Why We Feed Corn to Chickens—but Not to Our Cattle

We recently received a thoughtful question from a customer:

“I read where you said you don't give corn to your cows. Why give corn to chickens?”

It’s a fair question.

The answer starts with something pretty simple:

A cow and a chicken are very different animals.

Cattle Were Built to Eat Forage

Cattle are ruminants.

Their digestive system is designed around the rumen, where microorganisms help break down grasses and other fibrous plants and convert them into nutrition the animal can use.

That’s why our cattle at Tyner Pond Farm are raised on pasture and finished entirely on forage.

We don’t feed them corn or grain because we don’t need to.

Given good pasture, good genetics, proper management, and enough time, cattle are remarkably good at turning grass into beef.

That does take time.

Our cattle are typically more than 2½ years old before processing. We’re not trying to accelerate growth with grain. We’re managing pasture and allowing the animal to grow at the pace the forage supports.

Chickens Are Completely Different

Chickens are not ruminants.

They are monogastric omnivores, and naturally eat a much broader diet.

Spend some time watching our chickens on pasture and you’ll see them eating:

• grasses and tender plants
• seeds
• insects
• worms
• larvae
• whatever else they can scratch up

That ability to forage is one of the reasons we move our chickens regularly onto fresh pasture.

But pasture alone does not reliably provide everything a growing chicken or laying hen needs.

So we supplement what they find on pasture with a balanced non-GMO poultry ration.

That ration contains non-GMO corn and non-GMO soybean meal, along with the vitamins and minerals needed to maintain healthy birds.

Why Feed Corn?

For chickens, corn is primarily an energy source.

Growing birds require a considerable amount of energy, and non-GMO corn provides that energy in a form chickens digest efficiently.

Non-GMO soybean meal supplies protein and important amino acids.

Could poultry feed be formulated without corn or soy?

Certainly.

But simply replacing an ingredient doesn’t necessarily make the resulting ration nutritionally better.

Whatever replaces the corn or soy still has to provide the energy, protein, amino acids, vitamins, and minerals the bird needs.

Our goal isn’t to formulate feed around whatever ingredient is currently popular or unpopular.

Our goal is to raise healthy chickens while allowing them to live outside and express their natural behavior.

What About Omega-6?

This is where the customer's question becomes especially interesting.

What chickens eat can influence the fatty-acid profile of their meat and eggs, so the composition of their feed does matter.

But I don’t think it makes sense to judge an entire food simply by whether one particular ingredient appears in the animal’s diet.

There are many other factors involved:

• access to pasture
• the amount and quality of forage
• insects and other natural foods
• genetics
• season
• age
• overall feed formulation
• how the birds are managed

That’s why I tend to look at the whole production system.

Our chickens aren’t confined indoors eating nothing but formulated feed.

They are outside.

They move across fresh pasture.

They scratch.

They hunt insects.

They eat plants and seeds.

And we supplement that natural diet with a balanced ration containing non-GMO corn and non-GMO soy.

Pasture Still Matters

One thing I don’t want to lose in this conversation is the importance of pasture.

Our chickens aren’t outside simply because we think it looks better.

Pasture gives the birds an opportunity to behave like chickens.

They scratch, forage, hunt insects, dust bathe, move through vegetation, and choose among different foods throughout the day.

That creates a very different life from a bird raised entirely indoors.

It also means their diet is more diverse than what you would find in a conventional confinement system.

The supplemental feed is important.

But it isn’t the whole story.

Why We Use Non-GMO Feed

We deliberately use non-GMO corn and non-GMO soy in our poultry ration.

That choice matters to us.

We don’t claim that non-GMO corn somehow stops being corn, or that non-GMO soy stops being soy. If someone is trying to avoid corn or soy entirely, that distinction probably won't change their decision.

But if we're going to supplement our birds with grain, we prefer to use a non-GMO ration.

That’s part of the way we’ve chosen to raise our poultry.

If You Need Corn-Free or Soy-Free, We Aren’t the Right Farm

I also want to be very transparent.

If you are specifically looking for chicken or eggs from birds that have never eaten corn or soy — even non-GMO corn or soy — Tyner Pond Farm probably isn’t the right farm for you.

I’d rather say that plainly than hide behind the words “pasture-raised.”

To me, this is exactly why buying food directly from a farmer matters.

You should be able to ask:

What did the animal eat?

And the farmer should be able to give you a straightforward answer.

Different Animals Require Different Management

It would be easy to create one feeding philosophy and apply it to every animal on the farm.

But nature doesn’t work that way.

Cattle are ruminants designed to turn forage into food.

Chickens are omnivores that naturally eat a much broader diet and have different nutritional requirements.

Our job is to understand those differences and manage each species according to its biology.

That’s why our cattle eat forage.

And it’s why our chickens eat pasture plus a supplemental non-GMO ration containing non-GMO corn and non-GMO soy.

Good farming starts with understanding the animal in front of you.