OUR FEED
Maize, legumes, cereals, grass, soy, vitamins, minerals, and amino acids are what the Bjäre Chickens eat. The feed is completely vegetable and free of additives. We can guarantee that there is no fish meal, meat meal, coccidiostats (a type of antibiotics used only for animals), or GMOs in the feed.
At first, we used French maize as a feed for our chickens, because back then it wasn’t GMO-manipulated like the American maize. But most of all we wanted to use crops that were grown here at home. “There are no Swedish maize farmers who grow maize for threshing”, said the feed industry. So we had to fight to find Swedish maize that suited our high demands, but in the end we succeeded. Almost all of our feed is grown in southern Sweden. Thw grain is grown on nearby fields. By using locally grown feed and returning the manure to the cultivation of the area, we contribute to the functioning of the environmental cycle.
30 percent of the feed is certified by Svenskt Sigill, which guarantees a lower environmental impact. Farmers are audited by a third party.
The reason to use soy in the feed
Soy is the ingredient in our feed that impacts the climate the most, as soy is imported. Our goal for the future is to be able to exclude soy from the feed and we are working to achieve that goal as soon as possible. Before we can change the feed, we need to ensure that the protein content of a soy-free feed is high enough so that our chickens are healthy and wellfed.
All the soy we use at Bjärefågel, and the soy our breeders use is certified according to ProTerra or RTRS via the feed companies Lantmännen and Svenska Foder, as importers of soy. The soy is GMO-free and is transported separately from other soy.
Why are crops certified
IP certification of plant cultivation provides a production with higher food safety, reduced environmental impact and improved working conditions.
Environmental impact is minimized through systematic work for healthy crops and efficient use of inputs.
Most important is a well planned crop rotation, preventive measures against pests, optimized use of fertilizer and responsible withdrawal of irrigation water. In addition, specific efforts are carried out to preserve and increase biological diversity.