Originally published January 2 2013
Oregano keeps chickens healthy and disease-free naturally
by PF Louis
(NaturalNews) More conventional farmers, both small and large, are beginning to ease off antibiotic use on their animals. Pharmaceutical antibiotics had become popular as CAFOs (confined animal feeding operations) came into existence.
Antibiotics began being used to keep poultry and livestock free from infectious disease while being kept in crowed disease brewing conditions, fed grains that are unnatural to their diets, and kept indoors. Natural News and this author hold this practice in contempt.
But the focus of this article is to announce that a few farmers are using oregano oil to replace antibiotics to keep their poultry and livestock disease free.
Even the CDC and other official food safety agencies have registered concerns over farm animal antibiotic overuse. The main concern is that too many pathogens are becoming resistant to antibiotics used on humans and animals.
The increased antibiotic resistance has resulted in several massive recalls on meats, dairy, and eggs contaminated with different strains of salmonella and E. coli over the past few years. Outbreaks resulting in massive recalls occurred among meat and dairy producers using antibiotics.
A few restaurants are beginning to feature antibiotic free meats as customers become more knowledgeable and concerned about what they eat. Of course, this is normal with organic grass fed free range meats. But they are costlier than conventionally raised livestock meats. Restaurants do watch their costs.
A chicken farmer's recent successful use of oregano
Scott Sechler, owner of Bell and Evens in Fredericksburg, Penn., a provider of antibiotic free poultry has been using oregano oil with a dash of cinnamon in his feed for three years.
Despite his concerns about flack from naysayers, Scott claims oregano oil has provided the best antimicrobial results since he stopped using conventional antibiotics. He's using a Dutch brand especially created for livestock.
Pharmaceutical antibiotic substitutes are part of Europe's agricultural mindset. The EU has banned the use of antibiotics to promote rapid growth, and the European Parliament is working on banning it for livestock disease prevention as well. So Scott gets his oregano oil from the other side of the pond.
The brand Scott uses was tested in Europe against livestock pharmaceutical antibiotics made by Bayer. A spokesman for Bayer conceded, to his amazement, that the oregano product convincingly out performed Bayer's products without side effects. Also, piglets tested with oregano looked much healthier and were not so dehydrated or wasted.
Near Scott's chicken farm, Bob Ruth, president of Country View Family Farms, was impressed enough with Scott's results that he started using that same oregano product on 5,000 pigs recently weaned from nursing.
Both farmers caution that using oregano oil as an antibiotic for livestock requires more concern for raising the animals in better and healthier environments. In other words, they can't be as sloppy and expect pharmaceutical antibiotics to bail them out.
That's a good thing for the animals and the consumers who eat them.
More on oregano oil for humans
Small amounts of oregano oil need to be diluted slightly with olive oil and distilled water. There are also capsules available, but working with wild crafted Mediterranean oregano oil may be the best way to go. If not Mediterranean, at least wild crafted.
Oregano oil's main active ingredient is Carvacrol. Choose the highest concentration possible, anywhere from 80 to 90 percent. Oregano oil is antibacterial, and yes, you should consume probiotic foods or beverages while using oregano http://www.naturalnews.co/033675_fermented_foods_probiotics.html).
But it's much more than just antibacterial. It is also antiviral, anti-parasitic, antioxidant, and anti-fungal. There have been many positive anecdotal reports from Candida sufferers using oregano oil. Here is one way to use it for Candida overgrowth (http://www.livestrong.com/article/98136-use-oil-oregano-candida/).
Sources for this article include:
http://www.greenprophet.com
http://www.nytimes.com
http://mysare.sare.org
http://www.globalhealingcenter.com
http://www.healingnaturallybybee.com
http://truthwiki.org/Oregano
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