguard the cattle don’t just take from the ground but also give back to it. Ranchers rotate cattle between pastures, reducing grazing pressures on grasslands and using natural fertilizer sources, as livestock waste provides excellent nutrients for plains5. This responsible grazing helps the prairie ecosystem thrive as plains remain biologically active through nutrient exchange between cattle and natural vegetation.
And because more than two-thirds of land used for grazing in the United States isn’t suitable for raising crops, the cattle, while adding to the vitality of the grasslands, also provide a healthy food source as part of a sustainable system. Our intentional, progressive ranching practices appeal to eco-conscious customers and ultimately produce the highest quality beef.
Ranchers play a pivotal role in regenerative agriculture, especially regarding carbon sequestration. Carbon sequestration takes carbon from the atmosphere and puts it into the soil, all while improving the soil’s fertility and functionality. Plants use the sunlight’s energy to fuse carbon in the atmosphere with hydrogen and oxygen to create carbohydrates, which are moved through the plant’s roots and fed to a sticky protein, called glomalin, wrapped around the bases. More glomalin means more carbon sequestration, and numerous studies have shown that soils under well-managed native grasses have higher glomalin levels. This means massive potential for carbon sequestration lies in well-maintained native grasslands, like the Nebraska Sandhills grasslands maintained by Certified Piedmontese ranchers.
Our cattle are handled humanely every step of the way.
Our approach to responsible ranching is comprehensive, extending to the diligent care our ranchers provide Certified Piedmontese cattle. A careful combination of technology, industry-leading insights, strict protocols, independent third-party oversight, and advanced stockmanship ensures every animal's best possible care.
One such protocol is BQA (Beef Quality Assurance), a nationally coordinated training and certification program that promotes herd health with guidelines for everything from record-keeping to environmental conditions. It certifies that at the center of the program and the husbandry practices is low-stress handling. Just like in humans, stress can depress the immune system in cattle, making it especially difficult for them to fight off sickness. Low-stress handling allows ranchers to respond to cattle needs in ways that embrace their natural tendencies to keep them calm and comfortable. Every Certified Piedmontese rancher is BQA certified and fully committed to providing progressive and comprehensive care to their herds.
It's an all-around better grass fed, grass finished beef product.
You can be specific when you order Certified Piedmontese grass-fed, grass-finished beef; you're getting source-verified, nutritious, high-quality meat raised humanely with the cattle and the land and its resources in mind. There’s no reason to settle for less when choosing your grass-fed, grass-finished beef.