Why do we seed our pastures with clover?

Grass - our beautiful Long Island acreage is covered in the stuff. The cattle love it, the environment loves it, and we love cattle fed and finished on it. But if you were to take a walk through our pastures, you’d notice the grass sharing its space with another plentiful green neighbor: clover. That’s not on accident.

Where does clover come into the picture?

Grass fed and finished beef is highly regarded in the meat industry as the premium standard for sustainable, healthy red meat. But growing our cattle to the optimum size and ensuring a nutrient dense product isn’t easy. One of the main reasons grass fed beef is considered a premium product is because of the amount of time, space, and energy it takes for cattle to become the desired size on green fields alone.

In the non-grass-fed model, calves are born on pasture, but are quickly removed and weaned from their mother. These cattle are then finished as rapidly as possible, being fed supplemental grains, like corn, soybeans, and wheat. That’s how they get big, fast.

At Acabonac Farms, we pride ourselves on raising healthy, happy Long Island cattle. For us, growing our cattle to the right size is not a race. Rather than speed, our eyes are fixed on quality. This means our livestock need to get the required nutrition for optimum growth from our green pastures alone. Here’s where clover comes into play.

Clover is a legume, and legumes are known for their incredible ability to support the soil system that they reside in. This is achieved through Nitrogen enrichment. Clover efficiently captures nitrogen from the air and infuses it into the soil, increasing root growth and foraging capacity. In a nutshell, clover is soil regenerative. More clover = more resilient pastures.

On another note, who wants to eat a salad made of just one ingredient? Clover contains more nutrients and is more digestible than grasses alone. Their presence in a pasture improves the palatability of the forage, which increases the amount and quality of the forage that our animals consume. That means more weight on the cattle - and better beef – with no corners cut.
Providing a nutrient dense grazing environment results in delicious, nutrient dense beef.

Here at our farms, we understand the importance of an ecosystem, and value natural regenerative practices to ensure the long-term health of our acreage. Clover plays an integral role in our farm’s ecosystem by strengthening our soil and supplementing the diet of our livestock. By seeding our pastures with clover every Fall, we’re ensuring a thick, healthy forage for our cattle come Spring.

The natural, high quality of life that we provide our Long Island cattle translates not only into the highest caliber of beef available on the market, but also a more sustainable approach to agriculture and farming as a whole.

When you enjoy grass fed and finished beef from Acabonac Farms, don’t just thank the grass. You’re reveling in the work of a natural thriving ecosystem.