Want to know where to find grass-fed butter? I’ve said before that butter is a health food, but grass-fed butter is even better — a nutritional powerhouse of vitamins A, D, & K-2, heart-disease preventing CLA (conjugated linoleic acid), and so much more.
Yet finding grass-fed butter can be hard for those newly committed to doing so. Is buying certified organic butter enough? Do you absolutely need to find a local pasture-based dairy? What if there are no pasture-based dairies near you?
Consider this your guide for where to find grass fed butter.
Find Grass-Fed Butter Locally: Best Choice
Optimally, you’ll be able to find a pasture-based dairy near you and buy directly from the farmer. There are several ways of doing this:
1. Use the Real Milk Finder at RealMilk.com.
Note that not every dairy local to you will be listed. Since raw milk sales are controversial, many farmers may opt to protect their privacy by NOT being listed in the directory. Also, many dairies only produce milk and do not process it into options like butter or cheese. In those cases, you’ll simply have to know how to make butter from cream.
2. Contact your local Weston A Price chapter leader.
Because the Weston A Price Foundation is a strong advocate for raw milk from grass-fed cows, your local chapter leader will probably know of just about every available local source. Don’t be afraid to give them a call. They don’t bite!
3. Visit your local farmer’s market.
Even in states that don’t allow off-farm sales of raw, grass-fed milk, you will often find those dairies represented at your local farmer’s markets. They won’t be selling their raw milk at the market, but they may sell everything else, including lightly pasteurized milk, butter, cheese, cheese spreads, sour cream, cream, and more — all from grass-fed cows.
Don’t know where your local farmer’s markets are? This is a good place to see what’s near you.
4. Buy from Whole Foods or other Natural Food stores.
In some states, retail sales of raw, grass-fed dairy is perfectly legal. In other states, your natural food stores may not carry raw grass-fed butter, but they’ll still carry grass-fed butter from a local creamery or two.
Find Grass-Fed Butter in Grocery Stores: Good Choice
This butter may not be local to you, but it is from grass-fed cows. Many of these are imported from other countries, so you may not find them on your butter aisle. Instead, they’ll be in the deli section along side specialty imported cheeses and spreads.
Here are a few popular brands of grass-fed butter available nationally.
1. Organic Valley Pasture Butter.
This grass-fed butter comes in a distinctive green package and is produced from May to September when pastures are green and lush and account for 99% of the cow’s feed. Like all Organic Valley products, it is produced without the use of antibiotics, growth hormones, or pesticides.
I am almost always able to find this year round at my local grocery store, although it’s also available for purchase online.
If you aren’t sure whether or not your local grocery store will still carry it in the winter, you can do what I did the first year I discovered it: stock up! Just buy a whole bunch of it all summer long and line your freezer shelves with it.
(where to find Organic Valley Pasture Butter online)
^^P.S. That link takes you to one of my favorite online food buying co-ops, Azure Standard. Back before I could find five types of grass-fed yogurt in my local grocery store (when the crust of the earth was hardening??? LOL), these guys were *the* go-to source for everything beautiful and organic and affordable. They are still an amazing resource, and I highly recommend you check them out for everything from dairy-free ice cream to pasture-raised chickens to gluten-free breads!
2. Anchor Butter.
Anchor butter is imported from New Zealand — land of reliably grass-fed lamb. It is not certified organic by the USDA, but the cows are out on pasture year round.
New Zealand has very strict regulations for its cows, so this butter is happily hormone-free, antibiotic-free, and additive-free.
I’ve seen Anchor butter in the deli section of my local grocery store (not the butter aisle), and I’ve also seen it at Whole Foods. You can also buy it online.
(where to buy Anchor butter online)
^^P.S. This link takes you to my favorite online marketplace for grass-fed and pasture-raised meats, bone broths, and dairy, US Wellness Meats. In general, they are more expensive than Azure Standard, but they’re great if you don’t have a local sources for pasture-raised or wild meats and their price on Anchor Butter is comparable to what I pay for it in my local grocery store.
3. Kerrygold Butter.
Kerrygold butter is imported from Ireland, and their cows spend 10 months out of the year (312 days) grazing beautiful Irish pastures.
Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve received many emails from readers who are worried about Kerrygold. I know some folks are freaking out that Kerrygold cows (during the WINTER) are fed Grains of Unknown Origin. Kerrygold has responded to consumer questions and admitted that probably about 3% of the grains they feed during the winter may contain GMOs.
But, guys! This is IRELAND. In the WINTER. What do you expect? There is no rapidly growing green grass like you’d find during the spring and fall. Yes, there are options for green-feeding cows in the winter, and if you buy fresh butter from a local dairy or creamery, you can ask those farmers and find out what they do and support them if you want to.
But if you live in an area where local grass-fed dairy is hard to come by, Kerrygold is still one of the few semi-decent options for you to buy pre-made butter as many grocery stores (including giants like Costco and Trader Joe’s) carry it.
If you don’t want to support Kerrygold, despite the fact that 10 months out of the year they keep their cows on pasture and that they’re committed to humanely raising dairy cows, then there are other options for store-bought grass-fed butter.
(where to buy Kerrygold butter online)
4. Allgau German Butter.
Like the name implies, this grass-fed butter is imported from Germany. Like Anchor butter, it is not certified organic by the USDA, but the cows are out on pasture the majority of the year.
Unlike Kerrygold, Allgau cows do not receive grains during the winter months, instead getting 100% hay.
This grass-fed butter is also antibiotic-free, hormone-free, and additive-free. I’ve never seen Allgau in my local grocery store, but I have seen it in Whole Foods, Sprouts, and Natural Grocers.
(where to buy Allgau German Butter online)
5. Smjor Butter.
This grass-fed butter is imported from Iceland. Their cows are raised with identical standards to the Allgau butter above — out on pasture most of the year, no grains during the winter but hay instead, antibiotic & hormone-free.
I’ve found it in one local natural food store, but then they stopped carrying it. I have not found it online. But, if you see it in your grocery store, you can trust it’s a great brand.
6. Humboldt Creamery Butter & Kalona Supernatural Butter.
These two grass-fed butters are produced here in the USA, but their cows receive a diet of 20% grains during the winter months. Because these brands are certified organic, however, you can trust that the grains do not contain GMOs.
I’ve found both butters at a nearby Sprouts market, and I wasn’t impressed with either. They were very white and a little flavorless. That said, I may have simply bought their winter butters (which, for all intents and purposes are no different than buying regular organic butter).
What about certified organic butter?
All butter is fabulous, and organic butter at least comes from cows raised without growth hormones or antibiotics. You also know their feed is GMO-free and pesticide-free. YAY.
Yet, organic dairy standards in the U.S. only require cows have “year round access to the outdoors except under specific conditions (inclement weather),” not necessarily that their outdoor lots be full of lush, green grasses and happy meadows and pastures.
So, while some organic dairies may raise their cows out on pasture for the vast majority of the year, others simply may not. Therefore, organic certification is completely irrelevant to determining if the butter is from grass-fed cows.
For delicious buttery recipes that take advantage of grass-fed goodness, I highly recommend Bacon & Butter — the Ultimate Ketogenic Diet Cookbook
With this New York Times bestselling book, you’ll begin dropping pounds immediately — and learn how to keep them off for good — by following a low-carb, high-fat ketogenic diet packed with tasty, wholesome meals that you’ll love.
It’s the simplest way to get started, and at the moment, the printed version of this cookbook is 100% free to Food Renegade readers. You just pay shipping & handling.
WANT MORE LIKE THIS? HERE’S THE EVER GROWING LIST OF HEALTHY FOODS: WHAT TO BUY:
- Healthy Eggs: What To Buy
- Healthy Milk: What To Buy
- Healthy Cheese: What To Buy
- Healthy Meats: What To Buy
- Healthy Seafood: What to Buy
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Azure Standard offers a beautiful yellow butter that is very inexpensive. It is Rumiano Pasture Butter, and is less than $4/lb. I have been buying this butter for the past few months, and it is the best butter we have ever had! We’ve tried KerryGold, Kalona, and Organic Valley (and they were all good, in my opinion) but this Rumiano butter beats them all in color and flavor!
Thanks,Lindsey! I love Rumiano cheeses.
I’ve always intended to try Azure Standard, but have never brought myself to do it. Instead I’ve been buying in bulk through Amazon Subscribe & Save since it’s all delivered to your door. I always hear such great things about Azure and really should look into it!
I just picked up my 5lbs of Rumiano Pasture butter yesterday. I’ll have to compare it to the Kalona and Kerrygold and let you know how it compares. Thanks for the other options!
After ordering mail order from Azure Standard for 25 years they started a new route to New Mexico a year and a half ago and the truck brings my order to the highway 1 1/2 miles from our house. I am so thrilled and only go to the city (350 mi. round trip) every 6 mo. instead of every 6 weeks.
Wow, what a timely post!! We try and buy raw pasture butter from the Amish family we get our raw milk from, but the summer heat has really dropped the cow’s summer production down to the point that they are not able to make much butter now. I try and stock my freezer, but now we are eating into that stock, so I have been wondering where to get pasture butter from! I also order from Azure and had no idea about the Rumiano pasture butter–and for a great price too!! 🙂 Thank you for mentioning that, it will definitely help our family out!
I checked the Rumiano pasture butter out on the Azure Standard website and “natural flavor” is listed in the ingredient list. Has anyone checked into this?!
I just checked the pasture butter on the Azure website, and the only ingredient listed for the unsalted butter is pasteurized cream. The salted also lists sea salt. I don’t see “natural flavor” anywhere.
https://www.azurestandard.com/shop/product/11690//
That’s awesome!! When I checked it the other day, “natural flavor” was listed in the ingredient list. I did a google search and found others asking the same question. I am hoping that was just a listing error. Thanks for linking that!
I just read an article on that saying that they switched companies who make their packaging and this was a misprint. Because the company makes packaging for several dairies and didn’t remove the “natural flavoring” from the ingredients list when making the Azure Standard packaging.
Smjor is an excellent product! I first bought it in Iceland and I’m happy to be able to find it here in Seattle. (Must be our Scandinavian heritage.)
I find lots of different, excellent, grass-fed butters on iGourmet.com. Every few months they have a big sale and I usually get a dozen at a time along with some raw milk cheeses. Shipping charges start at about $16 — since I’ve saved that much by buying during their sales, the overall price comes to a wash. But you can add as much other of their items you might fancy without increasing the shipping fees by more than a dollar or two.
Thank you for referencing this site! This is the first time I have heard of it. I just checked it out and am “in love”!
Wonderfully helpful post- thank you!
I came across this article, where the author claims that, quote: “In August the firm that owns Anchor butter began making Anchor butter in the UK – they now use milk from UK cows so, because of our climate, the cows will NO LONGER BE GRASS-FED and out in the fields 365 days a year like the cows in NZ.” Source: http://www.housepricecrash.co.uk/forum/index.php?showtopic=186075
And another, quote: “Anchor butter is to be produced in the UK for the first time, as brand owner Arla migrates production from New Zealand”. Source: http://www.thegrocer.co.uk/fmcg/fresh/dairy/arla-moves-anchor-butter-production-to-the-uk/232185.article
I’m not sure how this is relevant to the US version of the Anchor butter? Or is this only affecting the UK- Anchor butter?
Why is my comments ‘censored’? I can see other people’s comments have been approved. Did I say something wrong?
Hi Sharon,
All comments with two or more outbound links are automatically filtered for approval in an effort to prevent spam.
So, it’s not censored, just ushered into a queue waiting for me to approve it and verify that you are, in fact, a real person with a real contribution to the discussion!
Hope that helps,
~Kristen
Oh, good question! I’ll have to contact Anchor and find out.
FYI regarding NZ Anchor butter and NZ dairy in general – earlier in 2013 I spent 4 months living in Christchurch, NZ. I thoroughly enjoyed exploring NZ food in general and dairy foods in particular, esp the lovely cheeses from Canterbury Cheese in Christchurch. I learned a lot about NZ milk and dairy at the farmers markets and CC, plus I observed the cows on pasture when we traveled outside our homebase in Christchurch.
It’s true that cows are out primarily out on lush pastures in NZ, but personally I wouldn’t be quick to buy imported NZ butter on a regular basis because of an issue related to the massive overproduction of the NZ dairy industry.
On the South Island in particular, the east side of the island is naturally drier than the tropical West Coast because rainfall amounts decline after moisture-laden winds blow over the North-South mountains and drop most of the moisture as rain and snow on the west slopes and mountainstops (the mountain range is like a spine down the center of the South Island). The South Island’s prime agricultural region in the east, the Canterbury Plains, has experienced drought conditions for several years, so pastures are nearly continually irrigated with aquifer water (natural underground water reservoirs) to stay green. The current rate of irrigation with aquifer water is unsustainably high and water tables are dropping. What is even more insane is that NZ’s dairy production is far higher than necessary to feed NZ, and is kept extremely high to sell the excess overseas as a cash crop. There is so much excess NZ milk production that much of it is processed into milk powder, which is more easily and cheaply shipped overseas to food processors to use as a shelf-stable and inexpensive protein source and food additive. The NZ dairy industry, even in the face of unsustainable irrigation practices during extended drought conditions, is aggressively marketing its milk powder in China, in particular, trying to convert a mostly non-milk consuming culture into milk-drinkers.
Another useful article, thanks for the heads up on kerrygold and anchor butter. Personally I buy my butter from the Guernsey Dairy as they have a better milk protein than the black and white cow.
I really want to thank you for all your work, 2 years ago I would have been eating Flora because I had fallen for their marketing, what a joy it is to slosh my beautiful yellow butter around on everything and do so knowing I am giving my family a health food. Everything tastes better with butter. Love it!! X
You’re welcome. I love butter, too!
Dear Kristen,
Thank you for writing about Kerrygold. We are told to follow an 80/20 clean eating diet to maintain sanity. If the cows who produce our butter eat a 97/3 clean diet, I think we can give them a pass and still consider Kerrygold a healthier option than most butter found in the grocery store.
That’s how I feel, too. I obviously think there are BETTER options — like raw butter from a local, grass-fed dairy, and I love both the Organic Valley Pasture Butter and Smjor as my backups. (If you can find Smjor, try it! It’s soooo delicious.) But if I *need* butter and I’m in a local grocery store that doesn’t carry anything exotic, I can almost certainly count on it having Kerrygold!
My local (San Diego County) Whole Foods carries Smjor Icelandic butter. 250 g blocks for $3.99, sometimes on sale By One Get One Free (I stock up my freezer butter stash then).
It’s a rule. Whenever this or the OVPB are on sale, I *always* stock up. As in, I clear the refrigerator shelves. 😉
I just spent two weeks in Ireland and before and after I went contacted the Dublin WAPF chapter, which was just getting established. I wrote back and forth to the woman doing their Facebook page. She laughs at us all thinking Kerrygold is this super pure, grassfed butter. She actually orders her organic (which Kerrygold is not) butter from France! I couldn’t believe an Irish woman was getting her grassfed butter from another country! I was shocked when she sent me info, sites, videos, etc. about Ireland’s “grassfed” animals. She claims the pasture is usually not organic, not natural at all, but planted pasture with non organic rye seed and heavily sprayed with pesticides so it will grow because it is so damp there, the grass tends to rot. I guess think pete bogs? She also told me that they had such a wet Spring, the grasses rotted so, that the farmers had to have hay shipped in from…..the USA and other countries! Anyway, I was disappointed to learn this. It is a lovely sight to see cattle and sheep on pasture, but then to learn it’s planted and sprayed kind of a downer, right? Also, I learned that the distilleries and breweries actually get rid of their used grains from making beer and whiskey by selling or giving it to the farmers to feed….that’s right….their cattle! The guide doing our tour was very proud of that!! Anyway, Irish butter…..not all it’s cracked up to be! Sorry!
I guess this doesn’t bother me as much as it does you. I live in Texas, and raising 100% grass-fed cattle here is a lot of work. We are so hot in the summer that the natural state of pastures is to dry up and turn brown unless farmers irrigate and plant rye, oats, and barley.
And yes, there is sometimes a minimal amount of fertilizer or pesticides sprayed on said fields to protect the ranchers investment.
It’s often the only way to green-feed cattle during our dry months. Given that the treatments are often organic and only used minimally when necessary, I think it’s a viable solution for producing grass-fed meat and dairy.
In other words, the benefits far outweigh any displeasure I may have at the inputs.
Let’s be honest here. There’s a reason cattle trains and cowboys used to be a thing out west. They were following the green pastures north as the seasons changed, recreating the natural migration patterns of large ruminants like bison, fattening the cattle as they slowly followed lush, rapidly growing pastures north. Given that we no longer have open plains and instead have private, fenced in ranches, what else are our ranchers to do? They have to stay put, which means irrigation, planting fields, and sometimes treating those fields to keep them as viable feed.
The other solution, and the one I think we agree is terrible, is to create CAFOs to fatten and finish the cattle.
Isn’t it better to raise the cows naturally, out on green pasture, even if those pastures require inputs? We aren’t all lucky enough to live in temperate climates where grass will naturally grow and stay green with just rainfall for most of the year.
Why do you allow people to print complete rubbish as fact and destroy the good name of an industry in the process ?? Did you know Kerry Gold is the number one top selling butter in Germany ? The German’s would not allow it on their shelves if it did not match the claims made by Kerry Gold, Check the link below
http://businessetc.thejournal.ie/irish-dairy-board-profits-up-by-10-8-in-2012-863114-Apr2013/
For your information, there is absolutely nothing wrong with feeding cows the grains used to make beer for example. Hops are extremely nutritious as are barley, malted barley and rye used to make whiskey. These nutrients are then ‘gifted’ to us in the milk and butter produced. This has been common practice to boost the winter nutrition in a grass-fed cow herds diet for hundreds of years. Long before anyone had even heard of the word ‘organic’. Irish butter is excellent and you won’t find any better within Europe.
As for New Zealand butter, it is literally the best on the planet with no exaggeration. Every cow and yes, sheep in the country is ‘grass-fed’. Other countries look to NZ for advice on how to produce and manage their own dairy because they are the recognized standard in excellence, quality and expertise. It is also the best flavoured dairy from the cleanest environment anywhere in the world. Bonus, no pollution including radiation like that which circulates around the Northern Hemisphere.
Any brand from New Zealand you can find will be of the same quality no matter the brand because it all comes from the same supply of cows!…Delicious!
Alas, the game is changing. The NZ cows are for the most part outside, eating grass, kale and other green crops. However some herds are now being kept indoors though thankfully this is not common. Understandably there’s very little publicity about it for reasons.
I encounter dairy farmers through the line of my work (phlebotomy) and get a chance to chat about how things are done. All our cows have electronic eartags. This enables the big milk producers to be automatically dispensed wheat up to 1 kg twice a day if they are really big producers.
These dairying buggers also have been feeding their cows other sources of cheap fodder affecting the lipid composition. For a while the NZ dairy herd were consuming a quarter of the world’s production of palm kernel extract. Currently the dairy cheque isn’t paying so well, so the farmers have been advised to try and source domestic fodder instead of importing.
95% of dairy production in NZ is through Fonterra. They have partnerships in palm oil production plants in Indonesia. The palm oil is cultivated on land that before this was virgin tropical rainforest populated with indigenous tribes and orangutangs. The tribes get ‘resettled’ and the orangutangs are subjected to the fires that are used to clear the land for planting palm oil trees. However, all in all, NZ butter may be the best of a bad bunch as as Gg says, we don’t get the Northern Hemisphere circulation and associated issues. But with our greedy rapacious current government we can no longer sit on our laurels.
Here in our province, the rivers are becoming trickles due to increasing irrigation and all that cow effluent has to go somewhere. The industry is known as ‘dirty dairying’ around here. A fair percentage of dairy farms (around 30%) are non-compliant with environmental regulations e.g. fecal discharge.
Never heard such rubbish in my entire life , I think you need to name names so i can contact this ” Irish person ” and put her and you straight on a few facts, The grass does not and never has rotted in the ground it is because of the high rainfall that the grass is so lush for over ten months of the year , Ireland is not a bog there are bogs but cattle do not graze on them because they are protected sites,Below is a link to Kerrygold the dairy company you are trying to destroy for your own reasons please read it fully
http://www.kerrygold.com/sustainability/#home
Nonsense – absolute nonsense. Beurre d’Isigny (which is nice by the way) is bought in Ireland because it is posh!
Almost all dairy pasture is planted and cultivated, including organic pasture. In Ireland farmers typically plant white and red clover because they are nitrogenous plants – i.e., they generate nitrogen in their roots naturally, decreasing the need for fertilisers.
As for disposing of spent grain from distilling and brewing – your point is? Please explain what is wrong with this spent grain?
Good lord, what a nincompoop!
The problem is that cows were not designed to eat grain at all. This is about grass-fed butter, and grass-fed butter does not come from cows that eat grain…regardless of where that grain comes from.
wrong, wrong, wrong! i, too, search out and pay more for grass-fed butter, because yes, the animals should be eating *primarily* grass and browse… but what do you think grains are? they are the seeds of grass-family plants! do you think they avoid these seeds when they happen in nature? no, they LOVE them and seek them out… the difference is that, in the wild, these animals would not eat anywhere near the *quantities* of grain that most commercial dairies will feed… though, on the other hand, in the wild these animals would also never ever make as much milk as their domesticated counterparts have been bred to do for generations… animals producing this much milk *do* actually need more support nutritionally, usually in the form of concentrates like grains… however, i think that the amount of grains should be limited to just what the animal needs in terms of nutritional support, and that grass and forage (both fresh, and dried as hay) should be the bulk of the diet… it’s just not quite as black-and-white as many folks think, though… no grains at all is not necessarily healthier or better for the animal… THIS is why it’s important to know and trust your farmer, whenever possible…
Hi Teri – I’m a certified grain free, organic farmer. It sounds as though you have been listening to someone who is making excuses because they can’t produce to the required standards. Yes sometimes pasture fed cows eat grasses that have seeded – if they are getting too much of these the grass management of the farmer is poor and the cows aren’t being given pasture at the optimum maturity. True pasture fed milk is about far more than grasses. It’s about pasture with as diverse a mix of herbs as possible so that the animals get a nutrient dense diet and that goodness and flavour is passed through in the milk of beef. I don’t like to call ours grass fed because broadening the range of herbs in our pasture is our mission – so pasture fed or herb fed is more accurate. Some breeds produce too much milk to be suited to this system but animals bred to live on pasture don’t have a problem as long as the pasture management is good.
I also have heard recently that Kerrygold ain’t that grassfed (don’t have sources to back me up, though). I’ve made my own from raw cream (stopped b/c too much work picking it up way out here in the boonies from way out in *other* boonies…) and now buy Mother’s Choice from Larsen’s Creamery (Oregon) at the store. I’ve heard (again, can’t verify) that it’s grass-fed and have an email in to them about whether it’s 100% grass-fed and what kind of cows produce the milk.
You need to sue Kerrygold because they say on their site the cows are grass fed for ten months of the year , Sadly you have zero facts to back up anything you say so probably would not win ,
http://www.kerrygold.com/sustainability/#home
I found some goo informaton from a Larsen’s creamery representative posted on this blog:
http://www.meetup.com/WAP-and-Paleo-NW/messages/63480132/
The Mother’s butter IS very tasty, and has that gold color.. Enjoy what we’ve got on the west coast, if that’s your thing!
Great post! I often buy and recommend Organic Valley Pasture Butter. My favorite is Organic Pastures Raw Butter, which is usually about $15 bucks a pound.
These are what I often recommend but many of my client still shop at Safeway vs farmers markets, so I can at least count on Kerry Gold being available to them.
Thanks for the info!! I still refuse to buy Kerrygold butter though!! I’ll stick to Organic Valley for now!! 🙂
from the Kerrygold website:
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.
“The majority of our cows’ supplementary feed is locally grown crops such as wheat and barley. As a small island, Ireland does not have enough land available to grow certain crops locally; therefore a number of crops are imported. These imported crops comply fully with strict European and Irish legislative requirements on labeling and traceability.”
So EVERY cow there is fed grain, which may or may not come from Ireland. I’m not trying to “destroy the good name of company, just trying to feed my family as healthfully as I can through due diligence.
Yes, helpful article! Kerrygold has a May – September green label butter as well. I found it at Sprouts and Whole Foods.
What about Amish butter? I’ve heard people rave about it, but I don’t know whether it’s from grass-fed cows.
I think that varies from farmer to farmer. I wouldn’t trust that it was grass-fed unless I *knew* the farmer, or unless it was an Amish co-op that advertised the butter as being 100% grass-fed.
Seeing as how it’s been difficult to find good, raw, pastured butter in my area I’ve been looking for a good, rich, flavorful pastured butter I can buy in stores so this is a timely post!
When I started changing my diet some six months ago I switched from margarine (which I had always heard was healthier-and from my mom, that it tastes better and butter was “gross” and “fattening”) to Land O Lakes whipped butter. It was snow white and had no smell and a vaguely plastic flavor. In the last couple of months I switched my shopping from the regular grocer to Whole Foods and Sprouts and have picked up a different butter t each shopping the last couple of months to find something good. This past month I got Kalona butter but was unimpressed with it’s whiteness and lack of flavor, hardly better than the Land O Lakes.
Now I’m having a hard time deciding which to try next! All I want is a good, rich, creamy butter! But depending on what I can find the Smjor, Organic Valley Pasture Butter, and Anchor all seem to have good reviews. If none of those live up to expectations I may try the Azure Standard Rumiano butter as the comments are full of great things about them. Here’s hoping I can find a good butter soon and get off the snow white, tasteless stuff I’ve been stuck with ever since changing my diet!
Again, the mistake of believing that “Amish” equals sustainable/grass fed/organic, etc. Not true. If you buy from an Amish farmer or coop, you still want to confirm that their butter is from grassfed cows and, perhaps, ask what they feed their milks cows in the winter months. I am lucky to have an Amish farmer who produces excellent cream and butter from grassfed cows. When I don’t buy the butter, I buy the cream and make my own. Or I buy up extra butter and freeze it. Yum.
My Kroger store has great organic butter- No antibiotics,added hormones,or preservatives, USDA Organic, ingredients are: Organic Pasteurized sweet cream, salt. Contains milk. Also available in unsalted. The name is “simple truth organic”. I have been buying it on sale for under $4.00 # –Yummy !
Is the Kroger ‘simple truth organic’ butter grass fed?
SO glad you mentioned Anchor! They actually carry this at our local Walmart, and the price is way better than Organic Valley, and it looked and tasted so much like pastured butter, I was really hoping the cows were grass fed! Hooray!
It’s all I can do to buy organic butter ($3.99-4.99 lb) right now, but I would love to find a source for grass fed butter that is more attainable price-wise. I already reserve it solely for spreading (and we love butter!) because I can get such a good price on organic coconut oil that I use that for all other cooking and baking needs. Kerrygold and Organic Valley are available here but there’s no way I could buy them every week. I’m just thankful that the coconut oil price has helped me afford butter that’s at least free from worse toxins, being organic and hormone/GMO free, even if it’s not the superfood it could be. Someday!
Sounds like you run through a lot of butter. I predominantly use Natural, “Real” Olive Oil for most of my cooking and oil needs. I still believe quality butter is a health food, but something that should be consumed in moderation.
Not to digress on the subject of butter, but has anyone tried the “Real” olive oils that are becoming more popular now? 90% of store bought olive oils are fake, toxic, trash.
Occasionally I can score some raw milk butter from a good dairy just over the state border – but never enough! It’s unbelievable. However recently I’ve been using Organic Valley’s cultured butter and it’s divine. Even better than Kerrygold’s I think.
THANK YOU so much for this helpful post. I’m bookmarking it and will share with friends trying to eat better.
http://rawmilkinstitute.net/
What I have read in the past about KerryGold butter is that it is grass fed BUT in Ireland they are still using Lindane pesticide on their pastures. Lindane has been outlawed in the US for years and that is the reason I refuse to eat KerryGold butter.
Hey get your facts right and STOP scaring people ,Lindane was banned in the EU on 31st December 2007 and as you know Ireland is a member of the EU (European Union ) Why do people like you talk before engaging their brain ?????
By November 2006, the use of lindane had been banned in 52 countries and restricted in 33 others. Seventeen countries, including the US and Canada, allowed either limited agricultural or pharmaceutical use.[12] In 2009, an international ban on the use of lindane in agriculture was implemented under the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants. A specific exemption allows for it to continue to be used in second-line treatments for the head lice and scabies for five more years. The production of the lindane isomers α- and β-hexachlorocyclohexane was also banned.[15] Although the US has not ratified the Convention, it has similarly banned agricultural uses while still allowing its use a second-line lice and scabies treatment.
I recently started buying the Humboldt Creamery butter. I thought the taste and color were incredible. On the color, it was a much deeper yellow than Clover butter. Sorry, I don’t have any of the others for comparison purposes.
Girls don’t forget about pasteurization. All the butter you have men tioned. Is pasteurized. It’s like buying the dead white liquid they call milk, at the store. Dead of all the wonderful healthy live enzymes and stuff that was there before they heated it to hell! My opinion is why even try to buy raw, if it’s pasteurized? Because if it’s pasteurized, it’s NOT raw.
I’m not quite sure where what you’re saying has been discussed here, but I do know that sometimes people get the terms “pastured” and “pasteurized” mixed up.
We are discussing sources of pastured (cows who graze on pastures) butter. We know it has been heated (pasteurized) but it’s the next best thing after raw, pastured/grass-fed butter and still has nutritional benefits.
I have the same question. Weston Price says “raw, grass-fed” butter. If all of this butter is pasteurized aren’t we losing most of the benefits of the butter (whether it’s grass-fed or not)? In other words, is there still a benefit to grass-fed butter if it’s been pasteurized?
I don’t have access to raw grass fed dairy where I live so the best I can find is certified organic butter that is mostly grass fed depending on weather and fed certified organic grains including corn and soy. I could however cross the borders to the States and stock up on some Kerrygold butter. Is this better than the butter I have now? I’ve heard that Kerrygold cannot guarantee that their grain feed is GMO free so i’m quite worried there as I avoid all GMOs.
hi i live in southern ireland so dont have a problem getting butter most of the cows here eat silage wth grain in the winter so it is still mainly grass i strive to be self sufficient my own pigs,poultry lambs,i always know how lucky i am and thank my own god for the gifts i get.
At one point in history Cork, Ireland was the #1 exporter of butter in the world. There is even a butter museum in the city of Cork. I’ve totally been there!
Humboldt creamery butter is not made with milk produced in Humboldt county, pasture based.
found the Icelandic grass feed butter here http://nammi.is/index.php?main_page=advanced_search_result&search_in_description=1&keyword=butter+250
Awesome information, thank you very much for simplifying my search for good butter. 🙂
What a WONDERFUL resource! I’ve spent the last 1/2hr just browsing through the links, wondering how I never knew about organic farmers within “spittin’ distance” (as we say here in NC) from my house! Looking forward to getting in contact with them within the next few days I have off!
I live in Ireland and after doing a bit of google searching to find a good grass-fed butter, found your site. Had no idea Kerrygold was a good option, so excited about that. But I do have to comment that it is extremely rare for Ireland to have no grass, only snow. Actually, I’d say that never happens. It barely ever snows here and especially never snows enough to completely cover the fields and grass. January now and there’s loads of bright green grass out in the field behind our house!
Bless your heart, Amy. Glad to hear from an Irisher that YOU HAVE GREEN GRASS! Who knew!? Ha, ha! Read the above, frustrating and slandering, comments to see why I’m happy to see you saying something FIRSTHAND!
Thanks
Ask Anchor if they import Palm kernel to feed cows from deforested orangutan habitat here….http://www.anchorbutter.com/ and while you’re at it ask about the loss of swimmable rivers due to farm effluent
Unfortunately your comment about organics show that you know nothing about organics or dairy operations. Cows cannot be allowed onto pastures when the soils are very wet because animals that heavy will destroy the soil so it doesn’t matter natural or organic. It is absurd to promote large industrialized name brands that couldn’t possibly meet the standards you are prompting then slam organics.
Kriemhild Dairy Farms makes a FANTASTIC grass fed butter! You can find them at Trader Joe’s! http://www.kriemhilddairy.com
Kalona is local to us, and their winter butter is blah but its what I buy when I cant find my regular pastured cultured butter. There is another small, local dairy that we can some times find very small tubs of butter.
Sylvia Barriga Dominguez
We buy Amish butter at Albertsons.
ANY bottle of Caol Ila is a good bottle!
Thanks for the butter info; very helpful.
Barry
I’ve purchased Allgau German butter at my local Gross-Me-Outlet.
I am currently living in a state that is just starting to promote organic so I am quite new to all of this. I have a question about pasturized dairy products. Is any pasturization bad for milk and butter? The reason I ask is because I found a website called Natural by Nature and they only sell dairy. There web page explains that they use low heat (165 degrees Fahrenheit) to pasturize where commercial dairies use high heat (281 degrees Fahrenheit) to pasturize. I am confused.
Recently found Organic Valley Pasture butter. Best ever. Tastes like cream & you will want to eat it off a spoon !!!
Agreed, Keagan. We recently ran out of cream, so we used our stick blender to whip OVPB into our morning cup of coffee. SO GOOD. It gets good and frothy, is beautifully creamy and rich, and it tastes amazing.
Thanks so much for that tip. That sounds SO good. Do you use your stick blender often? I’m considering one.
We order from Minerva Dairy in Ohio twice a year, enough to last 6 months at a time.
I buy Kerrygold sometimes, but when I can I make butter from my raw cream or buy raw better from where I get my raw milk.
Ugh. Do you have a directory that isn’t run by a bunch of anti-vaccine nutjobs? I’d rather not give them the page hits.
I have a question about the Organic Valley Pasture Butter I saw at wf. Forgive me…just trying to unserstand this better…you can buy this butter from May-Sept because their cows can be grass fed, but then what do they do with the cows after Sept? Do they feed them regular…perhaps even non organic.. grains all winter and then put them back out to pasture in May?
It’s a cinch to make your own butter with a Kitchen Aid! You can use perfectly-monitored ingredients and the results are amazing!
We get Westgold NZ butter from Woolies and make ghee to cook with. Dairy doesn’t suit us too well, unless raw, but ghee is great 🙂
do you know if this Westgold NZ butter is made from raw milk? Looking to get raw milk grass fed butter in Sydney, Australia.
Megan Bramstedt, this stuff just seems to pop up right after we talk about it! Haha!
I’ve purchased Kerrygold butter at Sam’s Club, Costco, Von’s, Smith’s and Whole Foods!! I love it.
Anyone know where to buy in Alberta Canada ? Thanks
Kristen, Thank you so much for providing the great analyses of real foods and helping us to find these products!
Thanks so much for putting this information together; I know it takes a lot of work.
I’ve recently switched to the Bulletproof body diet after an adjustment from paleo and the butter was hard to find.
Grass feed butter is a nutritional powerhouse of vitamin A, d and k-2. It’s good for health. This blog is giving good information the different types of butter.
I am sure Kerrygold has additives It just doesn’t taste or texture right. I make butter from my grassfed milk and it gets hard and doesn’t have the crisco texture.I wish someone would really find out about this butter. I know that are hiding some ingredients Please do so more research and let us know the real,truth
I see ANCHOR grass-fed Butter from New Zealand is now available at The Fresh Market stores $2.99 for 8oz…awesome!
sounds very interesting
Also, I believe that all store bought butters are from pasteurized milk…
I wish there was a grass-fed butter free of corn contamination for the corn allergic.. So far, every single one is not corn-allergy-friendly(((
Great info!
Raw, if you can get it.
In London Ontario, several health food stores as well as some big grocery stores have it. It costs around $10 lb. I was able to pick up a few at our Farm Boy a few weeks ago at $8 lb.
I use kerrygold. It’s the closest I can find.
I also use KerryGold. I find it in my local Super Walmart in Indiana.
I order Rumiano from Azure Standard. It’s around $5 lb.
I am blessed I have a friend who makes it. It is amazing!
Agree with Kerrygold. We get the big package at Costco!
Kerrygold is a great mainstream option.
Thanks for the suggestion 😀
Butter is one of my food groups! 😀
ofc butter! i’d trust cows over people in lab coats anyday.
Braum’s taste better than Kerrygold!
Graham’s Dairy
Do you know of anywhere to buy grass fed heavy cream online??? Really want some and live in the middle of nowhere!
I get Kerrygold from Trader Joe’s. The only other one of the listed brands I’ve ever seen is the Organic Valley Pasture Butter, but that’s $$$$ in the one store where I found it. I bought some butter from a local farm that was trying out selling butter and it was VERY funky. I ended up throwing it out because everything I made with it tasted like a cow barn smells. I imagine others agreed because they dropped the butter PDQ.
I use Kerrygold right now. Do you ever make your own butter? Once I can find a place to buy raw cream I would love to do that. It’s such an ordeal to find raw milk in Illinois 🙁
Our local Wal-mart Neigborhood store sells Kerrygold for $2.98, Trader Joe’s sometimes has it for that price but usually sells it for $3.48. Palm Desert, California.
I love kerrygold butter. I like Organic Valley but not as much as kerrygold. I’ll keep my eye out for others. I got a butter bell for Christmas that I’m ready to try out!
When the ground is covered with snow, cows are not out eating grass. Of course it is hard to find. Only cows in the Deep South are grass fed all year.
We buy Kerrygold in bulk from Costco. We eat so much between the four of us.
F anyone know what Brand and where in Alberta Canada can buy Grass fed butted pls ? Ty We have Costco wonder if same product here , does it say Grass fed on pkg ?
Thanks! I’ve been struggling to find any since I came out to Maryland a few weeks ago, now I know what brands to look for (it’s much easier in Texas).
I find ANCHOR Butter at The Fresh Market and Harris Teeter in my area. Anchor has a store finder on their webiste http://www.anchorbutter.com. I believe this is the only true grass fed butter, as i’ve been to New Zealand in the winter and seen the cows out in the fields eating grass, they even sleep out there under the stars!!
I love Kerrygold…first time I tried it, I thought “Now this is REAL butter!” And this coming from a person who lives in Oregon, where Tillamook is king! 😉
Greenville, SC is grass fed butter HEAVEN! Every farm stand carries it, lucky me:)
I have a jersey who recently calved, she is hand milked by me. The cream from her is amazing, it has the wild taste to it. It is NOTHING like any store bought that I have ever purchased.
Last night I made chicken, garlic, onions, with homemade broth, lemons, orzo but first I placed 1/4 tea of 100% pure cream with olive oil to cook. OUTSTANDING. My husband declared, “DO NOT SALE ANY, NOT A DROP OF FANNIE’S BUTTER!” It gives a wonderful flavor.
Seek out raw butter, keep it in the freezer as I do. I never just refrigerate it. It softens pretty quickly.
Eat well, eat wonderful.
Thanks for these resources on grass fed butter. I love to use butter for whipping up great recipes. For some twists to your usual butter bought in the grocery store, The Gourmet Grocer is worth checking out.
I live in Ottawa Canada, is there a realmilk equivalent website for us too?
I have been eating real butter for a while, switch to organic butter in the last few months, had my first taste of Kerry Gold butter from grass fed cows, just a few minutes ago.
What I have to say is this, Holy Cow!!
This stuff is so much better than any I’ve ever had and so GOOD that I am either going to keep buying it or I am going to start keeping a cow and learn to make my own .
I buy Kiwi Pure brand from New Zealand, imported by an Ontario dairy company. It is grass-fed , very yellow and so yummy.
I buy Kiwi Pure, too. For the uninitiated, Kiwi Pure is made by the Rolling Meadow brand, which also produces a self-titled “Rolling Meadow” butter. But the Kiwi Pure butter is much yellower and flavourful than Rolling Meadow, from my experience, likely because the cows that make said butter can be out on pasture more often than the ones that produce the Rolling Meadow butter.
Where can I buy?
Thanks for the information about sugar. It did answer some questions I had.
Thank You
Thank you for this detailed explanation of how to find grass fed butters!
I see Anchor now has an Organic certified butter from New Zealand, in a tub. COOOL!
I am looking for organic grassfed butter to make ghee. I have started a small business selling at markets. I am using Organic Meadow at the moment can you suggest any other brands that I can use and where to buy? Thanks
Where can I buy grass fed butter in Syracuse NY?
I’ve heard Finlandia Butter is made with grass fed milk as well. Is that true, and is Finlandia a good option? It is sold at my local store.
I have been reading a book entitled Vitamin K2 and the Calcium Paradox. The author states that “real” grass fed butter should be soft when it first comes out of the fridge. My Kerrygold is hard as a Rick and takes a lot of time to soften up. Does this mean it is not the greatest?
The German Allgau is by far the best butter but it’s nearly 3 times as expensive as the Irish one.
It is illegal to treat livestock in Ireland with hormones. Antibiotics can be administered by a vet but that cow’s milk must be discarded until the end of a withdrawal period, and there are testing programs for hormones and antibiotics to ensure they don’t reach the consumer. It’s irksome that you refer to Kerrygold as a semi-decent option when such care and attention is put into ethically raising cows in Ireland. https://www.teagasc.ie/media/website/animals/dairy/FeedingDiaryCow.pdf https://www.agriculture.gov.ie/agri-foodindustry/feedingstuffs/geneticallymodifiedfeeds/
Hi Kristen – I’ve sent a couple of emails to your info inbox. I would be happy to chat or provide more info. Feel it’s really important you address this because I know you are committed to providing accurate info for your readers to make healthy choices.
hi what abolut Finlandia butter?
Just because something is “Organic” doesn’t make it GMO free. Please do more research because it is far from the truth. Only certain organic foods are GMO free.
Also curious if Finladia butter is grass-fed. Any information on that?
Hi! Thanks for your article.
I just wanted to quickly point out that you listed K2 as a vitamin present in pasture butter. Correct me if I’m wrong, but my understanding is that K2 is the vitamin (vital for assimilating A & D,) is not in fact present in pasture butter, being the very reason the Dr. Price reccomends consumig the butter alongside fermented cod liver oil, which is high in K2.
Have a good day!
Hello.This post was really remarkable, particularly because I was searching for thoughts
on this matter last Thursday.
Thanks for your help. I appreciate it. I was previously buying Trickling Springs Organic Grass Fed Butter from Whole Foods but it has been out of stock for the past month.
I am curious as to where you obtain or have obtained specific details on the wonderful nutritional value of grass fed butter? We are firm believers in grass fed products, especially, dairy. I see on your site where you talk a great deal about it, however, just looking for some back up information to show to my customers. The grass fed butter you mention, does not have these details on their butter cartons.
Thank you for this info! I was looking into Fonterra’s dairy, specifically their butter (Anchor and Mainland), and wanted to find out if it is 100% grass-fed. You say the Anchor cows are on pasture year round, but do you know if they are ever fed hay or grain? I know hay is ok for 100% grass-fed, but curious, especially because thet do not seem to make it clear anywhere that their milk comes from 100% grass fed cows. Thanks
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I’m an organic farmer from the UK with certified 100% pasture fed cows. Have been really frustrated about the mis-marketing of Kerrygold for ages and also the brand Anchor as well which is now leased by the conventional dairy giant Arla foods. I know it’s difficult to keep up with take-overs and changes in the dairy industry. It’s frustrating for those of us who are going the extra miles to produce milk that is genuinely high in healing Omega 3 when intensively produced milk is going into butter that is being sold as grass fed. There is a court case happening around the Kerrygold issue at least. http://www.thejournal.ie/kerrygold-sued-2-4149342-Jul2018/
Hi looking 4 almond butter grass fed can u help
I do not understand the question. Almonds are nuts they don’t get dressed fed. There are videos on Google about how to make your own almond milk. But there are no cows involved or any other animal.
Hello,
Of the butters you mentioned, do you know which ones contain A1 or A2 casein?
Thanks,
Jennifer
Just so you know, it’s not “grass fed butter.” Butter is not fed. You could call it “butter from grass fed cows” or even “grass fed cow’s butter.”
Thanks for this info!
Hi Kristen
Watched an American cooking show where they stated grass fed butter beta carotene in it, more than in carrots. They had an Irish butter on the show. So I googled grassfed butter and found your websitewhoch shows a number of butters from grassfed cows, one of which was Kerry’s Irish butter. Your info includes a number of vitamins in the butter, one of which was vitamin A. yet, when I googled Kerry’s butter, which I have bought in the past, there was 0 vitamin A in nutritional analysis info table.
Have you looked into Danish Creamery? They claim cows are pasture raised and they are based in California. I was not able to find specifics on their website.
Thank you for the tips a friend of my swears that Youngevity Organic Grassfed cow butter from Youngveity is the best and one can see it in the color. Is this true?
You need to be a part of a contest for one of the finest sites on the net.
I’m going to highly recommend this blog!
There’s two American brands you should look into.
Vital Farms just appeared in my market. It is paler than Kerrygold, but the unsalted tastes very, very good. The taste is comparable to Kerry Gold, and that’s saying something. I have not tried the salted versions of KG and Vital Farms. The cost for the two is the same, about $2.90 for 8 oz in my locality. The label claims the girls are pasture raised and ‘on grass’. Very subtle! Does that mean grass fed? You decide!
Trickling Springs creamery shows up at my Amish Market. Nice grass fed claims in the label. At about $9.50 per pound, i’ts quite a bit more expensive than Kerry Gold, so I haven’t tried it yet.
I tried Amish Butter Roll, but am disappointed in the flavor. One might as well buy a mass market brand (in my opinion). It is about $5/lb at the Amish market.
What about Presidents Butter from France?
Kerry Gold: delete from the list
Now contains soy and corn and I don’t think it’s organic anymore either.
I can’t find the Google link.
Thank you! Great info!
Do you know of any grass-fed butter made from milk or cream that is Not Pasteurized?