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Hens Eat Fermented Cow Dung on a Pastor's Muju Farm

Lee Eun-ha (host), with Master Cho Han-kyu (interpreted by Dr. Hoon Park), Lee Eun-ha's farm beside a small brick church, Daedeoksan-ro, Mupung-myeon, Muju County, North Jeolla · South Korea

Spoken in Korean. Translated to English and checked line by line.

Visitors gather around bags of material beside a wooden-framed bed in the shade house.
Visitors gather around bags of material beside a wooden-framed bed in the shade house.
The farm beside a small brick church with a cross, on a mountain road at dusk.
The farm beside a small brick church with a cross, on a mountain road at dusk.
The church wall and its address plate: Daedeoksan-ro 725-21.
The church wall and its address plate: Daedeoksan-ro 725-21.
Laying hens on a straw-covered earth floor inside the greenhouse henhouse.
Laying hens on a straw-covered earth floor inside the greenhouse henhouse.
A visitor's hand in the henhouse floor litter, with hens around.
A visitor's hand in the henhouse floor litter, with hens around.
A perforated pipe column beside white water tanks in the shade house.
A perforated pipe column beside white water tanks in the shade house.
Chili peppers on black mulch, held up by wire trellises.
Chili peppers on black mulch, held up by wire trellises.

Video of this visit will be added to the members' archive. The transcript times below match that recording.

On the evening of October 6, 2016, the group visited a small hen farm next to a country church, run by Lee Eun-ha, the former missionary to the Philippines who spoke on the first day. Master Cho calls it the first place in the world to feed fermented cow dung to hens, inside a closed loop where the farm makes its own feed and fertilizer. The hosts showed chopped green corn stalk fermented for feed, a BMW water tank, IMO4 mixed with a tiller, a feed mixer and fermenting trough, hens on a bare-earth IMO4 floor with no smell, a chili field with soft soil, and a makgeolli insect trap. Laying was about 60% while feed ratios were still being tested.

What they found

The question

How does a small farm make its own hen feed and fertilizer the natural farming way, including fermented cow dung as feed? The group came, in Master Cho's words, to see the method, not the size.

How they tested it

A small farm beside a brick church at Daedeoksan-ro 725-21 (address plate in photo IMG_2552), which places it in Mupung-myeon, Muju County, North Jeolla. Run by Lee Eun-ha, who spoke at the symposium the day before and invited people to his home 'tomorrow'. Laying hens in greenhouse-type houses on a bare-earth IMO4 floor; younger birds in a separate pen; chili peppers on black mulch in the field; shade houses holding the BMW tank, IMO4 beds, a stone sorter, a shell grinder, a feed mixer and a long wooden fermenting trough. Visit about 17:15 to 18:30 on October 6, 2016. Flock size, how long the farm has run, and land area: not stated.

What was compared
  • Fermented corn stalk feed — Green corn stalks (not dried; 'the green one has higher vitamin') chopped by a machine, packed and fermented about 20 days in hot weather, up to two months in cold. Asked what else goes in, the host said lactic acid bacteria and number 4 (IMO4). Amounts not stated. Rice straw is chopped on the same machine.
  • Fermented cow dung as hen feed — Cow dung fermented with IMO4 into what the hosts call number 5 (IMO5), then mixed into the feed. Master Cho's stated goal: about 30% cow dung to 70% other material, not yet confirmed as best. Horse dung is said to be better because a horse has one stomach, so its dung carries more nitrogen.
  • Feed blend — Fermented corn stalk + Protectors (LAB) + Microbes (IMO4) + IMO5 from cow dung + corn and other feed, mixed in a bladed mixer (stones and metal sorted out first, or the blades break). The ratio is under trial, raised and lowered as Master Cho instructs.
  • Fermenting trough — The mixed feed goes into a long wooden trough, packed and covered with rice hulls so the moisture doesn't evaporate; it ferments 3 to 4 days and hens are fed after about 3 days. One end mixes, the other ferments. The rice hulls are also fed; in spring, feed to rice hull is 1:1.
  • LAB grown on rice — A dense, sour LAB culture grown on rice, shown in a shed; used in the feed.
  • BMW water — Water drops through a perforated pipe onto stones at the bottom of a tank to pick up oxygen; IMO4 is in the tank. B = bacteria (IMO4), M = minerals from the stone, W = water plus air.
  • IMO1 material in cold weather — Leaf mold: fallen bamboo and oak leaves that have turned to soil, kept as material to make IMO1 when it is too cold.
  • IMO4 mixing — IMO3 to IMO4 made in small batches in wooden-framed beds, mixed with a walk-behind rototiller. IMO4 made that morning was hot; a five-day-old batch was still steaming.
  • Shell and bone grinder — Grinds oyster shells, shrimp shells, bones and dried food scraps to powder. Price given as 3.2 million won (interpreted as about $3,200).
  • Henhouse floor — A layer of IMO4 on bare earth, with no vinyl sheet or concrete. Dung is said to ferment in place and disappear. Floor scrapings are fermented again as IMO5 before going to the field.
  • Calcium for hens — Three things together: [number 4], oyster and clam shells, and red clay, with some salt. Amounts not stated.
  • Housing — Built as a greenhouse because a permit for a livestock barn was not granted; the host says rain gets in and winter is hard, and Master Cho's standard design would be better.
  • Makgeolli insect trap — Makgeolli and acacia Food (FPJ) at about 200:1, no water, in hanging bottles; adjusted by region. The makgeolli smell and FPJ sweetness draw butterflies and moths, which drown.
Results
  1. Laying rate about 60%, aiming for 65 to 70%

    Rate goes up and down because feed ratios are being changed in trials; 'this is not the final result.' Master Cho is said to aim for 65–70%. No flock size or period given.

    ▶ 30:11 As spoken

  2. Henhouse floor has no smell and the dung disappears

    Visitors handled and smelled the floor: 'no smell', 'it's soil', 'no vinyl, no concrete', 'dry'. Dung dropped at night is said to be gone by being fermented in place. Offered as proof that a vinyl liner is not needed to protect groundwater; no water test shown.

    ▶ 33:37 As spoken

  3. Eggs improved after cow dung went into the feed

    Master Cho: feeding cow dung made the eggs 'very good'; interpreted as 'very high quality'. No measure given.

    ▶ 1:24 As spoken

  4. Chili field soil softened: probe went in 40 this year

    Hand-shown depth last year vs '40' this year (unit not spoken, likely cm), 'more than two times'. Claim: after three years the soft layer is one meter deep.

    ▶ 39:20 As spoken

  5. Chili plants recovered from anthracnose after days of heavy rain

    Anthracnose came after several days of rain a few weeks earlier; the host says other places were worse and these plants recovered once the rain stopped, crediting the soil. Not measured.

    ▶ 40:20 As spoken

  6. IMO4 still steaming on day five

    A batch made that morning was hot; a five-day-old pile was still steaming. Number 5 (IMO5) was not hot.

    ▶ 18:11 As spoken

Hold it loosely
  • A short evening walk-through; nothing was measured on the spot and no records were shown.
  • The 60% laying rate and the 30:70 cow-dung goal are spoken figures from feed trials still under way; flock size, period and feed amounts were not given.
  • Much of the Korean was only partly captured; long stretches were heard only through the English interpretation, which sometimes simplifies or garbles (for example 'rice' for rice hull, 'number 5 / number 6' for BMW).
  • Who said which Korean line is inferred from video and context; several speakers overlap.
  • The soil-depth and disease claims compare this farm with itself last year or with unnamed neighbors; no controls.
  • Light faded near the end; the last chili-field and trap segment is dark and partly inaudible.
For your farm
  • Look for feed and fertilizer inside the farm: crop residue, dung and food scraps can go back to the animals after fermenting with Microbes (IMO).
  • Pack corn stalk green and moist for fermented feed; dried stalk loses the vitamins the host values.
  • Sort out stones and metal before materials reach a mixer or grinder.
  • A bare-earth floor topped with IMO4 lets the soil life work on the droppings; plastic or concrete under it keeps them out.
  • Ferment hen-house scrapings again (IMO5) before they go on the field.
  • A bottle of makgeolli with a little FPJ can serve as a cheap moth and butterfly trap; adjust the mix to your area.

Next to Master Cho's teaching

  • Agrees

    Fermented cow dung as hen feed In 2017 Cho's team described this same practice ('the only place in the whole world cow dung is feed to the chicken and the pigs') and said it had moved from 30% to 50% of the ration. In 2016 it was still at the 30% target.

    2017/Advanced Cho/swine/IMG_1943 @ 0:42:07 (translated)

  • Agrees

    Bare-earth henhouse floor, no smell Cho's book says the floor must touch the soil, with straw and microorganisms working on the droppings. The farm uses an IMO4 layer on bare earth.

    Cho, Janong Natural Farming (2010 draft), p. 71

  • Goes further

    Rice hulls in hen feed Cho's book has rice husks reaching 20–25% of feed by six months. The farm feeds rice hull 1:1 with feed in spring, more than the book's figure.

    Cho, Janong Natural Farming (2010 draft), p. 73

  • Differs

    Makgeolli insect trap Cho's book dilutes both FPJ and unfiltered rice wine to about 0.3% in water. Here makgeolli and acacia FPJ were mixed about 200:1 with no water. The idea, alcoholic and sweet smells to draw insects, is the same.

    Cho, Cho Han-Kyu's Natural Farming (Theory), p. 110

  • Agrees

    BMW water through stones Cho's book: make water with minerals and microorganisms from rocks. The farm's tank drops water over stones with IMO4 in it.

    Cho, Janong Natural Farming (2003), p. 137

“This is the first place in the world where cow dung is used as chicken feed.”

▶ 1:04

“We didn't come here to see the size. We came to see the method.”

▶ 4:06

“LAB, solid. LAB grown on rice, man. Nice and sour.”

▶ 20:21

“If plastic or concrete goes in, the microbes can't live.”

▶ 34:30

“If you do this thing three years, then everywhere you stick it in, the soft layer is one meter.”

▶ 39:52

In this talk

  1. 0:00Master Cho on the church steps
  2. 3:06Fermented corn stalk feed
  3. 8:05BMW: water dropped over stones
  4. 9:37Leaf mold for IMO1
  5. 10:45Mixing cow dung and IMO
  6. 12:15Stone sorter and shell grinder
  7. 14:45IMO4 mixed with a tiller
  8. 20:19LAB grown on rice
  9. 21:17The feed mixer
  10. 24:21Fermenting trough and rice hulls
  11. 28:37The laying hens
  12. 32:03A henhouse floor with no smell
  13. 35:02Calcium for hens
  14. 35:49Why a greenhouse
  15. 37:31Dung back to the field
  16. 38:20Soft soil under chili peppers
  17. 41:55Makgeolli insect trap

Transcript

English translation, checked against the Korean as spoken.