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MSU Innovation Day highlights 5-year grass-fed research

A beef educator says a grass-fed research project has turned several thousand acres of underutilized land into new business opportunities for farmers.

Kable Thurlow with Michigan State University Extension tells Brownfield in 2010, MSU became the first university to study grass-fed beef.  “We’ve got estimates that show that pasture results in about half the cost of feeding stored forage.”

He says research with a Red Angus beef herd at MSU’s Lake City Research Center and partnering farms takes into account management systems, profitability and sustainability.  “In the end, they need to produce a quality product that consumers are going to want to come back to. First time sales are probably pretty fairly easy to get, but repeat customers are the ones that you want.”

Thurlow says experts predict the grass-fed beef industry to grow by 25 percent annually.

Grass-fed research at the Lake City Research Center will be highlighted during the university’s Ag Innovations Day August 24^th along with other forage topics.

AUDIO: Interview with Kable Thurlow