It is almost impossible to do a comparison on cattle finished on grass only and on grass and meal.
Our own view, in our situation, feeding R and U grade continental heifers, it pays to feed on grass, it may not pay to feed meal to cattle with a poorer FCE.
No doubt, there are much better grassland managers than ourselves among us here, we could do it better, it's a slow process, I think we are getting better.
Feeding meal earlier in the grazing season may not pay, though once we get into killing of grass in August, September it works for us.
The problem is time to manage grass, in the end of March, April may and early June we are very busy and short on staff until collage holidays.
Going back to the economics of feeding meal, good fit cattle are easier sold, more bargaining power, when you have a product that's wanted, it's worth a few c/kg extra, good flesh will lead to better grades and higher fat scores, 3+ to 4= anything less has not reached their potential.
Anybody on here finishing continental heifers off grass without meal?