Committed to Quality
Quality starts with healthy animals grazing in open fields on fresh green grass. You can taste the terroir in our beef--the rich grass, clean water, and fresh air. We produce beef the way its been done for centuries, a proud tradition of cowboys caring for happy animals. Our cattle never see feedlot and they only have one bad day.
High-protein Grass
Argentina and Uruguay are blessed with vast swathes of high-protein grasslands that are green year-round. That means a consistent high-protein food source. Most US-produced grass-fed beef are thrown hay for six-to-ten months out of the year due to the short grass-growing season in most parts of the country. During some cold or dry seasons, we may supplement our cattle's grass diet with silage (stalks and leaves from sorghum in the pre-grain state) to ensure the consistency and quality of our beef, but silage composes a very small part of our animals' diet.Real Beef Taste
Quality means great tasting beef that's also healthy to eat. Grass-fed, pasture-raised beef has a more beefy flavor than the feedlot-produced beef that most US consumers are accustomed to eating. It finishes clean and leaves you feeling satisfied but light, more like the way you feel after eating fish.
We wet age the beef for 25 days as it ships from South America to Texas, so it arrives to consumers at its peak of flavor. The taste of our beef has been described as "bright," "clean," and "beefy." People have said that biting into an Estancia steak is like tasting a complex wine after years of two-buck chuck.
Lean and Healthy
Quality means our beef has many of the health benefits of eating fish. It's low in fat and cholesterol, but high in healthy compounds like omega-3 fatty acids. Scientific studies keep affirming the health benefits of eating grass-fed beef. There is increasing evidence that beef loses healthy attributes when cattle are fed grain diets and their movement is restricted in feedlots.
Diseases associated with diets high in red meat--cardiovascular disorders and certain cancers--have a much lower incidence in countries like Argentina and Uruguay where the vast majority of the beef is grass-fed and pasture-raised. With Estancia you really can have your beef and eat it too.
Best Breeds
Quality means angus and hereford cattle that are smaller-framed and have been bred over centuries to gain weight grazing on high-protein grass. Estancia only processes young animals for our beef and we select the highest grade from our herds. The knowledge of which breeds to use and which animals to select is part of the expertise that comes from a long tradition of producing grass-fed beef.
Safety and Auditing
We have the highest food safety standards in the world. From our ranch protocols to our state-of-the-art processing plant, we lead the industry in traceability, third-party audits, and testing. We care too much about our clients and our product to skimp on food safety.
Animal Welfare
Quality means our animals only have one bad day. Our head of European sales, Michelle Waterman, designed our transport and processing protocols according to Dr. Temple Grandin's animal welfare recommendations. We even exceed Dr. Grandin's guidelines because our animals are never in feedlots.
Estancia's commitment to Quality means beef that tastes great and that you can be proud to serve to your family.