Originally published May 6 2015
Better animal health with non-GMO feed being reported by farmers
by Sandy J. Duncan
(NaturalNews) So if you were to buy in to the fact that GMO feed is a great thing, then why is the demand for non-GMO feed growing at such exponential rates that suppliers are having a hard time keeping up?
Dan Masters, president of Ohio-based Hiland Naturals, which supplies non-GMO and organic soy and non-soy feeds, says his company is seeing 40% growth per month and will open three more facilities by the end of the year. "It's growing by leaps and bounds," said John Yantis, referring to the demand for non-GMO feed. He is the owner and manager of Texas Natural Feeds, which sells non-GMO feeds primarily for chickens. Yantis has reported that his sales have increased from 20 tons per month to 100 this year and says it could soon reach 150 tons.
So what exactly is driving this incredible demand for non-GMO feed?
Healthier animals reported on non-GMO feed
Research and data can obviously be skewed to find whatever serves the powers funding the study, but indisputable first-hand observation is causing farmers to make the switch to non-GMO feed. Real farmers are experiencing and witnessing the negative effects in their GMO-fed animals. When they take the simple and often less expensive route of non-GMO feed, they are seeing less disease and better health, which of course increases profits.
Ib Pedersen, a pig farmer from one of Europe's largest pork companies, says he became so disturbed at the increase in deformity, sickness, deaths and poor productivity that he was observing in his animals that he decided to swap from a GMO to a non-GMO feed.
Although not all the problems completely disappeared, the changes were still amazing: "When using GM feed I saw symptoms of bloat, stomach ulcers, high rates of diarrhoea... but when I switched [to non GM feed] these problems went away, some within a matter of days." Pedersen also said the switch to non-GMO made his farm more profitable.
Steve Tusa raises cattle in Minnesota. He observed a drastic improvement in the health of his cattle when he made the switch to non-GMO feed. He reported that cattle deaths due to digestive health issues or pneumonia were reduced by 50% once he switched. He grows his own non-GMO corn on 1,400 acres to use as feed for his cattle.
When a farmer from Rock Rapids, Iowa, Troy Knoblock, switched from feeding his hogs GMO feed to non-GMO feed several years ago, he found that drug treatments for sicknesses were cut in half. Sow conception rates increased from 80% to 90%, and the size of hog litters increased.
Agriculture advisors have also noticed these improvements with non-GMO feed. "If you want healthy animals, put them on a non-GMO diet. They will gain weight faster, their health and reproduction will be better overall," said David W. Nelson, president of Minnesota-based Pedogenesis, Inc.
Howard Vlieger, an Iowa-based crop advisor, has also noted fewer health issues and decreased expenses including less antibiotic use in non-GMO fed animals. "There will be an improvement in overall herd health and performance," he said. Vlieger was co-author of a study in the Journal of Organic Systems which found that pigs were damaged by the consumption of feed containing GM corn and soy. GMO-fed pigs suffered severe stomach inflammation that was markedly higher than in pigs fed non-GMO feed. The study's findings were very relevant because they were reported in real farm conditions, not in a laboratory.
Even mice know they should avoid GMOs
A South Dakota farmer put non-GM corn and GM corn into 10 envelopes and placed three sets of envelopes in his shop, garage and an electrical utility shed for mice to eat. The mice ate through the non-GMO corn envelopes and left the GM corn envelopes untouched, leaving the farmer to wonder: "Why do the mice go to the non-GMO corn? Animals aren't dumb. Something's going on."
Sources:
http://www.non-gmoreport.com
http://nongmoreport.com
http://www.theecologist.org
http://hilandnaturals.com
http://truthwiki.org/The_Green_Revolution_-_Agriculture
http://truthwiki.org/Genetically_modified_crops
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