What is GMO?

Read all about it.
By now you've heard a lot about GMO and you've heard us talking about it. A year ago we switched our goats to NON GMO grains. It's a personal choose and one we feel everyone has the right to do. That's not to say I don't go out to eat with friends and still consume GMO foods. I'm sure I do. We buy and grown NON GMO foods for our household.
But we thought we'd just shed a little light on what GMO is for those who aren't as familiar.
GMO stands for genetically modified organism. It's also called GE, genetic engineering or GM, genetic modification. All three are the same just different names.
GMO is a laboratory process of taking genes from one species and inserting them into another.

The process for GMO is completely different than grafting (trees for example), cross breeding (breeding a Nubian goat with a Toggenburg goat for example) or hybridizing seeds (beefsteak tomato for example).
Genetic engineers have found ways to force the DNA from one organism into another. The results are plants or animals with traits that would be virtually impossible to obtain with natural processes like cross breeding or grafting.

Here's a short list of some the high risk crops in commercial production.

• Alfalfa (first planting 2011)
• Canola (approx. 90% of U.S. crop)
• Corn (approx. 88% of U.S. crop in 2011)
• Cotton (approx. 90% of U.S. crop in 2011)
• Papaya (most of Hawaiian crop; approximately 988 acres)
• Soy (approx. 94% of U.S. crop in 2011)
• Sugar Beets (approx. 95% of U.S. crop in 2010)
• Zucchini and Yellow Summer Squash (approx. 25,000 acres)

When we first switched our goats’ grain we started mixing our own and thought we were choosing NON GMO grains. Our goats would eat all the grain in their bowl expect the Alfalfa. I wondered why they were avoiding only the Alfalfa. I called our local feed supply company and told them our list of ingredients in our mixture and asked which of these grains are GMO. They told us the only one that was GMO was the alfalfa. Pretty amazing if our goats are given a choice they choose NON GMO. Since then we started buying our grain from a feed supplier near Berlin, Ohio that sells certified NON GMO grains.

There's a growing awareness of what's being introduced into our food source and we'll keep up on the growing concern. We hope that you will do as us and try to read through the myths and truth about GMO foods. We're not saying don't eat it. We just feel like you and I have a right to know what we eat and can make our own decisions.