I work with local dairies within a 3 hour radius of the Portland area. These dairies are part of the Darigold, Organic Valley and Tillamook co-ops. I visit all the dairies before purchasing cows to make sure they’re of the best quality and husbandry standards as well as environmentally and regeneratively conscious. All the cows that are sourced for Vorfreude have come from a life of luxury, lush pastures and incredible care. Good feed and a good life translates to incredible beef. There’s no other way around it!

In America, dairy cows end up as dog food or burger in the commodity beef market. This is due to numerous factors such as misperception and misconceptions, cultural norms and our American societies attitude towards meat and what it should look like. However in Europe, ex-dairy cow meat is highly prized. The older the dairy cow the more coveted its meat is.

The main factors are taste, color, size and shape. Dairy beef has a lot richer flavor than your typical beef. It’s not gamey or overpowering, it’s just a league of its own in rich beef flavor! The color of the meat is darker and the fat is often more yellow has a melty, buttery quality to it. Dairy cow cuts are often smaller than beef cow cuts and slightly different shaped.

One of the deciding factors in which dairies we buy cows from is their diet. Utmost priority aside from cow nutrition is sustainability of their diet. 100% grass finished is not always the most sustainable or the most healthy. Some of the cows we get are certified organic and grass-fed. Others come from farms that use mostly organic practices, but don’t obtain the certification for various reasons. All the cows come from pasture-based dairies where the cows get a lot of freedom to roam and graze and the farmers are stewards of the land. However for some dairies, there might be a mixture corn of silage that they grow themselves or small amounts of other grains that would otherwise be food waste. At Vorfreude we believe big picture is more important above being dogmatic. Health of the animals, our consumer, and the planet is always top priority. However, this can show up in multiple forms and we’re always happy to talk about these decisions more.

Dairy beef is also known as “dual-purpose beef” since the cows are producing milk while also fattening and developing flavor. This is more sustainable because you’re getting 2 premium products out of one animal. The resources used to produce the milk are in turn producing meat. If you were to raise a cow solely for meat for 6+ years (the average age of the cows we use) it would be incredibly expensive and resource-intensive and only produce one product. Our model is also more sustainable because less trucking is involved to get the cows from the dairy to being processed, and then to the consumer. It’s also less stress for the cows because they’re able to bypass going to auction.