What the Irish Grass Fed Standard means

Grass-fed, pasture milk, pasture-raised: you read terms like these often - and rarely does anyone explain what exactly is behind them. Ireland is different. It has a national Grass Fed Standard that defines pasture farming with concrete, verifiable numbers. The pasture milk for our milk protein isolate is verified against exactly that standard.

The two key figures of the standard

The Irish Grass Fed Standard is run by Bord Bia, the Irish state agency for food and agricultural products. It turns the vague term 'grass-fed' into two measurable figures - collected and independently audited at herd level:

• ✓Days on pasture: the cows of farms in the grass-fed programme spend around 240 days a year on pasture on average - made possible by the mild Irish climate, in which grass grows almost all year round.
• ✓Grass in the diet: the ration consists of around 95% grass and grass products on average (fresh grazing, silage, hay).

Why 'on average' matters

Both numbers are averages across the herds of the standard - not a promise for every single cow on every single day. A wet winter can lower the pasture days of individual farms, a good summer can raise them. Being transparent about this matters to us: the standard describes a system of pasture farming, honestly averaged rather than embellished.

Just as important: grass-fed is a statement about origin and farming - not a health claim. We use it because it describes where our raw material comes from and how the farms behind it work.

What this means for our products

The pasture milk for our milk protein isolate comes exclusively from Irish producers whose milk is verified against this standard. It is processed by Irish dairies, and the recipes are created in our own house in Kerry.

And the vegan line? It has nothing to do with pasture milk - it is based on plant proteins and therefore carries no pasture milk promise. Origin claims have to match the product, otherwise they are worthless.