The quality of a steak depends on a variety of factors including the breed, genetics, and how the cattle were raised.

How Montana Black Angus Beef is Raised:

The cattle raised to produce Montana Black Angus Beef spend the majority of their lives on the open Montana range, pictured above (if you divide the land area by the number of cattle there are about 40 acres per cow).  In the winter, when snow covers much of the range, they are driven by cowboys into large pastures (enough for about 2 acres per cow), but other than that they are left to live, give birth, eat, and roam with very little human interaction.

They are grass fed (100% grazed grass most of the year, with a 2/3rds grass, 1/3^rd alfalfa blend during the winter).  Their water comes exclusively from fresh mountain springs and glacier-fed streams.

They are never fed any growth stimulants (hormones or sub-therapeutic antibiotics).  Their beef’s delicious flavor and amazing marbling (far above what is found in other grass fed beef and even some conventional beef) is purely the result of their superior genetics (read Why Excellent Genetics = Excellent Beef), open range lifestyle, and the Black Angus breed (Why Angus Cattle are Special).

How Grass Fed Beef is Raised (including Montana Black Angus):

Grass fed beef has been fed grass for most of its life (if not all, in the case of Montana Black Angus Beef).  Grass fed beef tends to have a lower fat content (and lower saturated fat content) than conventional beef, which also makes it cook faster.

Grass fed beef is generally not graded by the USDA (Select, Choice, Prime) because its natural levels of marbling are usually lower than those found in conventional beef. 

In order to increase the marbling, tenderness, and quantity of the finished grass fed beef, grass fed cows are often “grain finished.” This means that they are switched to a grain diet towards the end of their lives to fatten them up. Montana Black Angus Beef is not grain finished; the cows eat their preferred diet of grass for their entire life.

It is important to note that grass fed beef is not automatically free range beef.  “Grass fed” cattle can be raised on crowded feed lots just like conventional cattle and fed cut grasses.

How Kobe Beef is Raised:

A lot of legends surround the secretive ways Kobe beef cattle are raised.  You may have heard that they drink beer and are regularly massaged (sometimes with beer or sake).  While some Kobe producers do have secret husbandry methods that may include these, in actuality a lot of what makes Kobe beef (aka wagyu beef) special is the breed.  Wagyu cattle, whether they’re raised in Japan, Australia, or the US, are genetically predisposed to an extremely high level of marbling.  This marbling gives their meat a buttery rich flavor and makes it incredibly moist and tender.  It almost melts in your mouth.  In addition to great steaks, these attributes make Kobe beef burgers among the most moist and delicious available. 

Their marbling is far above the highest grade on the USDA scale, so a special scale created by the Japanese is used (Kobe beef grading information). 

Though they can be raised in many different ways, Kobe beef cattle are generally grain-fed.  All solid muscle cut Kobe beef offered by Marx Foods (steaks, tenderloins, etc) has not been fed growth hormones or sub-therapeutic antibiotics.

How Conventional Beef is Raised:

Conventional cattle, where most beef comes from, are raised with one goal in mind: quantity.  Because of this they are packed into massive feed lots, where it is easy to feed, medicate, and keep track of them.  Here the cattle are fed lots and lots of grain (often corn), which fattens them up quickly.  Studies have shown that feeding cattle an all-grain diet (which their digestive systems were not evolved to handle) increases their methane production significantly.  As methane is a greenhouse gas, this is one reason why grass fed beef is more environmentally friendly.

Conventional cattle are also often treated with growth stimulants like hormones or antibiotics during their lifetimes to get them to grow bigger faster.  It seems that, antibiotics, when administered outside of the normal levels needed to treat animal sickness as it occurs, can actually act as a growth stimulant. 

For this reason (according to the League of Concerned Scientists) 70% of all the antibiotics used in the United States go to conventional livestock and poultry…often to promote greater “feed efficiency” (ratio of pounds of meat produced per pound of feed fed to the animal).

Read More About Beef:
Why Free Range Doesn’t Do Montana Black Angus Beef Justice