Hey Farm Friends.  I hope this message finds you well and you’re not too water-logged from all the rain last week.  We needed it, but maybe spread out a bit and not all at once. 

As part of our commitment to transparency and honesty in our farming practices, I wanted to take a moment to discuss some commonly seen label claims in supermarkets. While these labels can be helpful, they can also be QUITE MISLEADING if not fully understood. Below, I’ll break down a few of these claims:

Made in USA: This label can imply a product is wholly from the good ole USA. However, to use this label, it only requires that “all or virtually all” of the product is made in the US. This may include scenarios where primary ingredients are imported and only packaged or processed in the USA.  For example, cattle can be raised in New Zealand or Brazil, shipped to the US, then processed in a USDA plant. Because the animal was “packaged” here in the US, it gets the ‘Made in USA’ label.  This is frustrating as a cattleman because you think you are supporting farmers raising cattle in the US, but really the profit goes to the pack-house and a tiny bit to the producers in other countries. 

Free-Range: This term is regulated by the USDA for poultry. It only requires that birds have access to the outdoors, but there are no requirements for the amount, duration, or quality of outdoor access.  Anyone who has chickens knows if they have access to an area for any amount of time, they scratch, dig, eat all living things, grass and bugs included.  Now imagine tens of thousands with little doors for outside access.  The only options here are a dirt lot or concrete patio, and that’s for the birds that go out.  Many will stay inside near the feed and water and never see the sunlight.  At Longbottom Farm, we have a mobile house so as to keep them on fresh pasture (aka: actual grass) and their feeders and waterers are in the pasture forcing them to forage and move outside the shelter.

Pasture-Raised: This term implies animals are raised on a pasture (defined as a tract of land that supports grass or other vegetation eaten by domestic grazing animals).  It implies the animals eat grasses and food found in a natural environment. However, there’s no legal definition for this term, so its use is not regulated by the USDA or any other agency.  Anyone can use it and unless your chickens are in a mobile unit, there will be no pasture.

No Added Hormones: “No Added Hormones” or “Raised Without Hormones”: This label is regulated by the USDA. It indicates that the animal was raised without the administration of additional growth hormones. We use this label for all of our animals as it’s one of the questions we get regularly, but for pork and poultry, it’s important to note that it’s illegal in the U.S. to use hormones in the raising process, so this label on those products is effectively redundant. For beef, however, the use of hormones is legal, so this label provides more meaningful information.  For beef, hormones have been used for growth, as well as cows undergoing artificial insemination.  Hormones are used to bring them into heat all at once, making artificial insemination more successful and able to be scheduled by the producer.  Our cattle at Longbottom Farm do it the old fashioned way with no hormones given for any reason.  

Grass-fed: The USDA defines “grass-fed” as animals that receive a majority of their nutrients from grass throughout their life. The grass-fed label does not limit the use of antibiotics, hormones, or pesticides. It also does not specify if animals have had continuous access to pasture or whether they were grass-finished (meaning they ate only grass or foraged goods and not grain or corn). Here’s how it could be misleading:

These are only a few of many label claims that are often misleading.  In contrast, at Longbottom Farm, when we say “grass-fed”, we mean that our animals are raised in open pastures they’re entire life, eating naturally growing grasses and forage the pasture provides, with no antibiotics or hormones.  The only extras our cattle get are NON-gmo alfalfa pellets (legume found in pastures in the same family as clover) that we use as treats for calling them and getting up close.  We also provide free choice organic minerals, organic salt, and organic sea kelp as most pastures are missing certain minerals and this ensures they have what they need for overall health.  This provides the best quality of life for them and the healthiest products for you.

We share this information not to discredit other producers, but to foster a community that is well-informed about their food choices. We’re always here to answer any questions you may have about our own practices.  Thank you for choosing to support our farm and for making informed decisions about the food you feed your family.