Diatomaceous Earth (DE)

Diatomaceous Earth is also known as DE or Diatom Shell Flour.
Diatomaceous Earth is a fossilized deposit of microscopic shells created by one celled plants called Diatoms.
These plants inhabit all the waters of the earth, and serve as the basic food for aquatic life, just as grass is the basic food for land animals.

Diatom skeletons are made of a natural substance called silica. Over a long period of time, diatoms accumulated in the sediment of rivers, streams, lakes, and oceans. These deposits are a naturally occurring, soft, siliceous sedimentary rock that is easily crumbled into a fine white to off-white powder and used by natural and organic growers as an animal feed supplement, for insect and parasite control (added to feed or used to dust animals), dusting of vegetation and as an anti-caking ingredient.

When used to supplement livestock feed, the standard ratio for feeding animals DE is roughly 2% of the feed’s weight, which is roughly 3 oz. of DE for every 10 lbs. of feed, or 2 lbs. of DE for every 100 lbs.