Éden Major: A Pioneer Of Organic Poultry Farming In Hungary

Tiszakécske, a town halfway between Kecskemét and Szolnok, is home to one of Hungary's pioneering certified organic farms, Éden Major, where the owners, Gábor Szokolai and his wife, have been living and working since 2016 to realise their lifelong dream of an organic farm for growing crops, producing eggs and raising livestock. The last time we visited Éden Major was in 2020, but the partnership has been ongoing ever since, and they have recently developed their organic poultry feed enriched with herbal and mineral supplements (marketed by Garuda Ayurveda), named the FITOBOOST poultry feed-range. With FITOBOOST poultry feeds, Gábor and his wife had great success in raising organic chickens, not only producing high-quality poultry meat, but also - to much of their surprise - significantly reducing the rearing time as well!

Éden Major: This Is How It Started

Our cooperation with the owners of Éden Major began in July 2020, when we visited the farm for the first time with our colleagues. We were welcomed by Gábor Szokolai and his wife (the owners of Éden Major), and soon we got to hear their story: how they moved from the concrete jungle of the city and its hectic world, to the land of peace and tranquillity, where they built their farm, started to raise a family and also ventured into a pioneering business, namely setting up a certified organic farm.

Gábor told us that he used to live a very different life before to the one now he lives, and that there simply came a point in his life when his health began to suffer from the detrimental effects of his previous lifestyle. Before that, he didn't care what he ate, all he cared about was reducing his hunger. However, as his body began to show signs of going in the wrong direction, his desire to learn about healthy living grew, and he was eventually introduced to organic food and organic farming.

Apart from his unhealthy lifestyle, Gábor was also fed up with the hectic city life. Gábor and his wife soon moved to Tiszakécske, where they started backyard poultry farming and slowly learned their new way of life, experiencing everything around the animals themselves. They started producing organic feed later, when they realised how difficult it was to get organic feed from a reliable source. Today they are the only ones officially producing organic feed in Hungary. The feeds they market are nutritionally complete ones, with all ingredients certified organic.

The Everyday Life of an Organic Farm

During our visit, we learned how much administration is involved in the life of an organic farm, as the owners have to keep detailed and accurate records in order to ensure that everything is traceable. At Éden Major, the main goal from the beginning has been to meet the criteria for organic certification for all sectors. Obtaining and maintaining these certification proves that Gábor and his family can meet the standards for the entire farm.

The ecological cycle of farming is based on a permaculture approach. Farms operating according to the principles of permaculture focus on creating a coherent ecological system in all elements of farming. In doing so, they strive to create a mutually beneficial network of relationships between plants, animals, people, built structures and natural features. In other words, permaculture aims to meet human needs by creating ecological systems while minimising energy demand and environmental impacts.

In the case of organic farming, this can be achieved by avoiding monocultures and using a wide range of plant species on the farm. In the case of Éden Major, this meant planting no more than 4 fruit trees of each type out of a hundred, and also by using composted animal manure to feed the plants grown in the Major.

Éden Major: What the Present and Future Holds

In Éden Major, Gábor and his wife currently raise approximately 750 chickens and 12 Gyimesi racka type of sheep. Customers interested in organic chicken meat and organic poultry feed visit from all over the country. They do not have to spend much on advertising themselves as there is a growing demand for healthy, organically reared meat in the country.

To support the health of their animals, they use organic herbal preparations and premixes to supplement their livestock, which Garuda Ayurveda supplies to Eden Major thanks to its wide range of veterinary products. For example, STRESROAK oral liquid is used to prevent and alleviate hatching stress in chicks and to support the birds' resistance from day 0 for 3-4 days, and then after a break of 2 weeks it is supplied again for 3-4 days (in 20 ml/5 litres of drinking water).

In the past, when they did not have their own feed, their animals suffered from cannibalism due to vitamin deficiencies, with a sudden increase in mortality. In this case, the animals were also treated with STRESROAK oral liquid, which increased the birds' stress tolerance and eliminated aggressive behaviour almost instantly.

DERMANYGUARD oral liquid is used to control red mites in poultry through drinking water. DERMANYGUARD makes the birds' blood taste bad and indigestible for the mites, so they stop sucking blood, their life cycle is broken, and they die for lack of a suitable host.

At Éden Major, the aim is to continue to increase their animal flock to meet the huge demand they face from customers. The next step is to increase the flock to up to 2,000 chickens, which will require the construction of additional sheds. They also want to improve the feed production machinery. The ultimate goal is to enter the national market with organic feed for different animal species.

The Success of FITOBOOST Feeds

Éden Major began developing FITOBOOST in 2023, a special poultry feed enriched with herbal extracts, minerals and natural, plant-based vitamins. FITOBOOST feeds are formulated with ingredients that support the liver and the digestive system, relieve stress, enhance performance and help neutralise a broad spectrum of toxins, to address the most common challenges in livestock production.

FITOBOOST starter, grower and finishing feeds are formulated with balanced ingredients to ensure a predictable flock development. They are formulated with natural mineral and vitamin supplements appropriate for the species and age group. FITOBOOST feeds can be used to grow a healthy, productive and stress-free livestock.

The benefits of FITOBOOST poultry feed:

o Complex liver protection.

o Antioxidant properties.

o Performance-enhancing, immune-boosting effects.

o Broad spectrum toxin neutralisation.

o Supplementary treatment of diarrhoea with optimising effect on digestion.

o Supplemented with highly bioavailable plant-based vitamins C and E.

o Enriched with bioactive, highly bioavailable plant-based choline and biotin.

FITOBOOST: Results Beyond Expectations

This year Gábor started an experiment with FITOBOOST feeds on two trial groups at the Eden Major organic farm: the trial group was reared on FITOBOOST organic feed and the control group on their conventional organic poultry feed. The data is for the French Hubbard Redbro M, a slow-growing hybrid registered for organic farming and specifically bred for outdoor rearing in certified organic systems. Under normal rearing conditions, the rearing cycle is 81 days, which was reduced to 61 days using FITOBOOST feed, meaning that the birds reached their slaughter weight on the 61st day of life!

The documented results show that, compared to the development data from Hubbard's industrial feed, the chicken raised with FITOBOOST organic feed used by Eden Major (having the same energy content) reached almost the official technology development size by day 42 of life.

So, at the end of the day, it is possible to do this in a clean and environmentally friendly way, isn't it? If you want to buy or produce quality organic chicken meat, contact the owners of Éden Major, who also offer free technological (rearing) assistance to interested parties and customers.

Contact:

Éden Major Biotakarmány Kft.

Mr. Gábor Szokolai

+3620-313-8440

https://bioedenmajor.hu/

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