MANILA, Philippines -- The growing trend is eating healthy foods. This means organically or naturally-farmed agricultural products, both plants and animals.

And one who is pursuing this trend is a 48-year-old physician who is busy with his medical practice in the city yet finds time to do his own brand of natural farming.

He is Dr. Danilo Milla who holds clinic at the Cardinal Santos Medical Center in Mandaluyong City and who also runs the Reyna Helena Farm in Brgy. San Francisco, Sta. Ignacia, Tarlac. Every Tuesday and Saturday, he is usually in the farm checking on developments.

Although he was familiar with farming during his youth, he only decided to do his own farming after his grandmother bequeathed to him the 6.7-hectare farm in Brgy. San Francisco. He started growing high-value vegetables. Although they produced a lot of sitao and other vegetables, he was discouraged by the fickle prices. One time the price of sitao could be P120 per kilo, he said. Then in no time at all the price could plunge to P30 per kilo or less. Dr. Milla does not like that.

That prompted him to specialize in naturally-farmed chickens brought to the Philippines from a poultry breeding farm from the Czech Republic by Dr. Erwin Cruz.

Dr. Cruz advised Dr. Milla as well as his farm workers on the basics of chicken farming the natural way, i.e., without the use of antibiotics and other chemical inputs. Aside from Dr. Cruz, he also gets some pointers from a Korean friend who produces organic eggs in his mountain poultry farm in Bamban, Tarlac.

The Korean, Bobby Cho, has an unusual system of raising his flock. They are fed with a mixture of formulated feed without antibiotics, red earth inoculated with beneficial microorganisms, and some other ingredients. The day-old chicks are also fed with finely-chopped bamboo leaves. The Korean system is really economical so that it takes only P1.50 worth of feeds to produce one egg. What’s also interesting is that Bobby Cho is able to sell his organic eggs to Japanese and Korean customers at P15 per egg.

In the case of Dr. Milla, his special eggs are retailed in a number of Manila stores at P10 apiece. These are brown eggs that are bigger than the eggs of the native chicken. These brown eggs produced the natural farming way are said to be not only more tasty but are also more healthy.

The first batch of 500 layers was brought to Reyna Helena Farm in December 2009. They are now about one-and-a-half years old but they are unlike the commercial white chicken layers which have to be culled starting at 18 months old. No, the layers of Dr. Milla are expected to remain productive for many months more. As per the advice of Dr. Erwin Cruz, the laying of the birds should be maintained at only 60 to 80 percent. That’s in contrast with the practice of the white chicken egg producers who force their birds to have more than 90 laying percentage by giving them high-protein ration.

By limiting the egg-laying to 60 to 80 percent, the birds will have a much longer productive life. They could be laying for up to three years. The lower percentage of lay could be achieved by limiting the protein content of the feeds given.

Dr. Milla had a second batch of layers which are now also laying. He now produces at least 600 eggs a day which he supplies to his outlets in Manila. He has no problem selling his production at a premium price because there is an increasing number of consumers that are looking for his kind of products.

Aside from eggs, Dr. Milla also raises chickens for meat. These are raised up to 81 days when they will average a liveweight of two kilos. Unlike the commercial white chickens which have to be harvested at as early as 30 to 35 days, the chickens for meat of Dr. Milla are given ample time to develop their muscle. That way they would be much more tasty than the very young birds that are forced to grow as fast as possible.

Usually, the male chickens grow faster than the females so that it is advisable to grow the males for meat and the females for egg production. Dr. Cruz says that there is a particular cross whereby the sex of the chicks can be determined right after hatching. If the Andalusian cock is mated with the barred Plymouth Rock, the male chick has a spot at the top of its head so it could be segregated right away.

What’s very noticeable at the Reyna Helena Farm is that the houses are made of locally available materials such as nipa, bmboo and some wood. The idea, according to Dr. Cruz, is to show that even the very ordinary farmers can raise the superior Czech chickens in their own yards.

Dr. Cruz explained that the poultry breeder from the Czech Republic developed his birds purposely for production by smallhold farmers. These chickens are hardy and can subsist on feeds that are available on the farm, including leaves and grasses.

Another fowl that Dr. Milla has started raising is the Pekin Duck that is being distributed by Dr. Cruz, also from the Czech Republic. This hybrid duck is fast-growing and Dr. Milla would like to find out if it could also be raised under ordinary farmers’ conditions.

The 48 ducks which arrived on March 26 are being raised in a cage with bamboo slats as flooring. They are being fed with feed crumbles plus green forage, including malunggay. Emil dela Cruz who is in charge of the ducks says that they really relish the malunggay leaves. By the looks of it, the ducks have a good potential as money makers.

Dr. Milla has some plans for his workers. When they shall have fully mastered poultry production, he wants them to manage the farm on their own so that they can make more money. They could just give him token rent. But he will have his own growing operation.