National business reporting has documented cattle arriving at U.S. meatpacking plants showing unusual signs of distress — animals moving stiffly, struggling to walk, or lying down on arrival. Scientists have pointed to growth-promoting feed additives used in large-scale finishing operations as a likely cause, and at least one major processor suspended purchases of animals fed one such additive.
We raise our animals on pasture without hormones or antibiotics, and we do not use growth-promoting feed additives. That is not a marketing position; it is the only way we know how to farm well.
The broader point is simpler than any headline: when you buy a side of beef from a farm you can name, you can ask exactly what the animal ate and how it lived, and get a straight answer.