[JoeAltmaier]

I buy grass-fed beef from my neighbor. There's no difference as far as I can see. I like to support my neighbor, but there's no magic, no difference cooking, no startling color-change tricks as reported elsewhere in this thread.

[CreepGin]

We have opposite experiences with pork and poultry. The meat we get from local homesteads are noticeably way better than store bought. Maybe beef is a different story. I don't know...

During 2020 summer, we raised 4 peking ducks in our backyard. We gifted some of the processed meat to extended family members. And to this day, they still can't stop talking about how good the meat were.

[adrr]

Poultry that is free range is more stringy and chewy. It also much leaner and smaller. I lived off free range chicken when i worked summers on my grandfather's farm in Hawaii. It is all personal preference. If you order chicken pho at a Vietnamese restaurant it will most likely be free range chicken or what they call "Walking chicken". It is completely different than a Tyson Chicken from Costco with oversized breast meat.

[cheese_goddess]

Really free-range poultry (backyard chicken, rather than chicken grown in a factory with a tiny yard just enough to satisfy free range regulations) is like you say, tough, stringy, full of muscle, with normal-sized breasts and its meat is dark. It's no good for roasting because you really have to boil it for a couple of hours at least in order to get it to the point it's edible. I made the mistake once to only cook a hen for half an hour, like I'd do for supermarket chicken and I spent the night chewing until my jaws ached (I didn't want to throw it out. Poor bird died so I could eat it; so I ate it).

That said, real-free-range chicken makes the most unbelievably godly soup. They have this amazing yellow fat and their skin is thick with it, so they make a really thick broth. Just add a few vegetables, a bit of celery, some carrots, potatoes, and you don't even need rice or anything else to thicken it. I suspect it's that kind of chicken that people mean when they say that chicken soup is good for you when you're sick. It's the kind of soup that could raise the dead.

Edit - I forgot about the bones. Real free range chicken bones are hard. You can't just snap them between your fingers. Well I can't anyway. They're like real bones. Amaze!

[tsimionescu]

Chicken meat and hen meat are different things. Big stores very rarely sell hen (or rooster) meat, normally only the meat of young, immature chicks is consumed, free-range or not.

This is like the difference between veal and beef. The younger animal has softer meat and a different kind of fat.

[cheese_goddess]

Yes, that's right. But there's still a world of difference between a young chicken raised in a cage and the ones in our back yard.

Honestly? I don't exactly understand why but the intuitive explanation is that animals that are allowed to roam and browse free are ... more healthy?

[tsimionescu]

Sure, I wasn't meaning to imply that there is no other difference, just that it's not fair to compare the meat of a mature hen (which is always going to be stringier) with "regular" chicken meat, which is harvested from non-adult birds.

Comparing free range animals with cage grown ones, the most obvious difference is going to be muscle development: animals that grow up in cages will never have much muscle mass, since they simply have no way to exercise - they will have weaker muscles, and this will be detectable as a different taste and texture. Similarly, fat deposits will often be in different places and of slightly different kinds for animals that can exercise vs those that can't.

Additionally, cage grown animals are typically also fed a cheaper diet, and the diet will always have an impact on the taste of the meat.

And yes, the cage grown animals will likely also have different health issues because of the lack of exercise and poor diet, that free range animals won't develop. But I believe the other factors will have a much bigger impact, especially since these animals are typically harvested while they are pretty young, and may not have developed too serious conditions.

[b112]

I think you are all missing something, at least if discussing the US market.

Growth hormomes.

As an example, I've seen some US chickens as large as Canadian turkeys...

So free range, may not be getting growth hormones in the feed...

[jacobian]

This is not true. Growth hormones are not approved for us in chickens by the FDA. All chicken sold in the US is hormone free.

See, eg, https://ask.usda.gov/s/article/Are-hormones-used-for-livesto...: “No steroid hormones are approved for use in poultry”

It’s certainly true that today’s meat birds are MUCH bigger than heritage breeds, but that’s a result of selective breeding, not hormones.

[artificialLimbs]

You have to put it in the freezer before it gets stringy and chewy. You're eating old chickens if it's stringy and chewy.

[c_o_n_v_e_x]

Here in Singapore and Malaysia, you can get "kampong chicken" (village chicken)... basically the chicken you see running around the village. They're great for soups and have a lot more flavor imo.

[bobthepanda]

Chicken doesn't have to be free-range to be better than what Tyson et al. are producing.

White striping is a lot more prominent in factory farmed chicken.

[jghn]

I get most of my meat from a local farm share. I've noticed that the largest difference vs grocery store meat by far is the fat in the pork we get. Poultry in general would be next, followed by the actual pork meat, and then beef. But yes, it's nice to get poultry that tastes like ... something.

The largest difference at first with beef was that it was grass fed and I was not used to that. But now I tend to buy grass fed beef when I do get it from the supermarket and thus don't notice a big difference vs my farm meat.

[ineedasername]

Is it possible that freshness and lack of freezing are the cause of any difference. (Also I assume local farms do not artificially plump chicken with fluids)

[CreepGin]

The ducks we raised were even better tasting than from other local homesteads. I think the trick was in the amount of organic peas and red wrigglers we fed them.

[abduhl]

This sounds like how I always “reminisce” with old associates about how good they were when they or we did X. Except you’re even more related to these people and so the vested interest in making you feel like they think you’re a great dude is even more entrained.

[shawn-butler]

Arguable. Non-feedlot raised animals do evidence some seasonality in the texture and flavor of the meat.

The nutritional value of the meat produced / consumed may be chemically similar although there is some research to support the higher human health benefits (CLAs, Omega 3s,Omega 9s, etc.) of grass-fed beef, but it is the stewardship used to raise those animals has a vastly different impact on the environment. Can't really speak to your neighbor in particular but you could ask him/her about rotational grazing and their antibiotic / animal healh protocols.

Just because you can't see the tail-pipe emissions coming from your car doesn't mean they aren't real and impacting your health and the viability of future generations.

Really this is a failure of the educational system in the US. If people knew the facts, they would be supporting and buying from local producer-owned cooperatives. One good example that I know of in the Upper Midwest market is https://www.wisconsingrassfed.coop/

[sokoloff]

> Really this is a failure of the educational system in the US. If people knew the facts, they would be supporting and buying from local producer-owned cooperatives.

Even people who know the difference might prefer to buy cheap factory farmed meat, might not have freezer space to hold 30 pounds of meat until they can use it, or $250 to tie up in what amounts to personal beef futures.

The coop meat you linked is pretty competitively priced and I’m sure it’s good. Even with that, it’s more expensive and for some people, price really matters.

[b112]

If they have the free cash. For some, every penny saved is vital. I think we often don't get this here.

[brailsafe]

> Really this is a failure of the educational system in the US. If people knew the facts, they would be supporting and buying from local producer-owned cooperatives.

This is an idealistic liberal fantasy that implies rather condescendingly that anyone who does otherwise is uneducated. I support my local grocery store in whatever way I can, but I buy what I can afford, try not to support slave labour if I know about it, but otherwise it's far more important to me that I cover my bases for energy, nutrition, and desire. Tailpipe emissions can be measured, and people avoid them all the time largely by not having cars or living near congestion, if they can afford to, because it makes the air gross. If the result of paying more for steak means mostly that it tastes a bit better and you feel morally superior, then an educated person of moderate means would choose the more reasoned choice compared to what it cost them. I don't think it's like the difference between literally inhaling from an exhaust pipe or breathing mountain air. I think it's more like pretentious juices that I see at my local mart. One is already expensive at $8 and is basically sugar, and the one labeled organic small-batch hand-squeezzed is $18 for the same size, and is basically sugar. Ya it might taste better, idk, but I sure as hell am not paying $18 for a jar of juice.

[LargoLasskhyfv]

https://www.localharvest.org/

[gutitout]

Maybe it’s not grass-fed.

Kidding. Really though if it was you could taste it. In some cases I prefer grain fed cows cause they just taste better. However the fat ratio of healthy to unhealthy fat, omega 3 to omega 6, is a major reason to go grass-fed.

[b112]

May depend on the grass! The flavour comes from variety of grasses, which is why wild meat tastes so different. I've has farm raised deer/venison, and wild was much better ..

So maybe the grass was just ...

[JoeAltmaier]

Let me look out the window .... yup! There they are, eating grass.

[hn_throwaway_99]

Don't know about grass-fed beef, but the taste of grass-fed milk compared to regular is night-and-day to me. I don't often splurge on organic but for milk I do solely for the taste.

[JoeAltmaier]

I know all about that! Every spring when the dairy cattle in the midwest are turned out into the green fields, the milk tastes of onions. Because wild onions is one of the first things to sprout in the spring!

[shaklee3]

organic milk mostly tastes different because it's pasteurized at a higher temperature. this makes it last longer and gives it a more of a cooked taste. it's personal preference if it tastes better.

[hn_throwaway_99]

No, I'm not just talking about organic milk. I think there is a huge taste difference even between grass-fed organic milk and "normal" organic milk. (Note I've never seen non-organic grass-fed milk). Normal organic milk doesn't actually taste all that different compared to conventional milk to me.

For me the biggest taste difference is from the grass, not the organic.

[hindsightbias]

A decade back, you couldn’t get grass-fed in any US metro, save the BA. And that was imported from Paraguay or Argentina.

Now it’s probably corn finished and pesticidy, but it does taste more like I remember as a kid.

[ratsmack]

That may be because many "grass-fed" farmers do a 120 day corn finish which adds weight quickly. This makes the beef more like what is produces commercially.

[poulsbohemian]

The rancher I buy beef from is a multi-generation family friend. I can tell the years he's finished on grain vs. the years he hasn't. Same Angus beef on the same grass fields, drinking the same mountain spring water, same mobile kill operation. But, some years it's obvious in the taste and texture he has mixed in corn / grains into the diet.

To the other poster asking about mobile kill operations - it's less stress on the animals, and that ultimately does yield a better product. So whether you view it through the lens of tasty meat or animal welfare, in both cases it's a win.

[wyager]

We raised some lambs a couple years ago. The meat was noticeably much tastier than store-bought lamb. Don't know if this was a function of diet or freshness or what, but it was quite compelling.

[throwawayboise]

Grass-fed beef will have a "gamier" taste than supermarket beef, especially if it is not "finished" by corn-feeding before slaughter. It's not bad, it's just different. If you are used to the taste of steak from the supermarket beef, which is mostly corn-fed, grass-fed "free-range" beef will taste different.