Grass Fed Butter in Australia

So, just to prove that I read the comments (hi April!) I'm going to share some tips on grass fed butter in Australia.

To buy grass fed butter in an affordable way (without spending $7-8 per block on something that says "grass fed" on the label) is an exercise in risk management. The risks are that the cows could get fed grain:

• As their primary food source
• As a backup food source (in winter or drought when there's no grass)
• As a treat to produce their milk

So the trick is to find products that tick (or don't tick) the above boxes. In order of priority here are the products that I use regularly:

• Westgold butter (available at most woolies) - NZ dairy farmed butter. NZ is a wet country with lots of grass, its fundamentally uneconomical to farm dairy as a grain fed operation. Furthermore, being a wet country the drought risk is low (they don't have to substitute grain to keep the farm going).
• Pepe Saya (available at farmers markets and online) - Aus dairy farmed. This is a real artisan style butter, in a word, it's amazing. We work with Pepe Saya to produce a Grass Fed Ghee which a really good alternative for anyone who can't handle dairy or if grass fed butter is too hard to find.
• Ashgrove butter (order from their webstore) - tassie farmed butter. This butter is sold as grass fed but they do feed the cows some grain when they're being milked. The amount of grain feed is minimal but still existent.
• Myrtleford Cultured Butter - Butter made from pasture fed cows and cultured with lactic bacteria for over 18 hours. made from 100% grass fed cows cream. 82%+ butterfat butter.
• Woolworths HomeBrand - NZ dairy farmed butter (we suspect it comes from the same manufacturer as Westgold.) Woolworths have in fact confirmed in writing that this butter is from grass-fed cows.)
• Organic Times - Aus dairy farmed butter. This is the only butter brand that actually says 'from grass-fed cows' on the packaging.
• Paris Creek - Aus butter from Fleurieu Peninsula near Adelaide. It has a rich yellow colour which is indicative of high levels of beta-carotene. It is available at health and gourmet food stores and has also been spotted at some Coles.
• Allowrie butter - Aus dairy farmed butter. This is my backup when the woolies is out of butter. We've spoken to the manufacturer, and the cows have grass as their primary food source but there is risk that the diet is supplemented with grain or hay silage when the availability of grass is poor.
• True Organic Australian Salted Butter available from Born Organic who are based in Western Australia
• Australian Organic butter is available at Eden Farm Produce in Numurkah, VIC and other artisanal stores like Oasis Food Paradise.
• Absolute Organic is a Belgian butter available at Harris Farm Markets. But no specific grass-fed claims are made.

Note: For anyone looking for KerryGold Butter in Australia, it is not available. As listed above, we have plenty of local options available.

Cheers

Related link: Grass Fed Meat in Australia