i can chime in here for fun. when i was hunting around for the paramount son my heifer is out of, he's a small bull. the guy who bought him is also a lowliner, and has been using maine's since 1974. i have eaten a few grassfed steaks and other cuts including hamburger, will have my first home raised one's shortly. My comments about them are that it sounds good, you are helping the whole sustainable ag movement thing and it feels good. but actually, the steaks fall kinda bland. i have experimented cooking them in a variety of ways. i've tried roasts, ribeye's, new york, santa maria tritips etc. the roasts are the most disappointing, and then the steaks. they mostly lack enough fat to taste, like well fat. i also like lamb, goat, elk, deer, and in general, those products are more consistent in the taste and "tenderness" qualities. the reason i am interested in that paramount son, yes, he's probably a carrier, but he's a small bull, thick, and someone who is actually using the lowlines purchased him. they are going to send me some pics, so i'll post them at that time. the other reason i became interested in maine's in the first place, was that they supposedly have the genetics to marble on grass, rather than moving the fat from the outside to the inside of the carcass like happened to holsteins. at least 20 years ago when i was tracking carcasses, it was pretty easy to tell the carcasses apart from where the fat was alone. the one thing that scares me about the PB maines, is that they may be losing that marbling on grass genetics, which may have something to do with size, but maybe not. i have been reading some information about backgrounding and there is some interesting comments about that on other sites regarding that the cattle may have the genetics to marble more, but our imposed environmental practices are not allowing this. that's why i really like chambero's milky mouth heifer. would really like to see a pool of those, but steers, stay right on irrigated pasture all the way to finish and get some good fat, moist grass fed beef and get the "gaminess", but also a little more of the fat beef taste. my game plan is to keep wean late, and keep them rolling, without the need to "go off feed" to background later, and basically delay? an earlier finish point. get some of that in people's mouth and go from there. could be pointless, but no one out here is really doing it to push for early finishing on grass. they are mostly doing the 24-30 month window. over time, the novelty may wear off revealing the quality more clearly and then the customer base might be a little weary. but these feel good city environmentalists treat food like music, part of the fun for them is seeking it out.
(lol)
