Interesting. I purchased and moved onto a small ranch last year. We've got about 10 acres of pasture all irrigated and set up for cattle. We started out by renting it out to a family member for his older cows that were calving and getting too old for the high desert, had close to 20 out there at one point to help eat the pasture down it grew so fast.

We bought a steer from another family member last summer, ended up buying a handful of calves last fall most of which were born on our property from the older cows were had out there.

For the cows we butchered last year, they simply fed on grass/alfalfa mix of the pasture. Didn't fatten or grain them up on anything else. The meat was great and the few people we sold some to loved it as well. And these were mostly older cows.

I was thinking about graining up the 1 or 2 steers we'll be butchering this year. Even had a neighbor offer me some grain for free. But I'll probably reconsider now.