OUR  FEEDING  PROGRAM.

We at Venneford Beef Farm and Venneford Farm Country Meats (Retail Store) believe in ensuring that you get the proper flavor and tenderness achieved with corn feeding by feeding our cattle corn from the time they are old enough to reach the feeder (about 3 months old).  We use a consistent feeding program of hay, grass and corn with vitamins and minerals.  Corn gives the meat a rich mellow flavor.  When fed less corn, more grass or other grains the meat can have a sharp more wild flavor.  By corn feeding all our cattle for a minimum of 15 months (up to 21 months) you are getting a top quality and consistent product.

Everything that dairy and meat producing animals eat effects what you taste.  That is why dairy farmers are so particular about what they feed their cows.  It effects the quality and taste of the milk.

When I was a child we had milk goats.  As children we did not know any better and staked them out under the pine trees to eat grass.  Instead they ate the pine needles and for the next several days our milk tasted like gin (pine).  Luckily milk is reproduced daily by the animals and can be flushed from their system by correcting their diet.

Over time some beef farmers in Wisconsin have tried different combinations of pasturing and grain or combinations of corn with other grains.  Each feeding method gives the meat a different flavor.

*  Corn fed for a minimum of
    450  days  (15 months).
*  Young animals.
*  tender, lean and tasty.
*  Lightly marbled without excess fat.
*  Available year round.
*  Available in individual packages.

There are many things that go together to account for the flavor and tenderness of the meat:

• Breed  -  grain and texture of the meat, temperament.
  

• Animals temperament  -  when temperamental or high strung the adrenaline levels are higher.
  

• Stress
  

• Adrenaline levels at the time of butchering  -  when adrenaline is high muscles are tight.
  

• Human contact  -  frequent human contact can help to keep stress and adrenaline to a minimum at time of shipping.  The human is something they are used to instead of an added fear so they calm down much quicker.
  

Cattle raised naturally take 23 to 26 months to finish, to be full size for butchering.  Cattle raised with growth stimulants take 12 to 15 months to finish.  We have almost twice the investment in feed and care by raising our cattle naturally but we get a superior and healthier product.