Boyden Farm Beef

by Shane Smith, Outreach Coordinator

Boyden Farm raises all its own feed --silage, hay, and pasture grasses. They use no artificial growth hormones or antibiotics on their cows.   Animals are cared for naturally and are allowed to mature at their own growth rate. Since 2005, Boyden Farm Beef has been grass and pasture fed until the last stages of finishing where the cattle received a grass/corn/soy bean mix. This mix gave the energy necessary to create the well marbled, well flavored beef product from the start.

Vermont's Boyden Farm

Many grass-fed beef proponents believe grass-fed cattle provides for a healthier beef. Grass feeding also provides Boyden Farm with a more sustainable approach to its crop raising. Boyden Farm uses what Mark Boyden calls a “Sweet Grass Finish”.  This is a special blend of grasses planted each spring such as Sorghum/Sudan Hybrids. These grasses are high in natural sugars. The sugars in turn provide the cattle a high energy grass diet which produces quality finished beef.

Boyden beef

According to Boyden farm, the difference between the sweet grass finish and ordinary grass finish is that ordinary grass-fed beef is inconsistent for the growth of the animal. This causes difficulty in producing well finished beef . The sweet grass feeding system was in full use by Boyden Farm in autumn, 2010.

Look for this sign at the Celery Stick deli counter

The Co-op occasionally uses Boyden hanger steak and ground beef on the hot bar in a variety of dishes and the sliced deli roast beef is available daily at the deli counter.  The Celery stick chefs use a slow cooking method known as the sous-vide method to make the beef tender for the deli slices.  Sous-vide is a method of cooking food sealed in airtight plastic bags in a water bath for longer than normal cooking times—72 hours in some cases—at an accurately regulated temperature much lower than normally used for cooking, typically around 55 °C (131 °F) to 60 °C (140 °F) for meats and higher for vegetables. The intention is to cook the item evenly, and to not overcook the outside while still keeping the inside at the same "doneness", keeping the food juicier.