Grass fed ground beef from one Arkansas herd.

What is the difference from regular ground beef?

Commodity ground beef is a blend, and that is not a scandal, it is just how the system works at scale. Trim from many animals, often many farms and sometimes several countries, gets combined to hit a target fat percentage. It produces a consistent product at a low price, which is the point.

What it cannot do is tell you which animal is in the package. Ours is ground from animals off this ranch, so if you ask which pasture, there is an answer.

Is grass fed ground beef healthier for you?

The fat is genuinely different. Grass finished beef carries more omega-3s, a better ratio of omega-6 to omega-3, and more vitamin E. That comes from the finishing, not from how the animal was raised, which is why the distinction matters so much on a label.

The protein, the heme iron, the zinc and the B12 are much the same as any beef. We are not going to sell you ground beef as a health intervention.

Cooking lean ground beef without drying it out

This is the one thing worth knowing before your first pound. Grass finished beef is leaner, and lean beef punishes a hot pan and a long cook.

• Moderate heat, not maximum. There is less fat to buffer it.
• Pull it early. It carries on cooking after it leaves the pan.
• Do not press it. Squeezing burgers drives out what little fat there is.
• Braises are forgiving. In chili, ragu or anything with liquid and time, none of the above applies and the flavor is deeper than you are used to.

How much to buy, and how long it keeps

Ground beef has the shortest freezer window of any cut, because grinding exposes far more surface area to air. Vacuum sealed and held at zero degrees it is best inside three to four months for quality, though it stays safe considerably longer. Our guide to freezer life by cut has the full table.

That matters when you fill out a cut sheet. Ground is the cut people ask for most of, and it is also the one with the clock on it. Households that cook it several times a week usually do better asking for a larger ground share on a quarter than buying a half and finding it still there in spring.

Where we deliver

Fresh beef travels within about 300 miles of Heber Springs, which reaches Little Rock, Conway, Searcy, Jonesboro, Fayetteville, Fort Smith, Memphis, Springfield and Tulsa. See the full delivery area, or collect at the ranch on a Sunday.