NOTE: This post was one of the first posts shared on Live Simply, making this blogpost over 5 years-old. I still love and purchase Kerrygold butter for my family. That said, I still stand behind the words shared in this post. I welcome comments on this post; however, comments that are rude (a direct insult to me, name calling, or written in a nasty way) will not be approved. Differing opinions are always welcome, rude and insulting comments are not welcome.
I guess I have developed a reputation.
A reputation for loving good high-quality, pastured butter.
Rich, yellow, creamy, delicious butter.
Last week several of my friends sent me, with great concern, a post titled, “Why I Stopped Buying Kerrygold Butter” by hopecentric It is a very well-written post and worth a read. Her two main reasons for no longer buying Kerrygold are:
It’s not 100% grass fed. It is almost 90% grass fed, and supplemented with feed that includes soy and corn.
It’s actually only 97% GM free.
After reading the post, my first reaction was “What?”
“What am I going to do with the pounds of Kerrygold Butter in my freezer? Not 100% grass-fed?”
The writer also suggests several alternatives, such Organic Valley and Natural by Nature as well as a few other brands I haven’t found to be locally available.
I decided to do some investigating!
I was curious!
I wanted to make sure I had my facts straight before calling it quits with my Kerrygold obsession.
If I were to make the switch to a different butter, as the writer suggests, I would be spending double even triple per pound vs. what I am paying for Kerrygold at Costco. I wanted to make sure the higher price of these butters really meant I was getting a better, grass-fed product, free of as many GMO’s as possible.
I realize buying straight from a local farm is always best! For some this may not be an option. For me it is.
I am able to purchase 1/2lb tubs of butter through my raw milk farmer. I make it a priority in our family’s food budget to purchase raw milk, raw cream, raw sour cream, and raw cottage cheese from this farm. I love supporting a local farm and feel good about how the farm cares for the cows and their pastured lifestyle. There are many times the machine which the farm uses to churn butter simply isn’t working which means no butter. I know, people will write and say,
“Buy the cream and make your own!”
I have done this many times and often when cream is available I purchase it for this reason. But there are times when I just need the convenience of pre-made butter. At $5 for a 1/2lb of butter I can’t afford to purchase lots of this butter.
It’s a special treat!
That’s where Kerrygold comes to the rescue.
At $6.50 for 3 sticks of butter at Costco, I can feed my family pastured butter without Dustin needing an extra job just to support our butter habit.
I’ll admit, I’ve lost some sleep over the issue of butter this week.
It’s probably not too healthy to loose sleep over butter!
Let’s consider a few things:
1. 90% Grass-Fed: According to Kerrgold,
Approximately 2/3 of the land in Ireland is used for farming and agriculture and 80% of this land is used to grow grass. This grass gives the Irish countryside its green color and is the basis for the description of Ireland as the Emerald Isle. This abundant supply of natural fresh grass is also what makes the Irish dairy industry and Irish dairy products unique.
Irish dairy cows graze on fresh grass in pastures all day long for up to 312 days a year. In fact, Irish cows graze outdoors on grass for longer than almost every country in the world.
I’m not a math wiz, but from my simple calculations this means the cows are supplemented (not consuming grass) only 44 days a year.
I’d say that’s pretty awesome!
I know 365 days of pure pasture grazing would be pretty darn awesome, but let’s think about something…winter!
I’m a Floridian, however, I know enough about winter to know when snow falls grass is going to be scarce which means cows aren’t going to be grazing on grass. Hungry cows need to eat!
Regarding this issue Kerrygold states,
…like so much of what we do, our feeding pattern follows the cycle of nature. During the winter, when grasses stop growing, Irish cows are fed dried grass (known as silage). This grass is grown throughout the year, cut fresh and stored to be used when the winter comes. Cows in Ireland calve in the spring and are therefore outdoors, grazing on green grass when they are producing milk. After calving, cows are provided with supplementary feed to help restore protein and nurture them through this period.
After talking to several farmers here in the States, I am beginning to realize 100% grass-fed with zero supplementation is a nice idea, however, not realistic.
I’m not surprised or disappointed to learn Kerrygold cows are only 90% grass-fed. I am pleased to find affordable, good quality butter that is pastured for 312 days a year on fresh grass!
That’s a lot of grass eating!
2. Supplementing: When the cows are not grazing on fresh grass supplementation is needed. Kerrygold explains what this supplementation is comprised of,
Supplementary feed makes up about 10% of a cow’s diet. The supplementary feed is used to give the cows a healthy and balanced blend of nutrients, providing them with protein, energy and fiber. The majority of the cow’s supplementary feed is from locally grown Irish crops, such as wheat and barley. The balance of this feed can be composed of distillers grain (rapeseed, soy and citrus pulp – a blend of dried peel, pulp and seeds of oranges, grapefruit and other citrus fruit).
3. The GMO Issue: The biggest alarm from the post is the issue of GMO’s. I went straight to Kerrygold:
Our ongoing discussions with the grain and dairy industry have established that of this approximately 10% grain/supplements, approximately 20 to 25% may be from GM sources. This means that approximately 3% of a cow’s total typical annual diet may be from GM sources…
At present, the Irish Dairy Board cannot guarantee that grain supplements used by farmers will all be GM free…
We can confirm that Kerrygold butter and cheese do not contain GM ingredients.
Some have raised concern that even though Kerrygold’s butter may not contain GMO ingredients, the feed may.
I feel comfortable with Kerrygold disclosing that 3% of the annual feed their cows eat may contain GMO’s. Considering the fact that GMO’s are fairly new to Europe and most of the supplementation is coming from local sources of wheat and barely along with possibly corn and soy, I feel confident in this very small percentage.
Our family just recently adopted two laying hens, because of this I also have a great appreciation for how difficult it is to find guaranteed GMO-free feed and the great cost involved in using such feed is amazingly high.
I congratulate Kerrygold for being able to keep this percentage so low.
Bravo!
4. Kerrygold butter comes from fresh Spring cream/milk:
Cows in Ireland calve in the spring and are therefore outdoors, grazing on green grass when they are producing milk.
The cream/milk produced to make butter comes from cows that are grazing on pasture. Cream is not produced and churned into butter during the winter when the cows are being supplemented.
5. Consider the Alternatives: I personally choose not to purchase butter (or meat) based on the organic label alone.
Organic does not equal grass-fed.
Many organic brands of butter, cheese, milk, and meats are nothing more than glorified corn-fed cows, simply free of antibiotics and hormones. Although these products may be GMO-free (organic), the diets of such animals are far from normal or healthy.
I decided to look into a couple other sources for butter.
Pastured, grass-fed sources.
The first, Organic Valley. I spoke to Organic Valley over the phone. I was told the milk/cream used for their line of Pastured Butter is not 100% grass-fed. Just like Kerrygold, Organic Valley supplements with grains including corn and soy. Although they didn’t disclose how much supplementation occurs, they do use GMO-free corn and soy. The representative also confirmed that 100% grass-fed was far from reality for the majority of farmers.
The second source was my local raw dairy farm. Again, I found supplementation to be a small part of the cows diet when needed. The farm also recently switched over to a new organic and GMO-free feed which also drove the cost of the dairy much higher.
Dustin may need to start looking for that extra job now.
To Buy or Not:
After a week of pondering and researching (and loosing sleep) I have decided I will continue to buy Kerrygold.
I feel it’s important to continue to support a company that strives to feed their cows grass, a practice which is not widely practiced today.
While I will pick up a 1/2lb tub of butter from my local farm and stock up on Organic Valley Pastured Butter when on sale, I will continue to confidently buy pounds of the creamy, yellow grass-fed Irish Butter I love so much.
Kerrygold.
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Maybe you could try vegan butter. It doesn’t contain cholesterol, it’s always antibiotic and hormone free, better for the envirorment, and doesn’t require that mother cows be repeatedly impregnated only to watch a farmer drag her baby away so that he can take the milk she produced, meant for her baby, to sell to humans for profit. It’s exploitation, and as a mother, you should understand the maternal bond all mammals have with their babies. This especially true of cows, who are known to bellow for days after their calf is taken and often chase after their babies being driven off to a veal farm, where they’re be isolated in a crate before they’re slaughtered for veal, as male calves are useless to the dairy industry. This occurs on factory farms, family farms, pastureland farms, and anywhere that cows are exploited for the breastmilk.
I would visit a farm in your area and talk to the farmer, find out about their practices and if what you claim is true. I’ve spent a lot of time on farms that are practicing regenerative ag and can say that while this is may be true for large, mass-produced farms, this isn’t always the case. Also, vegan butter is not better for the environment, it’s highly processed, made with vegetable oils like soy and such (or other highly processed ingredients in a lab). It takes a greater toll on the environment than a farm that practices regenerative practices (which actually gives back to the land and results in a negative carbon emission).
LS Team
I visited an organic Horizon farm during a birthing, they took the baby away immediately for slaughter. The mother bellowed as stated. Our Sustainablity class visited a homestead where the mother was harnessed with a spiked teat protector, so her baby could stay with her. That was upsetting, but not as upsetting as traditional method. In every “Human” organic company though, the males are sold.
Thanks for sharing about your visit, AnimalEthics101.
I am wondering though if their butter is irradiated. For sale in USA almost any food product, that is not organic can be irradiated. And they do nto have to put it on the label unless it changes product’s taste or texture. I stopped buying tropical fruits, that are non organic as they are required to be irradiated to cross the border. Not sure about butter. USDA website is very secretive about irradiation and the rules.
Thank you for the info, Daiva!
LS Team.
I email them about irritation and this is their reply:
Hi Kate,
Thanks for your message. Hope you’re also doing well! Kerrygold butter is not subject to irradiation upon entering the U.S.
Cheers,
Emily @ Kerrygold USA
the whole reason I am buying irish butter is because I hope the cows are not Holstiens. You see the milk in our cows here in the states is from these cows and it contains the protein casein-A1 . Now I have found out from DR. Gundry that European cows still produce the casein -A2 which is safer. The
A1 is a problematic lectin like protein that attaches to the insulin producing cells of the pancreas causing an immune response .You can look into this further in Dr. Gundry’s book (Plant Paradox).
hope this is helpful I need to find out what breed of cows the Irish milk is coming from..
Hi Ralf,
Kristin isn’t a fan of Dr. Gundry’s work so she can’t speak to this. I would reach out to dr Gundry about this.
LS Team.
I’m not a fan of Dr. Gundry’s work either. Some lectins are bad for humans, some are neutral, and some are even good for humans; not all lectins are bad like Dr. Gundry seems to say. Though it does seem there is evidence that casein-A1 can be problematic for humans.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3475924/
I am well aware of the pasteurized vs unpasteurized milk safety issues but amazed that the Florida Agriculture Department would allow the sale if it was labeled for animal use only. Sort of like in Ohio, where the sale of fireworks is illegal unless the buyer signs a paper saying they will be be removed from the state within 72 hours. wink wink.
Hello, where did you find the information that cows spend certain amount of days outside (314 days)? I emailed Kerrygold asking that and they said they can’t say exact days spent outside because it varies depending on the year.
Hey Kate, This post is 6 years old. This was per their website back then. They probably can’t say because of weather–farming has a ton of variables. I’m sure they got in trouble for saying a precise number, or at least people took issue with it. Farming is unpredictable so I don’t think they can actually give a number because who knows what “mother nature” will be like in any given year.
I agree with Kristin that calling farmers ‘hillbillies’ is pretty poor behavior. I respect the people who grow our food and strive to do it organically, sustainably. The people I don’t respect? Huge agri-conglomerates who are poisoning us, and poisoning the earth. Save your name-calling for them!!
As for raw dairy, I am SO GRATEFUL to live in a state (Washington) which hasn’t gone all paranoid on fresh, raw dairy. I buy from a local farmer who provides me with a weekly half-gallon of the sweetest, most beautiful milk from cows I visit grazing in their fields when I do the pick-up. All the enzymes are there, the full flush of nutrients un-killed by pasteurization, un-disturbed by homogenization.
I also get eggs from him, and he’s getting older….and apparently needs more help. The eggs are sometimes so covered with the hen-house ‘environment’….that I have to wrinkle my nose….and rinse them off.
I’m glad he has his law-encoded and enforced raw milk production better executed!!
I was just curious— the local dairy butter image you published— why does it say “Not for Human Consumption?” As a consumer, this would give me pause. And, if not fit for human consumption… who on earth did they make it for? Not being snarky— just have never seen that. It seems counterproductive to create butter that cannot be used.
Or is that a disclaimer so if you use it and you get sick, you can’t sue them?
Being from a major metropolitan area, there is a lack of local fairies around here so searching for fresh from the cow butter is not really a thing. We buy Kerry Gold because it is good and a lot faster than driving 2 hours out of the metro to hunt down a dairy, or trust some random hillbilly at the farmers market. That’s a total thing for some people but I don’t trust it. Not after I bought “fresh from the farm” eggs from a well reputed market that ended up having been refrigerated whilst still covered in chicken-poo and was told by said hillbilly it wasn’t a big deal.
Anyway, just my thoughts and if anyone knows why that butter is not fit for humans, I’d really like to know 🙂
Hey Lauraw, That’s because in Florida we have a law that says raw dairy products are to be sold only for “pet consumption.” Different states have different laws. There’s a lot of history that goes into the raw dairy laws we see today in the US–a good documentary is Farmageddon.
Calling a farmer a “hillbilly” is pretty disrespectful. Most farmers are incredibly smart and respectable people–one the farms I buy from is run by a former engineer, the other by a lady with a masters in agriculture. These aren’t “hillbillies.” These are people that care deeply about soil, our health, and how our food is grown. Personally, driving to buy food from these people is far better, IMO, than sourcing it from most of the corporations that sell less-than-ideal “food” in the grocery store. I, too, live in the middle of the city so have to drive to the farms or markets to source this amazing, nutrient-rich food.
And yes, eggs come with poop on them at times–even the ones in the grocery store, but those are treated so by the time they get to you they’re nice and shiny so you can feel good about their “cleanliness.”
Hi Laura,
In FL raw milk has to be labeled as so or it’ll say “for pet consumption”. It’s illegal to sell raw milk here but the loop hole is to say it is for pets or not for human consumption. I definitely recommend knowing or visiting the farm where you get your raw milk products to see what their practices are also the cleanliness. Hope this helps!
LS Team.
Was at Costco yesterday….this package of Kerrygold is now up to over $12….was just $8 not long ago. Maybe dairy is having a surge…or is it just THIS butter? It has obviously become quite the darling….
I noticed Organic Valley had gone up quite a bit too, tho.
Wonderful breakdown. I am going to try some. Thanks!
Thanks, Will!
LS Team.
I am frugal, so my only negative on Kerry or other imported butter would be the premium price. I rarely pay more than $2-2.50 a pound. Private label is as good as Land-O-Lakes. However, many seem to think imported butter is worth the difference. I have a similar view regarding wine. I suppose the diet of the cows in Ireland alters the composition of the fat so that affects its softness. But we keep a stick of butter at room temp and it is always more than sufficiently soft. In my opinion it is safe to do that especially if you are using a stick within a week. My bottom line is always butter, not margarine or vegetable oil spread. Life is too short.
Yes, Jake, that’s how butter is stored in Europe, too.
You can get KerryGold butter at Aldi (under one of their proprietary labels) for < $3 bucks for small purchases, or at Costco for about $8 bucks for 2lbs.
In general, when I use KG, I tend to use less, as it tastes so much more flavorful, and adds such a fantastic mouth feel compared to other US butters. And, I only use it ON food or in sauces, and not in baked goods or to fry with, ie, situations where a cheaper butter will suffice.
I don’t like it. Oh, John up there said Fry’s has it in Phx. That’s the one I always shopped at when I lived there a year ago. [homesick]
I bought on sale at costco 5 days ago, at 2.70/8 oz, 4. cause they were bundled.
Ate a bit that was on my finger and yuk. But eating a bit on the finger of the kirkland butter, great. much stronger taste than kirkland/any american butter.
I will continue to try to like it with the remaining 4 oz.
The only good thing about it so far, is it stays softer left out on the counter, than the kirkland butter. [I only allow the house to get down to 65F at night].
But I don’t like it.
Hey Jama, The important thing is just to find grass-fed butter. There are lots of options.
Frys in phoenix,az. Has KERRYGOLD 8 OZ. FOR 1.99 ,,,35 AVE. & PEORIA
Probably the second biggest reason for supplementing with grain is for consistancy in taste. People want their food to taste exactly the same each and every time they buy it. Hence the reason Mc Donald’s began controlling their beef. Campbell Soup and Heinz their tomatoes, etc. We all know different grasses grow at different times of the year. We know for humans what women eat affects the taste of their breast milk. This is no different in animals. I remember my parents talking about milk in springtime tasting like scallions because there was so much of it in the fields. If you talk with hunters they will tell you depending on the time of year the meat of animals will taste differently. Spring lots of berries, fall scrounging on nuts. We can taste the difference in the honey from the bees we keep depending on what they are foraging on. The examples could go on forever. While it might be romantic to think of these lush untouched-by-man fields, the reality is these domestic animals need careful attention to their diets. And people want their foods to taste exactly the same each and every time they buy them!
Yes, our farmer boils all jars the milk is put in, etc.
Here’s an interesting Huff Post article about raw milk….
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/10-things-you-should-know_n_211715?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAGt17dzPns2Nml2jB2LeRCqOItY1oQ6f3Z674D8BWHf0SjclJ42W6dT–HJFLP7LLrakhQTcCpdFtESwIcBuA1ALhX-yoha-d7a6k0mE_jCCBq_vCa-Ii-eSsm7mbl1s3cCydaHLQFx3u3iUHKeEu93oqbTHqpgaEut2iQ_mVzoq
The point about it souring naturally is very interesting to me, and true. When it sours, it’s still fully edible, just tastes more like kefir or buttermilk, sort of. When pasteurized milk sours, it’s a truly awful and putrid smell, which strikes me as what it may be like inside our gut digesting, due to the temperature in there.
Another interesting point and the one that finally pushed me to the raw milk, is that all the commercial milk started tasting faintly, but surely, of iodine….even the Organic Valley and the rest, organic being all that I purchased at the time. I couldn’t figure this out for the longest time…I would even taste it in a latte or a mocha at a coffee shop. (Yes, my palate is pretty damn sensitive…very helpful for wine tasting!) It was driving me a little crazy.
Finally one day, I called Organic Valley and had a great conversation in which the Rep really explored this with me. When she mentioned that it’s iodine they use to clean the milking machine udder cups….the light went on. Iodine was the LAST thing I wanted to taste in what should be a ‘fresh’ product like milk. I still taste it from time to time in a coffee drink….but I was so glad to get out from under that flavor at home. yuck.
Commercial, homogenized, pasteurized milk is not a healthy product.
You might give that article a read….
Hi Melissa, I’m a raw milk fan, but it sure sounds like people have gotten seriously ill from drinking raw milk. Here are two websites for details on that: https://realrawmilkfacts.com/ and https://billmarler.com/. Whether the accounts are all true is another story. We have raw milk dairy farmer friends and I’m pretty sure they’ve had a few cases of customers who came down with stomach bugs from campylobacter bacteria after drinking their raw milk. It can happen. Like Kristin pointed out, if you do try raw dairy, get if from a source that is milking specifically for raw human consumption and not for pasteurization. Milk intended to be pasteurized can be handled a lot more carelessly like in how well the teats are cleaned before milking for example. Pasteurization covers a multitude of sins so to speak. But milk intended for raw human consumption should be handled a lot more carefully. The farmer may also have his/her milk tested more frequently than even required as in the case with our friends Dawn and Edwin Shank at The Family Cow in Chambersburg, PA. They’ve even implemented their own in house lab testing where every batch of milk is tested before it is sold. I wouldn’t say you need it that bombproof, but just so you know the lengths some farmers are going to ensure public health. From what I can tell, our friends’ raw milk and other raw dairy products sales only continue to grow.
I would also add, that your experience in England should be instructive….and you can seek out your beloved Devon cream (I so agree, I LOVE clotted cream on scones!!!) I’ve traveled all over Europe, where they eat more cheese per capita than we do….and much of it–the best of it–is made from RAW milk. Purists, gourmands, or ‘cheese sommeliers’ in Europe insist on raw!
Now, I’m hungry for some good Devonshire cream!
Oh, Melissa, I’m so sorry your husband has convinced you of this!
He’s 180 degrees in the wrong direction!
Raw milk is good for you, for the same reason you actually talked about regarding the cultured milk…it has all the necessary enzymes and good bacteria (hundreds or thousands of them!) which help to DIGEST the milk. Without those enzymes, homogenized and pasteurized milk is ‘dead’….and it’s terrible for your gut and your health. It is that dairy product which gives so many people health issues. Please do the research yourself…..and you would need to get some distance away from any ‘dairy council’ or commercial enterprise which stands to profit from the way dairy is done in this nation….to get the true answers. This situation borders on the criminal….the way some states won’t even ALLOW folks to have access to farm fresh milk and dairy products right from the cow. This is the ONLY way to consume them!
Now, having said that….of course states that ‘allow’ raw dairy, have standards. And the dairies must meet those standards, so that ‘bad’ bacteria don’t contaminate the milk. I’ve been drinking raw milk (Sooooooo delicious) for probably a dozen years now, never once a problem. And, if you do the research, there are statistically zero people who really get ill from raw dairy. It’s a big scare tactic. You should literally be more worried about spinach, romaine lettuce, meat, and wherever the next big E.Coli outbreak will come from. Raw dairy, handled with the reasonable standards of care applied…..is just plum wonderful. I make my own yogurt from it, and it’s delicious.
I’m still not completely comfortable with the issues around drinking another mammals milk, it’s strange we do it. And I need to know the cows I’m drinking milk from, are in pastures grazing on grass—right now the extremely rich spring grass which nutrifies dairy to its highest level.
I also look for raw cheese, and like to buy the NZ raw cheddar at Trader Joe’s.
I encourage you to look further into it…on your own. Your husband has unfortunately been brainwashed.
Hi, my husband is a American Cheese Foundation certified professional cheesemonger, (sort of like a sommelier for cheese) and he is absolutely adamant that humans should never, ever, EVER consume raw milk products. We lived in England for a bit where one could buy devon cream, which may be the greatest dairy product in the known universe, and I’ve seen adds for farms with exclusively Jersey herds that offer devon cream… but it’s all raw. I saw in your post that you eat raw milk products – and from Florida, where I am too…. don’t you worry about the potential diseases carried in raw dairy? Or has my husband just managed to scare the crap out of me? It’s seriously one of the few things in 35 years of marriage he has just unequivocally insisted that I do not even consider bringing into the house.. What I would do for a strawberry scone with clotted devon cream!!
Hey Melissa, I wouldn’t buy raw milk from any farm. You have to know your source, know the milking conditions, know the farmers, and know the testing procedures. If you know all of this, then yes, I 100% feel safe consuming raw milk products. Raw cheese can be found in many stores, like Whole Foods. I purchase these regularly, even though I don’t know the farm directly. A good documentary about raw dairy is Farmegeddon. It goes into the history of raw dairy products. That said, I think everyone has to make their own choice and feel comfortable with that choice.
Hey Melissa, My fav farm is Jersey Acres: https://floridarawmilk.com/
Thanks for all the research – more than I’ve done.
Here’s what I know:
Butter is truly one of mother natures greatest gifts to us.
Butter makes a wonderful life even more wonderful.
Grass fed butter is the best tasting, and best for you butter in the world.
KerryGold butter tastes like the warm, early morning sunshine. Every time I have some, I smile.
Hi Kristin and thank you. I agree that site is a little tricky to navigate. Please allow me to correct myself:
From the main web page, select “Irish Grass-Fed Difference”, then “Our Way”, then “Grass Fed”, then point #2 reads, “The majority of an Irish cow’s diet is from rich, natural grass and includes a small amount of supplementary feed for health and well-being of the animal.”
I missed that because in the beginning of this article you wrote that supplemental feed was only given during the winter. Under the winter feed description (“Our Way” tab, then #4), it says that the cows’ “Most Common” winter feed is silage (high moisture stored grass), then under “Other forms of winter feed” (can it be stated any clearer than that?!) there is hay (dried grass) and haylage (like silage grass only less moisture). There is no mention at all about any supplemental non-grass feed (at least not during the winter).
Per the statement on the other page about the cows getting supplemental feed, I figure they are given that year-round and not just after calving or during winter. I also think the butter is made year-round and not just from spring milk. Cream does undergo changes throughout the lactation cycle so there may be a science as to when they make butter out of it vs. use it for other things.
In summary, from Kerrygold’s website, their cows are fed, “A small amount of supplementary feed” of an unknown specific nature and quantity. That could mean bottom of the barrel conventional GMO corn and soy dairy feed. From the Kerrygold quotes you shared, this includes distiller’s grain (likely corn and other grains), rapeseed (likely the bi-product meal of canola oil manufacturing which is a common dairy supplement), flat out soy, and citrus pulp, or, “a blend of dried peel, pulp and seeds of oranges, grapefruit and other citrus fruit” to reuse their quote.
So essentially, the supplemental feed could be 100% GMO.
I was glad to find some admission from Kerrygold about giving supplemental feed to their cows, albeit one that is less than forthcoming in my opinion. How many clicks was it before you could find that statement nearly camouflaged by the grass background? Why don’t they have a video showing their cows eating that supplemental feed, which in all reality might hold the key to their butter’s magical flavor? Cheers anyone?
They are certainly IMPLYING that the cows get only grass, but nowhere do they really state it unequivocally. The phrase “100% grass fed” is not to be found.