When you see “grass-fed” on most milk, cheese and butter packages in the store, it quite simply means that some of the animals' diet came from fresh pasture or dried grasses like hay.

Is hay fed the same as grass fed?

The USDA defines grass-fed as a diet of 100% grass, but some take advantage of loopholes referring to the animals confinement (the label stipulates the cattle must be allowed to graze only during the growing season, from the first frost of the season to the last) and winter feeding (hay is allowed, so a grass-fed cow ...

What does it mean when it says grass fed?

Simply put, grass-finished beef comes from cattle that ate nothing but grass and forage for their entire lives. Grass-fed, on the other hand, may be used to label meat from cattle that were started on a grass diet but have either received supplemental grain feed or are finished on a fully grain-based diet.