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They Called It Crazy to Feed Chickens Soil Microbes

Lee Eun-ha, CGNFI (per title slide); a missionary who practiced natural farming in the Philippines for seven years (self-described) · South Korea

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

A Korean missionary tells how he learned natural farming from Master Cho, failed for two or three years in the Philippines, and was called crazy for culturing feed for chickens and pigs with soil microbes. He shows two feed systems: green feed his team can now make the same way all year, and a layered, fermented corn feed with lactic acid bacteria and Microbes (IMO). He gave no numbers. A trial of feed ratios for hens and eggs was still running, with data being prepared.

What they found

The question

Main claim: chickens and pigs can be fed on-farm feeds cultured with indigenous microorganisms, and green feed can be supplied all year, without waste or pollution.

How they tested it

Practitioner report, not a controlled trial. The speaker worked seven years in the Philippines and now has a farm visitors could see the next day (location not stated). He ran the locals' method and his natural farming method 'one round each' side by side early on; no numbers, design or animal counts given. Green feed was researched for one year and tested on chickens. A trial of how much fermented feed to give hens, changing the ratio up and down at one-month intervals, was under way; data not yet ready. Flock size, breed, duration and measurements: not stated.

What was compared
  • Microbes (IMO) cultured feed — Feed for chickens and pigs cultured with indigenous microorganisms, which are grown together with soil. Rates not stated.
  • Green feed (cheongye saryo, 청예사료) — Fresh greens cut and chopped by machine and packed in large bags (Fig. 3 photos) for a 'self-sustaining supply'. Method details and amounts not stated.
  • Fermented corn feed — Corn mixed with lactic acid bacteria (LAB), indigenous microorganisms and other feed, fermented in layers in a wooden fermenter box (slide 'Natural feed fermenter'). Proportions not stated.
  • IMO4 and IMO5 — Made and used in the chicken house, on fields and in corn feed. Rates not stated.
Results
  1. The natural farming method did better than the local method in his side-by-side test

    Spoken only; no numbers, crop or animal, or measure given. The locals still would not adopt it until a high-school student told his father he would farm this way.

    ▶ 2:10 As spoken

  2. Green feed can now be made the same way all year round

    After a year of research and testing on chickens. Slide: 'Cheongae (Green) feed for self-sustaining supply', four photos of cutting, chopping and bagging greens. No feed or performance numbers.

    ▶ 10:41 Said and shown on the slides

  3. Corn feed ferments with LAB and IMO into a layered feed

    Slide 'Natural feed fermenter': a wooden box with visible layers of feed. The speaker says the corn ferments well enough that people could eat it.

    ▶ 11:18 Said and shown on the slides

  4. Best feeding rate for hens and eggs not yet known

    Ratio raised and lowered at one-month intervals; data 'being prepared'. No weight-gain or egg numbers were shown or spoken.

    ▶ 11:49 As spoken

  5. His own health improved while working barehanded with IMO4

    Personal account, n=1.

    ▶ 6:00 As spoken

Hold it loosely
  • No data at all: no feed formulas, rates, weight gain, egg numbers or costs were shown or spoken, despite the poultry-feed title.
  • The early comparison with local practice was one round each, with no numbers or design given.
  • The feed-ratio trial was unfinished at the time of the talk.
  • Health claims are personal anecdote.
  • Slides are photos and a diagram only; two different slides are both labelled 'Fig. 3' and there is no Fig. 2.
For your farm
  • Feed cultured with soil microbes may look like 'feeding dirt' to neighbors; side-by-side results, and young farmers, may do more to persuade than argument.
  • Planning green feed so it can be made the same way all year can take worry out of the feed supply.
  • Corn mixed with Protectors (LAB) and Microbes (IMO) and fermented in layers is one way to make an on-farm feed; work out the feeding rate on your own flock, a step at a time.

Next to Master Cho's teaching

  • Agrees

    Fresh green feed for chickens Cho writes that fresh green grass is a good feed, available everywhere, and can make up about one third of the total feed for adult chickens.

    Cho, Janong Natural Farming (2003), p. 187

  • Agrees

    Soil and microbes in poultry feed Cho lists soil rich in microorganisms as a given part of homemade chicken feed, and says IMOs turn chicken feces on the floor into feed; the locals' 'crazy' was standard Cho practice.

    Cho, Janong Natural Farming (2003), p. 187

  • Agrees

    Fermented, layered feed with LAB and IMO4 Cho shows crushed material fermented with LAB and IMO4, and chicken feed 'layered like a sandwich', and says he was testing one combined feed for chickens and pigs.

    2017/Advanced Cho/swine/IMG_1694 @ 0:12:00 (translated)

  • Agrees

    IMO4 as a base for fermented feed Cho's recipe book lists IMO4 as a basic material for fermented feed and for managing henhouses and pigpen floors.

    Cho, Natural Farming Agricultural Materials (Recipe), p. 20–23

  • Agrees

    Materials people can eat Pure KNF teaching says the solutions are safe and even edible for people, matching the speaker's rule of using materials people can eat.

    knf-recipe-book-2024

“Feeding them dirt, they said, was crazy.”

▶ 1:40

“"Dad, I'm going to do it this way."”

▶ 2:54

“In natural farming, almost all the materials we use are ones people can eat.”

▶ 7:14

“A branch cannot live cut off from the vine.”

▶ 10:05

In this talk

  1. 0:00Greeting and thanks
  2. 0:22A missionary in the Philippines
  3. 0:49Called crazy for feeding soil microbes
  4. 1:49Testing against the local method
  5. 2:37A student starts it off
  6. 3:39What to research next
  7. 4:16Soil, animals, plants, people
  8. 5:08Making IMO4 bare-handed
  9. 6:06Strong microbes in feed and fields
  10. 7:00Materials people can eat
  11. 8:14Research together
  12. 9:50The vine and the branches
  13. 10:41Green feed all year
  14. 11:18Fermented corn feed
  15. 11:49Feed-ratio trial under way
  16. 12:19Close

Transcript

English translation, checked against the Korean as spoken. Click any time to play from there.