I've done a bit of reading and experimentation with the variety of beef available to me and found there are differences in flavor as much as one can compare beef-to-beef cut-to-cut preparation-to-preparation. My friend Pat is a rancher in Hermiston, OR and we've discussed his decision to ranch cattle this way. Other friends have ranches that pasture-land raise but fatten at feed lots.
One of the people I pay attention too is Carrie Oliver of
http://artisanbeefinstitute.com/ I got to know her a bit at one of the "steak tastings" she produces around the country where local ranchers feature their grass fed and/or pasture raised beef - most of which is also organic (no chemical fertilizers) even though it may not be marketed that way. Here in the NW we have a history of cattle ranching and good pasture grass on the western side of the mountains, excellent hay/alfalfa on the eastern side (much of it is exported to Japan and elsewhere - go figure~!)
I can taste the terroir* of beef when it's prepared side-by-side albeit mostly a nuance. Pretty much my friends that hunt tell me they can taste the difference in game they harvest in different geographic areas for some of the same feed-related reasons.
Evidently the grass fed beef is lower in some if not most of the bad stuff associated with corn-fed feed-lot beef and higher in some important good stuff like Omega 3. With the drought affecting grain costs and cattle ranchers cutting back on production to hold prices the local artisan/small ranch beef is fairly even in price with the standard raised Choice & Prime cuts sold at grocery stores, etc.
BTW - if you take a look at labels for where food comes from you may be surprised to find beef packaged and sold in the U.S. is coming from Australia-New Zealand-Central America and elsewhere. Checked a label of Tri-tip at Trader Joe's the other day and it had a laundry list of countries of "possible" origin. I prefer to eat local and keep jobs here rather than become dependent upon off-shore sources for everyday food regardless of pasture-raised, feed-lot or other wise...
*
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terroir
