Conventional vs All Natural

	Conventional Grocery Store Brands
Grain fed with added rendered animal by products for protein	Yes, very likely animal by product is a cheap protein source for feed.	No
Vitamins & Minerals in feed	Yes	Yes
Antibiotics may be fed	Yes	No
Water may be medicated	Yes	No
Fed growth hormones	Growth hormones are not permitted in poultry.	No
Days to market weight	32 days	56 Days
Poultry has access to fresh air, sunlight and the outdoors	No	Yes, weather permitting.

	Conventional Grocery Store Brands
Growth from birth without hormones or antibiotics	No	Yes
Fed rendered animal byproducts as protein in feed ration	Very likely. Ruminant animal byproduct cannot be fed to ruminant animals; however, byproduct from hogs or poultry can be fed to ruminants (cows) and vice versa.	No, we do not use any animal byproduct in any feed for any animals. Our steers, hogs and lambs receive an appropriate mix of hay, sileage, barley, oats and pasture feed.
All beef from young steers under 30 months of age	No	Yes
Certified organic feed	No	No
Grading	Yes, beef is graded according to the fat cover on the carcass and marbling. Pork and lamb have their own grading systems with scores related to aspects of muscle conformation and fat cover.	No, we believe that quality meat comes from how the animal was fed and processed, not how much fat cover was on the animal.
Calves, hogs and lambs bought on open market	Yes	No, all our animals come from one farm for each of beef, hogs and lambs, raised from birth. We project our needs approximately 1 year in advance.