Values vs Costs!
| Our Pastured Chicken | Commercial Chicken |
| LIVING CONDITIONS | |
| LOW STRESS | HIGH STRESS |
| Live in species appropriate flocks (300 or fewer) | Grown in huge factory houses (20,000 typical) |
| Uncrowded | Crowded |
| Fresh, clean air | Air loaded with fecal dust and ammonia |
| Fresh, living forage always available | No access to green material, bugs or nature's foods |
| Free to exercise | Severely crowded to limit exercise (increases fat content) |
| Vigorous and healthy, disease resistant birds | Problems masked by drugs and chemical additives |
| Beneficial natural bacteria aids healthy immune system | Antibiotics depress the immune system and harms intestinal flora |
| Brooder and pens open to fresh air and sunlight | Closed brooder and grow-out houses |
| Natural Trace minerals | Trace minerals manufactured and acidulated |
| Unvaccinated | Vaccination depresses immune system |
| No artificial lighting (for a good night's sleep) | Electric lighting 24/7 to maximize feed intake |
| No antibiotics | Routine antibiotics |
| No appetite stimulants | Routine appetite stimulants (arsenic) |
| No supplemental vitamins | Routine synthetic vitamins |
| No debeaking | Debeaked (due to cannibalism in factory conditions) |
| Production follows a natural seasonal cycle | Grower a slave to year round business interests |
| PROCESSING | |
| Locally grown and processed | Routinely trucked across the country |
| Careful hand evisceration | Machine evisceration (spills feces on carcass) |
| Nothing injected or added at any time | Injection of dyes, preservatives, tenderizers, water, etc. |
| Carotid artery and jugular vein cut, causing 85-90 percent blood loss in 10-20 seconds | Electrical stunning stops heart, thus impeding removal of blood. Clots often remain in meat. |
| No chlorine baths | Numerous routine chlorine (bleach) baths |
| No irradiation | Irradiation compromises vitamin content |
| Each and every bird inspected by grower prior to sale | Taxpayer provides bureaucratic sampling inspection |
| Customer always welcome | Customer never sees what goes on |
| ENVIRONMENT | |
| RESPONSIBLE | IRRESPONSIBLE |
| Offal composted and returned to landas fertilizer for plants duringthe growing season | Offal cooked and fed back to chickens as protein supplement |
| Low process water consumption | High process water consumption |
| Effluent used to irrigate growingplants or to aid composting | Effluent treated as waste water (sewage) contaminates groundwater |
| Manure converted directlyto growing plants | Manure fed to cattle or applied to land inappropriately |
| No contribution to antibioticresistant "super-bugs" | Routine use of antibiotics in livestock feed gives rise to drug resistant pathogens |
| We clean up after ourselves. | Factory farming practices foul the air,water and beauty of the Sauk Valley. |
| HIDDEN BENEFITS | HIDDEN COSTS |
| Decentralized (small, local) food system | Centralized (large, multinational)food system |
| Promotes small farming | Promotes giant factory farming |
| Fosters entrepreneurial spirit | Fosters wage/time clock employment |
| Price includes true production costs | Taxpayers loose when government cleans up mess |
| Customer/producer relationships fostered | Customers alienated from producers |
| CONSUMER OBSERVATIONS | |
| Low fat content | High fat content |
| Minimal shrinkage in cooking | 20% carcass weight loss in cooking typical |
| Firm, toothsome texture | Soft, fatty texture |
| Rich, delicious flavor | Bland, nearly tasteless |
| * Farm Fresh: Customer knows processing date | "Sell by" date only "suggests" freshness |
| Fresh does not mean "Frozen" | Previously frozen birds legally called "Fresh" |
| Highest value | Lowest value |
| A bargain! | Not a bargain at any price! |
| Note: Commercial and certified organic chickens often share many of the problem practices listed at right above. |
| * Customers are encouraged to come to the farm on processing day or the day after to pick up their birds, and should refrigerate them overnight for maximum tenderness. (Extremely fresh birds may become tough if cooked before full removal of all body heat). |
Fresh pastured chickens available late spring, summer and fall |
