Belted Galloways "Belties" are a beautiful heirloom breed from Scotland. We chose this efficient beef breed for several reasons. They are great foragers and are the perfect breed for grass-fed beef production. Central Wisconsin winters are cold. Most cattle breeds adapt to winter by adding a thick layer of body fat for insulation. Belties grow an additional hair coat in winter getting to 4,000 hairs per square inch. This coat provides such efficient insulation to keep body heat in that the snows of Wisconsin will not even melt on their back. Thus the animal is comfortable in the cold, and does not lay down the excessive back fat found in some other breeds and therefore provides and increase in beef yield.

Grass-fed diet - Grass-fed beef tastes different from feedlot beef because the cattle are raised on a different diet. Our grass-fed cattle are on a diet of haylage in the winter. Our haylage consists of alfalfa, clovers and grasses which we harvest in the summer and preserve in our silos for winter feeding. When you drive past our farm you will see over 200 belties living on grassland that has been free of agrichemicals for three years or more. This is one of the requirements to be a certified organic farm.

Our Belted Galloway grass-fed beef is flavorful and lean, yet moist and well-marbled. Because grass-fed beef is leaner than grain-fed, it needs about 30 percent less cooking time than most common beef. Grass-fed steaks are best if cooked medium-rare to medium. If the Meat Thermometer (in thickest part of steak) registers 135 degrees F, it means the meat is still rare. You want a temperature between 145 and 155 degrees F for medium-rare to medium. Anything above that will cause your steak to lose moisture and tenderness. Visit our beltiebeef.com website  for product  information