Organic vs. regular layer feed

[CrazyTalk]

I disagree completely, if your getting truly organic there shouldnt be any added it, that is the definition of organic.

No, it's not. The definition of organic includes plenty of pesticides. There's a huge USDA document specifying what is allowed. Here's a digest of it:

http://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/text-id...rgn=div6&view=text&node=7:3.1.1.9.32.7&idno=7


Organic is a "culture" classification - similar to "Champagne" only being from France - it is not a health classification or a safety classification.

 

[Herdsman01]

There's more to it than that though.  Not only are you getting clean, non-GMO feed, but the land that produced it has been free from synthetic fertilizers and pesticides for at least three years, the farmer is probably using no-till practices and crop rotations and is being a better steward of the land.  Also, sales of certified organic products have saved many a family farm in the past decade.  Although big ag has moved into many of the organic markets, there is still a large number of small farms that are staying afloat because of the increased margin from organics.  Supporting organics supports family farms.  Showing a demand for organics in your area brings the infrastructure, suppliers, and competition to lower prices.


The added value is not only what you are not getting (pesticide residues and such) but that you are supporting an alternative agricultural and food system that promotes environmental stewardship, conservation, and animal welfare.

Supporting conventional farms also supports no-till, environmental stewardship, conservation, animal welfare, and family farms. Believe it or not conventional farms are family owned and operated run by people that care about everything I've listed above. If they didn't care, their farms wouldn't make money and wouldn't be successful.

Edit because I'm not really sure why I put no-till in there, but it was listed earlier so I thought I'd add it because many farmers do practice it. They do it out of convenience or personal preference. Some farmland is a part of government programs that say you have to no-till. No-till is not exclusively organic and has nothing to do with organic agriculture. There are benefits to no till but there are also many drawbacks. If farmers practice good soil management, no till is really not needed. However no-till is a completely different debate and I won't get into it here haha.

 

[Herdsman01]

It has been proven that GMO chicken feed WILL COME THROUGH to the eggs they lay.  GMO's are then deposited into YOUR system.  The human system cannot find a way to rid itself of these toxins; no way to digest what it doesn't recognize.  Thus, having your chickens eat gmo-corn will pass through to the people who eat your eggs.  Granted, most store bought eggs are from chickens eating gmo-corn.  So we have this in our systems if we have not done several flushes of detoxifying efforts.  However, THE REASON that I'm raising my own hens is so that I DO NOT ingest GMO's from MY OWN PERSONAL EGGS.  If you are eating gmo-corn through your eggs already then why are you raising your own???  It certainly is more expensive that $2/dozen...????

What toxins are in GMOs? GMOs are nothing more than plants that have slightly modified DNA (ie DNA has been addeded or modified to resist certain things like insects, herbicides, etc.). There are no chemicals or "toxins" in GMO crops. I truly get a kick out of all those pictures you see of crops or vegetables being injected with a syringe that has a skull and cross bones on it. The media has got everyone convinced that farmers and those involved in developing and breeding our crops are out there injecting and dousing the plants in all sorts of chemicals. Many crops are sprayed so early in the season that any residue has likely washed off and degraded in the soil. Since GMO grain contains nothing more than DNA (and everything else that makes up the grain kernel) there is nothing passed on through animals products. DNA of all things, modified or not, when consumed, is completely broken down during the digestion process. There's absolutely nothing passed on through to the products. Many people choose raise chickens, regardless if they're fed organic or non-organic, because people like knowing what they're fed, chickens are cheap in general, chickens are easy to care for compared to other livestock, extra eggs/meat can be sold for profit, and chickens are enjoyable to have around.