The first weekend of every month is special at little sprouts farm. This is the weekend that we take extra precaution agaisnt parasites. Since we are following organic principles, we do not use any chemical parasite control on our animals. Instead we have found a "food source" treatment htat apparently works as well as chemical treatments and has no side effects.
This is not commonly known but when commercial parasite controls are used, there is always a mandated waiting period after. During this time no animal products can be used for human consumption. That means no eggs and no butchering until the body has a chance to "cleanse" the chemicals. The stuff is really that toxic!
So, we use a product called VermX. It is a natural food and herbal mix that kills parasites in most any animal. There is no waiting period, and hte animals are actually better on it than not, much like vitimans and herbal tea. It is actually a healthy way to stay healthy!
So... for the first weekend, we move all the chickens and turkeys into their pens, and add the VermX to the feed for the required time. The pigs, sheep, and horses, and llama also get treated. Depending o the animal, it is a 3 to 5 day treatment.
The good news about all this is, our final products are healthy, parasite free, and consistent. The manure produced does not contain the chemical by-products that further affect the land and food chain. this also keeps the pasture in better shape by allowing hte manure to properly compost as nature intended.
Bottom line... its another way we are working to create a healthy farm, and a nutritous and delicious product.
Update... while moving all the chickens to the pen we did a head count. We have counted 36 chickens, 2 roosters, and 2 ducks.
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