UC Davis

Grass-fed beef sales are expected to increase globally by 40 billion U.S. dollars by the year 2025. Increased demand for grass-fed beef raises many producers' and consumers' concerns regarding feasibility, product quality, economic viability, and environmental impacts that have gone unanswered. Therefore, using a holistic approach, we investigated the performance, carcass quality, financial outcomes, environmental impacts, and fatty acid profile of four grass-fed and grain-fed beef systems in California. The treatments included: 1) steers stocked on pasture and feedyard finished for 128 days (CON); 2) steers grass-fed for 20 months (GF20); 3) steers grass-fed for 20 months with a 45-day grain finish (GR45); and 4) steers grass-fed for 25 months (GF25). Final body weight, dressing percentage, and carcass quality varied significantly across all treatments. Animal performance directly affected economic and environmental footprints with grass-fed systems resulting in higher carbon and breakeven than grain-fed treatments. Fatty-acid profiles differed significantly from all treatments with CON systems higher in monounsaturated fatty acids and saturated fatted acids. No difference in total polyunsaturated fatty acids were observed between treatments, but grass-fed treatments where higher in omega-3 fatty acids. The results from these studies indicate that varying grass-fed beef production systems in the western U.S. yield significant differences in both animal performance, carcass quality, fatty acid profile and result in varying environmental and economic impacts. However, before sustainability practices can be achieved they must first be adopted by producers. To gauge insight into rancher’s interest and motivations for joining a sustainability program we performed a multistate survey investigating best management practices related to the Beef Quality Assurance (BQA) program. The BQA program is one of the most successful rancher educational program and as such, a great case study to learn about why ranchers would chose to volunteer for an educational program. The survey indicated that that those that joined the BQA program were more likely to perform BQA best management practices, however BQA involvement did not affect a rancher’s willingness to join a sustainability program. Overall, this survey provided an overview for why a rancher would or would not join a BQA program and provided insight on current BQA practices.