Here at the ranch, we’ve turned the new calves and their mothers out into a large pasture. Last year’s crested wheatgrass is pale yellow and still standing and there is some green growth underneath. We still feed them alfalfa for protein once a day, but they like to get out and graze. That’s the way the Creator made them — to turn grass into milk, and milk into beef. There are almost a billion cattle in the world, or one for every seven people.

And most of them wander around the countryside looking for something to eat — I mean the cattle, not the people. Cattle with ruminant digestive systems are designed to eat grass and other forages. Throughout the world, rangelands grow grass that need periodic harvesting in order to stay healthy. Other livestock can do the same, but cattle do it without biting the plants down to the nubs, like sheep and goats can do.

So why do we feed cattle grain? Over the last century in America, we began fattening beef cattle with grain. Corn is typically used because it is the cheapest, but any grain will do as it adds oils and carbohydrate to the diet. Efficiency is all about cutting down time, and cattle will fatten faster on grain. Some critics of beef production have pointed out that it takes 7 pounds of grain to produce 1 pound of beef, but that is reasonable for two reasons. First, 7 pounds of corn costs 50 cents while beef costs $2 per pound. Second, if you had a diet of 1 pound loaf of bread per day, wouldn’t you want to trade a quarter of the loaf to get a hamburger patty to put on the bread?

Last year, as the price of grain and tripled, livestock producers had to cope. Cattle feedlot managers, who fatten the cattle, paid more for heftier calves so they could reduce their time in the feedlot eating grain. Now that the price of grain has halved from last year’s highs, these feeders are still finding they can make more profit finishing an 800-pound calf to 1,200 pounds, than they can a 500-pound calf. Often they will buy calves from Midwest farmers who have “backgrounded” the smaller steers on crop residues like corn stalks until they reach 800 pounds.

Which brings up another point that the journey of beef cattle in America is amazing. Calves from Utah may be born in the lowlands, raised in the mountain ranges, shipped to Iowa cornfields for backgrounding, then to Kansas or Nebraska feedlots, and finally to a slaughterhouse (in Utah or elsewhere) and the beef boxed for shipment to grocery stores throughout the nation.

Or one could avoid the travel entirely by keeping them around another year grazing grass in the mountains and hills, then having them slaughtered locally and put in your freezer. It might make the cattle happier, especially those prone to motion sickness. The price to the consumer is really about the same as quality hamburger. But when buying a whole (or half) beef, you get about one-quarter quarter steaks, one-third roasts, and five-twelfths hamburger. And you have options like tenderized round steak, stew meat or hamburger, size of roasts, and width of steaks.

English breeds like Herford and Angus typically have better marbling and back fat than continental breeds, and are better candidates for grass-fed beef — if fat and marbling are what consumers want. Otherwise, continental breeds will do fine. In the past, beef cattle genetics were selected for weight gain, especially weaning weight. At last year’s auctions, the big money was spent on the bulls with the top beef quality genes. It seems beef genetics are more important than environment if the environment is grass. In Argentina, all cattle are grass-fed and they have been selecting for beef quality for decades.

Corn-fed beef is known for its marbling of fat in the steaks and usually fares better in comparisons based on the USDA grading system, which some say is biased. Others praise the flavor and quality of grass-fed beef, which may have a meaty aroma and tenderness. We love ours. To paraphrase a song from Hannah Montana’s dad, “Some girls don’t like grass-fed beef, but some girls do.”

Elizabeth B. Mitchell, along with her husband Alan, operates the Bennion Ranch at Benmore.