Although grass-fed beef sales have soared in recent years, Denny and Page McDaniel said the grass-fed beef that customers buy at grocery stores is not always what the label claims the product to be. The husband-and-wife team own Rockin’ M Ranch Grass-Fed Beef, a business based in Bee Cave.
For beef to be truly grass-fed, Denny said it has to be “grass-finished,” meaning the cows eat only grass throughout their lives. To meet demand, he said beef companies will rush the process and, after starting the cattle on grass, finish them with grain and corn to fatten them up.
Rockin’ M Ranch owners Denny and Page McDaniel relax at home with their children.[/caption]
“True grass-fed [beef] does not have white fat,” Page said. “True grass-fed also has small marbling veins. If they have big veins of marbling, [cows were] force-fed.”
Although Rockin’ M Ranch has been in the beef sale business for less than a year, Denny said Texas cattle ranching has been in his family for seven generations. The business derives its name from a country dance hall his parents frequented in the 1970s.
Rockin’ M Ranch made its first sale on the day after Christmas in 2016, Denny said.
“We sold the whole cow in like 10 days,” he said. “[It was about] 500 pounds of beef.”
A former standout pitcher at Lake Travis High School in the 1990s, Denny went on to play professional baseball, including seasons with the Kansas City Royals.
Besides running the beef business, Denny and Page hold day jobs—operating a land-clearing business and working as a Realtor, respectively—and are raising three young children.
In order to accommodate a grass-fed beef operation, Denny and Page lease land from various Lake Travis-area ranches. He said people are eager to let them keep cows on their property because it allows the owner to receive an agricultural exemption on his or her taxes. The couple maintains these properties in exchange for grazing rights, while the property owner gets a substantial tax write-off, he said.
The business features grass-fed beef, including rib eye and tenderloin.[/caption]
A Smithville company dry-ages the meat for 14 days, Page said.
“The main breed of cow we use is American Aberdeen Angus,” Denny said, adding that not every cow makes for quality grass-fed beef.
“We’re after animals with the genetics that [were] first brought over [to America] from Great Britain,” he said. “Those were smaller, more compact animals that could eat enough grass in a day’s time and start putting on intramuscular fat at an early age.”
The rib eye and tenderloin have been the most popular cuts of beef of the approximately 20 products Rockin’ M Ranch offers, Page said.
The McDaniels are in talks with several local restaurants and small, independently owned grocers to supply them with Rockin’ M Ranch beef for their establishments, Page said. Eventually the couple intends to expand their inventory to include other meats, such as pasteurized chicken, pork and lamb.
