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
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.
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.
- 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.
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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
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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
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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
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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
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His own health improved while working barehanded with IMO4
Personal account, n=1.
▶ 6:00 As spoken
- 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.
- 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
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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
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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
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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)
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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
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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
- 0:00Greeting and thanks
- 0:22A missionary in the Philippines
- 0:49Called crazy for feeding soil microbes
- 1:49Testing against the local method
- 2:37A student starts it off
- 3:39What to research next
- 4:16Soil, animals, plants, people
- 5:08Making IMO4 bare-handed
- 6:06Strong microbes in feed and fields
- 7:00Materials people can eat
- 8:14Research together
- 9:50The vine and the branches
- 10:41Green feed all year
- 11:18Fermented corn feed
- 11:49Feed-ratio trial under way
- 12:19Close
Transcript
English translation, checked against the Korean as spoken. Click any time to play from there.
0:00 [Greeting; words unclear] Sorry, that was only for our Taiwanese friends. [Greeting continues; words unclear] Above all, I thank Master Cho. I am a missionary. I met Master Cho nine years ago. I heard his lecture in the Philippines, came to Korea to learn, and went back to do it, but for the first two or three years I failed a lot.
자유! 대만 분들에게만 해서 죄송합니다. 다같이 하고 싶은 사랑! 무엇보다도 원장님께 감사드립니다. 저는 선교사입니다. 9년 전에 원장님을 뵙게 되었고요. 필리핀에서 원장님의 강의를 듣고 한국에 와서 배워서 가서 했는데 한 2년에서 3년 사이에는 너무 실패를 많이 했습니다.
0:48 Along the way I made chicken and pig feed with microorganisms, and the locals and my wife said we were crazy. Why? Because the animals were eating soil. When you make the indigenous microorganism culture for the chickens and pigs, you culture it together with soil, you see. So to them the cultured microorganisms were just dirt.
그런 과정에서 제가 미생물을 가지고 닭과 돼지 사료를 만들었는데 현지인하고 저희 아내가 저들을 미쳤다고 그래요. 왜 그러냐, 흙을 먹으니까. 닭하고 돼지가 토착미생물 상관을 만드는 데 흙하고 같이 배양시키잖아요. 그래서 배양시킨 토착미생물 상관이 흙이래요.
1:40 Feeding them dirt, they said, was crazy. So from then on, because the locals would not follow me, I ran an experiment. Here is how I did it. The locals' method and my method, separately, one round each, we tested them, and the natural farming way came out ahead.
그래서 흙을 먹으니까 미쳤답니다. 그래서 그때부터 현지인들이 저를 따라오지 않아서 실험을 했습니다. 제가 실험을 어떻게 하냐면 현지인들이 하는 방법하고 제가 하는 방법하고 따로따로 한 타임씩 실험을 해가지고 자연 농업 방식으로 한 듯이 모아냈습니다.
2:29 So... Even so, the locals would not follow. Even after I showed them the better result, they were against it. Then one high school student said to his parents, "Dad, I'm going to do it this way." So because of that student, natural farming really got started there. From then on I tested many things and kept researching in the Philippines for seven years,
그래서 그랬는데도 현지인들이 따라오질 않아요 우수한 걸 보여줬는데도 반대를 해요 고등학교 학생 한 명이 부모님한테 아빠 나는 이렇게 할 거야 그러는 거예요 그래서 학생 때문에 자연 농업을 본격적으로 시작하게 되었습니다. 그래서 그때부터 여러가지를 시험하면서 필리핀에서 7년간 계속 연구하고
3:26 and sharing what I learned, I have kept spreading natural farming until now. Out of that, I will tell you just a few things I feel are most important, and, from what Master Cho has taught, the things we must research from here on: I will mention just two of them, and then finish.
하면서 경험한 내용들과 나누어서 지금까지 자연농업을 전개해 왔습니다. 그 과정에서 제가 가장 중요하게 느껴지는 부분을 몇 가지만 말씀드리고 원장님이 말씀하시고 했던 부분들에서 앞으로 우리가 연구하고 해야 될 부분들이 연구하는 것에 두 가지만 말씀드리고 마치려고 합니다.
4:16 In this picture, soil, animals, plants and people must have an organic relationship. That, I am convinced of. Every human life, every animal and plant, returns to the soil after death. So I came to realize how closely soil and microbes are tied to me myself.
이 그림에서 보시면 흙과 동물과 식물과 사람이 유기적인 관계를 가져야 하리라고 저는 확신합니다. 모든 인생과 동식물 모든 것들은 사후에 흙으로 돌아갑니다. 그래서 흙과 미생물과 본인인 저 자신과 너무 밀접한 관계를 깨닫게 된 거구나.
5:07 So when I make IMO No. 4, I don't wear gloves, I don't wear shoes; I make it almost bare-bodied. Then when I go straight into the house, my wife comes after me. And if I just brush myself off and go in, what do you think I say? "This is good stuff. From now on we have to live with it." I persuade her.
그래서 저는 토착미생물 4번을 만들 때는 그냥 장갑도 안 끼고 신발도 안 신고 거의 제 맨몸으로 만듭니다. 그리고 바로 방에 들어가면 저희 집사람이 쫓아옵니다. 그리고 툴툴 털고 들어가면 뭐라고 하겠습니까? 이건 좋은 거야. 앞으로 같이 함께 살아야 돼. 설득시킵니다.
6:00 My health was poor, but it keeps getting better. I think what matters is how strong you can make the indigenous microorganisms. So with indigenous microorganisms we make No. 4 together with No. 5, and we use them in the chicken house now, we use them in our [orchard or field; word unclear],
그래도 제 건강이 안 좋았는데 갈수록 건강이 더 좋아집니다. 토착미생물을 얼마나 힘이 있는 미생물로 만드냐는 것이 중요하다고 생각합니다. 그래서 토착미생물을 통해서 4번을 가지고 5번과 함께 만들어서 지금 닭장에도 사용하고요. 저희는 복숭아 때도 사용하고요.
6:46 and then in corn feed, and in our [unclear] feed as well. Those of you who have come to my house and eaten with us know this: the corn [or corn stalks] ferments to the point that we people could eat it too. In natural farming, almost all the materials we use are ones people can eat.
그 다음 옥수수 사료, 저희 보도인 사료에도 사용합니다. 저희 집에 오셔서 자주 같이 먹어보신 분은 알겠지만 옥수수대를 같이 먹을 수, 우리 사람이 먹을 수 있을 정도로 발효가 됩니다. 자연농업 자재는 거의 다 사람이 먹을 수 있는 자재로 사용합니다.
7:36 So it restores ruined environments. Livestock farming causes no pollution. I am convinced this natural-cycle farming is the most important farming there is, for the best farm environment and for saving the environment of the whole world. Master Cho received wisdom from God and spread it to us,
그래서 황폐화된 환경을 회복시킵니다. 축산에 오염이 없습니다. 이런 최고의 농업의 환경과 우리 전 세계의 환경을 살리는 가장 중요한 자연순환 농업이라고 저는 확신합니다. 원장님이 하나님의 지혜를 받아서 저희들에게 전파해주셨고
8:23 and what I received through him, I research together with him in prayer. From here on, I and all of you in this room must research together for further progress and work hard at it. Then the land recovers and people's health recovers. For this work,
저도 원장님을 통해서 받은 것을 원장님과 기도하면서 함께 연구를 하면서 앞으로도 이 자리에 계시는 저와 여러분들이 함께 연구하고 더 증보적인 발전을 위해서 노력해야 된다고 생각합니다. 그럴 때 땅이 회복되고 사람의 건강이 회복됩니다. 이 일을 위해서
9:09 together who set up this event, meeting Professor Kim Doo-hwan makes me happy, and meeting all of you makes me happy. So, as it is written, "Though your beginning was small, your latter end will greatly increase": it may look small now, but surely I believe it will grow great. Let's work together for natural farming and for our health. I think natural farming is like the vine and its branches.
함께 이 자리를 마련하게 되신 김두환 교수님을 만나게 된 것도 저는 행복하고요. 또 여러분들을 만나게 된 것도 행복합니다. 그래서 시작은 미약하나 나중은 창대하리라고 말씀하신 것처럼 지금은 미약한 것 같지만 분명히 창대할 줄 믿습니다. 우리 함께 자연 농업을 위해서 우리 건강을 위해서 함께 하십시오. 그래서 저는 이 자연 농업을 포도나무와 가지와 같다고 생각합니다.
10:05 A branch cannot live cut off from the vine. Natural farming is the same: it cannot work without soil and indigenous microorganisms. So to work together, as Master Cho taught, we spent a year researching how to make green feed, and this is what came of testing it on chickens.
가지는 나무를 떨어져서는 살 수 없습니다. 우리 자연농업도 마찬가지로 흙과 토착미생물과 함께 하지 않으면 될 수 없다는 겁니다. 그래서 함께 하기 위해서 원장님이 말씀하신 대로 청예사료를 만들기 위해서 1년동안 연구하고 닭에게 실험해본 결과가 바로 이것입니다.
10:55 We raised chickens that way, and the advantage is that we no longer have to worry about green feed: we can make it the same way all year round. And this one is a feed of corn, lactic acid bacteria, indigenous microorganisms and feed, these things are mixed together and fermented, as Master Cho taught, we make it and keep researching
그래서 이 결과대로 닭을 사육을 했는데 청예사료에 대한 것은 염려하지 않아도 일년 연중에 계속해서 똑같이 만들 수 있다는 데 이점이 있습니다. 그리고 이것은 성의 사료인 옥수수와 유산균과 토착미생물과 사료 이런 것들을 배합해서 발효시키는 것을 원장님이 말씀하신 대로 만들어서 계속 연구하면서
11:41 and testing. We are feeding this to chickens now and testing it: the exact percentage, at what percentage it gives the chickens, and the eggs, how good a product. At one-month intervals we raise the ratio and lower it, and the research data is being prepared now. There is much more I would like to say, so please come to my house tomorrow and ask your questions there.
실험하고 있습니다. 이것을 지금 닭에게 주면서 실험을 하고 있는데 정확한 퍼센트 몇 퍼센트를 줬을 때 닭에게 그리고 계란에게 얼마만큼 좋은 상품이 되어지는지 한 달 간격으로 비율을 높이고 내렸다가 지금 연구하는 데이터가 준비 중입니다. 하고 싶은 말씀은 많이 있는데 내일 저희 집에 오셔서 질문하시기로 하시고요.
12:27 With that, I will finish. Thank you.
이것으로 마치도록 하겠습니다. 감사합니다.