Bulk Beef Buyer's Guide

Spring 2024

Why switching beef is more necessary today than ever before, and how to do it…

From the desk of [farmer's name], owner of [farm name].

The short version: Beef is under attack. Just look at the farmers rioting in Europe. Around the world, there are active initiatives to change the molecular structure of the beef we are eating. The simplest way to fight back is to stop participating. Find a local farmer and buy their beef.

For all of history, beef was locally sourced. During World War II, food production went through the same industrial revolution that gave us the Model T assembly line. This sounds great, but did not work. When mass manufacturing and food production intersect, tradeoffs take place.

Nowadays, we are being fed beef that is dramatically less healthy, to a degree that is hard for us to really wrap our minds around because we are so used to the new way.

What is this new way?

The new way is “farming on steroids”, and that's not an exaggeration. Quantity over quality is the name of the game today, and cattle are being rushed from birth to slaughter. Being raised in abhorrent living conditions is now common practice. To avoid sicknesses from spreading among the livestock, they are injected with antibiotics from birth. Pesticides run rampant through their living environments and food supply, and they're fed the cheapest feed possible to reduce costs, thereby increasing profit margins for the company shareholders.

The Dark Side of Grocery Store Beef

While there certainly isn't anything wrong with making a healthy living, the choice has been made by the Big Four to increase those profits at the expense of the health of their customers.

The Impact of Industrial Cattle Farming

Did you know about the Big Four? More than 85% of the meat sold in the US is produced by four companies: Cargill, Tyson Foods, JBS (Pilgrim's Pride), and National Beef Packing. Unfortunately, industrial cattle farming focuses on maximizing production and profits, often at the expense of quality, health, and sustainability. Cattle are typically confined in crowded feedlots and fed a grain-based diet, which is not their natural food. This can lead to a host of problems, including health issues for the cattle and lower quality meat for consumers.

The dominance of the Big Four leads to practices that prioritize efficiency over ethics, such as the use of antibiotics and hormones to promote rapid growth, which can have serious health implications for consumers and negative impacts on animal welfare.

How the Labels You Read are Distorting Your Perception

When you go to select your beef at the grocery store, you're probably like most of us: sitting there comparing labels and prices in an attempt to understand what the best option is going to be for your family. The unfortunate reality is that the labels you read are… lies. I can prove it.

In 2015, the USDA made it completely legal for beef that was born, raised, and slaughtered in a foreign country to be shipped to America and sold with a USDA-approved sticker that says “Product of the USA”. Yep—that happened. Fortunately, after nearly a decade of pushback from American farmers, the USDA is reversing course on this immoral decision. Starting January 2026, that sticker will actually start meaning what it says again: that beef will have been born, slaughtered, and processed in America. Until then…

How about “Grass-Fed”? You know what that means? It means that at some point in its life, that cow ate grass. That's all, and because that is true, that one feeding of grass is usually all that happens. Just enough to slap a label on it.

How about “Natural”? This means literally nothing, because there are no rules around what calling your beef “natural” actually means, so it can mean anything.

There's a name for this immoral labeling scheme. It's called greenwashing when misleading marketing claims are used to make products appear more environmentally friendly than they actually are.

Next time you're in the grocery store, if you actually want to understand anything about the source of the meat you're looking at, do some research on the companies in front of you, and see what you find. It can start you on a long journey down the rabbit hole.

But label lies aren't the only issue. In many ways, they're actually the smallest of issues…

Customer problem 1: Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry. Lorem Ipsum has been the industry's standard dummy text ever since.

Customer problem 2: Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry. Lorem Ipsum has been the industry's standard dummy text ever since the 1500s, when an unknown printer took a galley of type.

Customer problem 3: Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry.

Lorem Ipsum has been the industry's standard dummy text ever since the 1500s, when an unknown printer took a galley of type and scrambled it to make a type specimen book. It has survived not only five centuries, but also the leap into electronic typesetting, remaining essentially unchanged.

Customer problem 4: Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry.  Lorem Ipsum has been the industry's standard dummy text ever since the 1500s, when an unknown printer took a galley of type and scrambled it to make a type specimen book.

Ranch Raised Beef vs. Industrial Beef

Our cattle are raised the way they were decades and decades ago, as nature intended out on open pasture and finished with the highest quality grain to ensure the best quality product on your family's dinner table. All our beef is single animal sourced meaning our ground beef contains meat from one single animal, a contrast from industrial processed ground beef that can contain the DNA of thousands of individuals from varying origins.

Ground Beef contains DNA from a Single Animal

Star Ranch

Industrial Beef

100% USA Beef

Raised without added hormones

Ground Beef contains DNA from a Single Animal

Nothing added to increase "shelf appeal"

The Way Your Beef Should Look

Ground Beef with DNA from one animal raised on our families ranch without any added colors or preservatives

VS.

Industrial Ground Beef with DNA from thousands of individual animals.

Why switching beef is more necessary today than ever before, and how to do it…

From the desk of [farmer's name], owner of [farm name].

The short version: Beef is under attack. Just look at the farmers rioting in Europe. Around the world, there are active initiatives to change the molecular structure of the beef we are eating. The simplest way to fight back is to stop participating. Find a local farmer and buy their beef.

For all of history, beef was locally sourced. During World War II, food production went through the same industrial revolution that gave us the Model T assembly line. This sounds great, but did not work. When mass manufacturing and food production intersect, tradeoffs take place.

Nowadays, we are being fed beef that is dramatically less healthy, to a degree that is hard for us to really wrap our minds around, because we are so used to the new way.