Why Grass-fed, Highland Beef?

Get away from industrial meat production and enjoy the health benefits of grass-fed beef. Our cattle are raised with no daily antibiotics, never any hormones, and fed as nature intended: on grass. Arrowpoint Cattle Company has raised Highland beef since 1959. The smaller stature of Highlands make them ideal for grass fattening and they are also extremely good mothers. Our cattle are raised humanely, with respect and with sustainability in mind.

Nutritional Information of Grass-fed Products

A new article produced by Charles Bruce at the University of Glasgow confirms the beneficial properties of pure pedigree Highland beef, previously studied in 1997 by Dr Ivy Barclay amongst others. Samples of sirloin were taken from all over Scotland and from Yorkshire for the study, funded by the Highland Cattle Society from the Queen’s Jubilee Trust, a charitable fund set up for educational purposes. A rapid slice shear force test determined the tenderness of the samples and chemical analysis included measurements of moisture (juiciness), iron, protein and cholesterol content.

Pure Highland beef was shown to be almost 23% more tender than commercial beef, scoring, at 83.27, well below the 100 which benchmarks meat as “very tender”. Compared with commercial meat, pure Highland meat contains almost 7% more protein and almost 17% more iron, averaging over 4% less cholesterol. Intramuscular fat, low in saturated fat and seen as marbling through the meat, gives Highland beef its tenderness, succulence and distinctive taste. An interesting finding was the lack of expected correlation between fat content and cholesterol levels.

Comparison of diets and the effect of more intensive rearing might explain this result. Charles is to be congratulated on this fascinating and informative work, which forms a foundation for possible future investigation. The full report may be obtained from the Highland Cattle Society.