In Collaboration with Generous Benefactor, College Cafeteria Now Serving 100% Natural, Forage-Finished Beef

Earlier this month, Wyoming Catholic College began serving exclusively 100% natural, forage-finished beef in its cafeteria. The move is the result of an ongoing collaboration with Monte Christo Ranching, a company that has been involved with the College for years, including helping to organize several of the College’s “Horsemanship Outdoor Weeks.” “We’re thrilled at the opportunity to make this change,” said Jon Tonkowich, the College’s Executive Vice President, “and the benefits to our community are substantial. Monte Christo is being incredibly generous by offering us this high-quality beef for the same price we would be paying our regular vendors, but we’re getting a vastly better product.”

Forage-finished beef refers to meat that has been produced by feeding beef cattle a diet of high-quality forage from start to finish; grain is not utilized at all during this process. The end-product is a high-quality meat that is more comparable to grain-finished beef in flavor, as well as being leaner than feedlot finished beef. In fact, the fat content is comparable to skinless chicken breast, wild deer, or elk. (Forage-fed and forage-finished beef also contains a higher level of omega-3 and conjugated linoleic acid than grain fed beef, two components reputed to have significant health benefits.) The Red Angus-based genetics of the herd, dedicated to produce beef for the college, were developed through several generations of selective breeding and state of the art research. This approach has helped Monte Christo Ranching to find and preserve heirloom beef bloodlines, which produce high-quality beef without hormones, drugs, chemicals, or grain.

Bruce Liu, the College’s Dining Services Director, has been impressed with the quality of the meat, and had been working with a local butcher (and several students with butchering experience) to incorporate it into the daily menu. Given that this year’s student body of over one-hundred and eighty students is the College’s largest ever, it shouldn’t be difficult to put it to good use.

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