Hi EcoGreen friends!

We have just completed our visit to the DQ Chicken Farm at Bukit Tinggi last Sunday (29 Nov) with some of our EcoGreen Community Members & friends Bukit Tinggi. It was an amazingly informative trip for all of us as there have been many improvements made to the farm since our last visit!

Our entourage was welcomed by Anna, owner of Bestari Bersatu Sdn Bhd, as well as Mr HS Wong, head of R&D for the farm.

Mr HS Wong, generously shared with us his experiences on managing sustainable farm. He says, “To be sustainable, what we derived from the land should exceed what we bring into it. While we extract what we need from the land, we should never be destructive in the process.”  This concept of sustainability deeply resonates with what we stand for at EcoGreen.

From the farm, we can see that each chicken has ample space to move around freely, searching for foods and water. According to Mr HS Wong, these free-range grass fed chickens grow in fields that are grown with over 30 varieties of plants, and they are moved from fields to fields every 2-3 weeks once the plants and grass are eaten up. Due to this reason, DQ chickens have been found to be high in omega 3, vitamin E as well as less prone to infection and poultry diseases.

Mr HS Wong also sent his chickens for lab tests and he found that market grain fed chickens had an omega3 to omega 6 ratio that was as high as 59:1 while DQ grass-fed chickens only had a ratio of 6:1 and even lower. Besides, it has been tested that DQ chickens are 50% less saturated fat than market chickens. This is because DQ chickens are deliberately grown slow to allow them to digest plants slowly to maximize absorption of omega 3 and DHA. A high omega3 to omega 6 ratio has been implicated with modern degenerative diseases like heart disease and diabetes! Just imagine if we are eating these commercial broiler chickens everyday…..what would happen?

In DQ farm, foods for chickens are specially cooked to break down foods and destroy any anti-nutritive substances, enzymes. Since no antibiotics and growth hormone are used, DQ chickens are usually given daily dose of garlic and kunyit to boost up their immune system. Besides, they are fed on natural enzymes fermented by DQ, consisting of different kinds of microorganisms and probiotics, to improve their digestion and growth.

After that, we were invited to explore the little chicken barn. All little chicks will be placed here for 14 days before moving to the fields. Mr KY Wong from EcoGreen Organic, was chosen to be the lucky one and was asked to smell the litter in the little chicken barn, which has not been changed for 8 years! You must be imagining on the smell, but surprisingly, it got no smells at all! Mr HS Wong explained that it was due to the presence of microbes as these microbes degrade all the particles and remaining foods. Amazing right?

As part of maintaining the sustainability of the farm, all plant, animal, and food wastes generated in the farm are composted in specially built compost sheds. These wastes are decomposed largely through aerobic decomposition at 60-70^oC into compost and humus; with the help of Lactobacilli and thermophillic bacteria.

The compost and humus produced from the compost heap are used around the farm. The use of these natural fertilizers increases the productivity of the plants, which are in turn used as food sources for the chickens, goats and even the local bees that thrive in the area.

Humus is also used to be processed into biochar, where the presence of ‘Qi’ in this concoction has been found to be extremely beneficial for the plants.

The farm also generates its own charcoal where it is used for a myriad of purposes – filtering wastewater from the farm before it is released into the stream, odour remover, and because of its micropores charcoal provides a place for microbes to thrive adding to the fertility and ‘life’ of the soil.

At the farm, we were amazed by the use of ingenious ideas to solve pest problems – without the input of chemicals. Carcasses and organs of dead animals were placed in a pail with small holes at the bottom. This was used as a bait to attract ‘mother’ flies to lay their eggs. When the eggs turn into larvae, they will naturally try to ‘escape’ the pail via the holes. Since the pail is situated directly above a fish tank, the larvae drops right into the water and is quickly eaten by the fishes. Thus, everything is in balance, these are what that makes a sustainable farm, as well as to ensure the sustainability of the Earth for our future generations!

Lots of local herbs and specialty plants are found in the farm. Certain plants can be used as natural insect repellent, to enhance the flowering frequency of some plants and even as tonic for animals. Interesting plants were like the tanduk rusa, which has strong “Qi”, most probably due to the photons absorbed during photosynthesis. Everyone had to hover their hands above the plant and try to feel the ‘Qi’.

We would like to thank Mr HS Wong for his hospitality throughout our visit – for his lengthy and informative explanations and a hearty lunch at Bukit Tinggi. This was definitely an amazing experience for each of us. We are looking forward for the next farm visit!

For those who missed this trip, catch up for the next!

By Li Hua, Jia Huan

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