Grass-fed cattle designed to trim some of the fat

Farmers counting on method to boost business and help the environment

The cows quieted down as they lumbered toward their fresh meal.

Heller, who is raising his cows on an all-grass diet, recently started a new program through the Chesapeake Bay Foundation’s Clagett Farm in Upper Marlboro that he hopes will help farmers in the county and around the state raise their own cows exclusively on grass.

The program, called the Maryland Grazers Network, will connect experienced mentor farmers with those who want to learn about raising grass-fed cattle. Participants will visit each other’s farms and talk about how to manage herds and pasture land.

‘‘The mentors can help farmers achieve a system without going through the mistake phase,” Heller said.

Most dairy and beef cows are fed grass in the early part of their life and fattened on corn and other grains before they are sold. But feeding them only grass is better for the environment because keeping land in pasture rather than growing corn or other crops cuts down on fossil fuel, fertilizer and pesticide use, Heller said.

It also is good for the business because, with the price of energy and grains running high, grass-fed cattle are less expensive to raise and some consumers are willing to pay more for their all-natural meat, he said.

‘‘We’re looking at how to make farming more environmentally sustainable as well as economically sustainable,” said Heller, who manages the Clagett Farm and has been raising grass-fed cattle for eight years.

While grass-fed beef comes out leaner than the marbled steaks of grain-fed cows, it is considered healthier and more natural, Heller said.

Cows are ‘‘designed to eat grass, not corn and soy beans,” he said.

Clark S. Aist is one farmer who said he could use a mentor.

Aist has faced a series of problems trying to raise grass-fed cows on his 50-acre farm on Van Brady Road in Upper Marlboro ever since he started the practice in 2005.

The first year, Aist’s cows were about 150 pounds underweight when it was time to sell. He had failed to keep the dominant cows separate from younger ones, which ended up getting less to eat, he said.

Last year, the drought caused Aist’s pastures to produce less grass, so he said he had to cut his herd from about 15 cattle to eight.

Raising grass-fed cattle is ‘‘a huge management challenge,” Aist said. ‘‘I’d love to figure out the logistics of how we’re going to do it.”

Aist, who has arranged to sell his grass-fed cattle to a farmer in Frederick County, said he is planning to get involved in the Maryland Grazers Network.

The three-year program, which started this year, has a budget of $425,000 through a grant by nonprofit groups Chesapeake Bay Funders Network and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. Mentors are reimbursed for travel expenses and paid $250 for a day of work in the network, Heller said.

The program has eight mentors from around the state and 15 to 20 interested farmers, he said.

The Hard Bargain Farm in Accokeek, which is run by the environmental and agricultural nonprofit Alice Ferguson Foundation, has expressed an interest in joining the network, foundation deputy director Libby Campbell said.

Campbell said the farm, which has 20 cows and about 160 acres of grazing land, is going to start producing grass-fed cows later this year to ‘‘make a little bit of money” and because it is environmentally friendly.

‘‘We’ve explored a number of options, and [the Maryland Grazers Network] seems most suited to our resources,” Campbell said.

The mentorship program also involves collaborating with the Maryland Cooperative Extension, an agriculture education office within the University of Maryland system, to help farmers learn how to market their beef directly to local customers through the Internet or at farmers’ markets, Heller said.

There are only a handful of farmers in Prince George’s County who sell cattle raised entirely on grass, according to farmers and county agriculture officials.

But Heller, who markets his beef directly to customers at $5 a pound, said there is more demand for local, grass-fed beef than area farmers can meet.

‘‘I can’t grow enough to satisfy my customers,” said Heller, who can provide beef each year to only about half of the 80 interested buyers he has collected on an e-mail list.

E-mail Andy Zieminski at azieminski@gazette.net