Access to organic soya oil, has enabled ForFarmers to revolutionise organic layer diets to produce a new range of organic feeds. 

Iain Campbell, poultry specialist at ForFarmers, said that until now UK feed mills did not have ready access to organic oil due to limited cultivation of organic soya, but now it was being grown in enough European farms to supply the company’s needs. 
"A capital investment project to install a holding tank specifically for organic oil, along with a dedicated delivery system, was required to link to the mill’s computerised manufacturing and formulation software. The use of oil further improved the quality, consistency, flow through feeding systems and palatability of the diet," said Mr Campbell.
One challenge of organic diets is delivering amino acid requirements without access to pure individual amino acids, which can lead to the oversupply of protein. 
These new diets include feed materials that support the bird’s functional methionine requirements and methionine regeneration; freeing up other sources of the amino acid for structural processes essential for increased productivity and egg size.
“In the new diets we are able to more easily meet energy requirements from oil supplementation and are able to more fully exploit medium energy ingredients such as sunflower meal,” said Mr Campbell. “This, as well as providing protein, is an excellent source of structural fibre, which improves gizzard function and helps support intestinal health.” 
The use of GM technology in enzyme production prohibits the access of many feed enzymes to organic farmers. However, ForFarmers identified one multi-functional enzyme, produced naturally without GM technology, which is acceptable to organic production systems. 
Primarily designed to aid the digestion of feed by assisting the breakdown of components from cereals; the multi-enzyme product helps overall digestive efficiency, promotes intestinal health and helps reduce excreta moisture content.
“Most of the organic egg producers I work with have switched, or are in the process of switching, to the new range and have quickly noticed improvements in shell quality, seeing fewer seconds. They also report greater feed intake, which means more nutrients available for egg production.”