FREQUENTY ASKED QUESTIONS ABOUT TALLGRASS BEEF
Where does your beef come from?
We source 100% of our beef from our family’s fifth-generation, 8,000-acre ranch in Osage County, Oklahoma: Tower Hills Ranch. Historically, Tower Hills has been a commercial cattle ranch, meaning the vast majority of our beef was raised on our lush pastures for about a year and a half and then sold to feedlots for finishing and processing. We’ve always had a small “friends and family” herd in which we harvested the beef straight off the pasture and sold or gave away in smaller quantities. That’s the beef we’re offering, now to a larger audience, with Tallgrass Heritage. If you’ve ever had “friend beef” direct from a rancher, you know it’s impossible to go back to store bought after that.
What does “grass-finished” mean?
Nearly all beef you’ll find in grocery stores, even that labeled grassfed has gone through a finishing process. This means that after living typically 1.5-2 years on pasture, the animal then goes to a feedlot (there are many types of feedlots, some better some worse), where it is fed a diet primarily of grain or corn for 60-120 days. Beef labeled grassfed can still have gone through this finishing process for up to 60 days. Tallgrass Heritage beef is different in that it never goes to a feedlot and has spent its entire life on pasture, making it both grassfed and grass-finished.
Is grass-finished better than grain-finished beef?
This is a subject that’s not completely black and white. Because most people have never had the opportunity to try grassfed and grass-finished beef, they’re accustomed to the texture and consistency of grain- or corn-finished beef and there’s a common perception that grass-finished isn’t as fatty as its counterparts. However, what we know from our experience is that with the right breed on the right grass with the right management practices, grass-finished beef will outshine its grain- and corn-finished counterparts in taste and texture, every time. Yes, there are a lot of variables that have to be met for it to turn out right and that’s what we’ve done with our decades of ranch management experience and expertise.
What’s so special about the Tallgrass Prairie?
Several generations back, when our great-great-grandfather founded the Drummond Osage Ranch, before feedlots and corn and grain-finishing offered the fastest, cheapest way to finish beef, ranches from all over the country would transport their herds to our ranch and others in the area for finishing. Why would they go to all that trouble, you might ask? It’s because the Tallgrass Prairie has abundance, diversity, and topsoil health unlike any other ecosystem in the world. As a result of its geography and the fact that it was grazed by bison for millennia, the health and fertility of the land is unparalleled, making it one of the top five places in the world for cattle grazing, comparable to the famous Las Pampas of Argentina.
Do you have quarters/halves available?
Yes! We can fulfill all your family-sized needs. Please email marie@tallgrassheritage.com for pricing and harvest information.
Where do you deliver?
It's important to us to make it as easy as possible for you to provide your family with the most nourishing and delicious meat available. In order to help with that, we offer free delivery on orders over $99 anywhere within a 15-mile radius of Tulsa.
Once you place your order, we'll be in touch with delivery timing and details.