I think the 100% grassfed vs fed some corn beef and fed gmo vs fed non gmo corn beef are really two different discussions.

I sell some of mine as freezer beef, finished by grazing standing, unharvested gmo corn (along with free-choice hay) for a couple months just prior to harvest at 13-14 months of age. Steers spend most of their lives on mama and in a rotational grazing system. They are not fed any corn silage, grazing the whole corn plant only in a controlled access system. Over the steer's lifetime he is probably 95% grass fed.

My BT-RR continuous corn, spring strip tilled into rolling hillside strips works well in my system. Folks love the taste and tenderness of my end product.  I tried a side by side comparison in the planter of a BT and non BT versions of the same RR corn hybrid and saw no difference in the grazing patterns nor standability of the two hybrids.  My only weed control is one pass of Glypho when the corn plant is about a foot tall. I have some weeds by fall but not a significant effect on yield and the steers will eat about anything except thistle.

I get more questions from freezer beef customers on the gmo question than on the grassfed question. Most people want taste and tenderness more than grassfed vs some corn. But some are very concerned about the corn being gmo or non gmo.

As someone said, the customer is always right. It is easier to sell people something they already want to buy rather than to try to convince them to buy something that is not the way they want it.

So this coming year I am going to try my system with a full non-gmo hybrid and look around for a 6 row cultivator to make one pass in the late spring on some flatter ground. Just giving it a try.  My system does require a corn hybrid that will stand well into spring. I do not want to use insecticides.  I do not want to use other herbicides.  Probably will not allow me to be continuous corn but I will see how it goes.

On balance I feel that my current system using gmo (RR + BT) holds the soil, builds organic matter, uses minimal herbicide, no insecticide, and with the right hybrid selection is readily grazed by steers (except for the tough lower stalk which I don't force them to eat) works very well in my location.  But there is enough customer interest that I will try some non gmo and see how it goes.

fwiw.

Jim

I'll add a picture of a yearling group of mostly heifers but including a couple late steers. My BT RR grazing corn is in the background. Most of a steer's life however is spent on grass as in the foreground, and the cow.

This one doesn't seem to mind grazing gmo corn.

(IMG028 Yearlings using up odd lanes etc near the end of the grazing season 100414.jpg)

(IMG_1627_Closeup of Steer eating corn ear after I opened a fresh area of standing corn 020514.jpg)

IMG028 Yearlings using up odd lanes etc near the end of the grazing season 100414.jpg (182KB - 700 downloads)

IMG_1627_Closeup of Steer eating corn ear after I opened a fresh area of standing corn 020514.jpg (170KB - 684 downloads)