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Fodder
Jan 30, 2013 14:09:20 GMT -5
Post by kellykidz on Jan 30, 2013 14:09:20 GMT -5
Does anyone grow their own fodder? I thought our pastures would feed all the cattle we bought but I way over estimated how great my grass is. We have been doing a lot of hay and using Barley seed growing and giving about 15 lbs of fodder a day to supplement the hay.
I'm curious if anyone has any experience with growing fodder and can share experiences.
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Fodder
Jan 30, 2013 16:16:05 GMT -5
Post by ladena on Jan 30, 2013 16:16:05 GMT -5
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Fodder
Jan 30, 2013 17:46:46 GMT -5
Post by northstar on Jan 30, 2013 17:46:46 GMT -5
Ditto on the family cow proboards. I'm only able to grow 16 pounds a day, but I'm feeding it to one cow. My husband is working on a system that will double the production, but is having trouble with leaking and too busy with other projects to really tackle it. My cow loves it, and it's cheap to grow. And it lets me feed almost all Alaska grown feed, since oats and barley are the only grains grown here and relatively cheap. Growing it out for 7-8 days creates a much more digestable and high protein feed than the original barley. I've also read that wheat grows well, but it's $30 for 50 pounds here vs. $11 for barley. Marsha
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Fodder
Jan 30, 2013 19:50:08 GMT -5
Post by kellykidz on Jan 30, 2013 19:50:08 GMT -5
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Gorignak
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Fodder
Jan 31, 2013 9:15:35 GMT -5
Post by Gorignak on Jan 31, 2013 9:15:35 GMT -5
There is a thread on here that had some VERY good links....I think a Mexican system....genebo was active on it, he can pull it up. I was sort of "oh, what the H....another pie-in-the-sky "New Age" idea mainly for trust fund dilettantes with more time and money than brains". SORRY....6 months later...I can see the merit. The grain price fluctuations necessitate some flexibility among the small grains.
BUT...with a cow milking now...I'm going to try a rudimentary setup. I had an old farm catalog (1910) that had a rack system that you poured water on the top and took the bottom tray off each day for your chickens. It makes sense......I might have to work with oats. We are in an area that it is hard to get a variety of small grains. Any suggestions using oats.
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Post by libertyfarms on Jan 31, 2013 13:03:55 GMT -5
From what I understand, out of oats, barley, and wheat, oats are the hardest to get to sprout. We have sprouted barley and wheat. The wheat didn't need pre-rinsed nearly as much to get clean, the rinse water didn't smell bad nearly as quickly, and the root mats were thicker which created an overall heavier tray of sprouts. We didn't try feeding it to the Dexters since they are not in milk right now and we feed it as a substitute for their "treat" in the stanchion. The pigs and chickens LOVED it! However, our Jersey/Guernsey girl didn't want anything to do with it...but she is kind of resistant to any change in feed. It really is an amazing thing to watch 2lbs of seed turn into 10-15lbs of "grass" in just 6-7 days. Again, the forum mentioned above has a ton of information about fodder. We purchased the system plans from Half Pint Homestead and then used our own materials. Rya
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Fodder
Jan 31, 2013 21:40:56 GMT -5
Post by northstar on Jan 31, 2013 21:40:56 GMT -5
I pre-clean the barley with a fan. The water gets a lot less yucky, and I can clean the chaff out of a 100 pounds in 10 minutes. The oats just didn't sprout well for me. The statistics are out there, I googled it, and it's not just grass. Farmtek has a system that will feed 5 cows (I would assume bigger cows than we have) for about $3500. It's worth looking at all the information and making your own. Mike, get your hillbilly friend on it! I'd love to see what he comes up with. Marsha
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Fodder
Jan 31, 2013 22:50:53 GMT -5
Post by Cascade Meadows Farm - Kirk on Jan 31, 2013 22:50:53 GMT -5
Have you considered 100% grass and hay fed milk with no grain?
There's a pretty good movement in that direction with some good claims that the milk is better for you with healthier fats than grain-fed milk.
I realize that sprouted grain is better than unsprouted, but seems like a lot of bother compared to a bale of hay.
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Fodder
Jan 31, 2013 23:45:52 GMT -5
Post by northstar on Jan 31, 2013 23:45:52 GMT -5
We don't have alfalfa hay up here, and the grass hay is quite often poor quality. And I have to buy it. $350-400 a ton. This enables me to feed less hay, and I feed fodder to the chickens and ducks, too. I spend about 10 minutes a day on it. Marsha
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Gorignak
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Fodder
Feb 1, 2013 7:17:21 GMT -5
Post by Gorignak on Feb 1, 2013 7:17:21 GMT -5
So wrong Kirk......
These folks are not talking about feeding grain. They are talking about the production of fodder.....long green sprouts. All that is left of the grain is the husk....the rest is well on its way to becoming "grass" of one sort or another.
Now, everyone is waiting in rapt attention to hear how your grass is produced without using seeds. Admittedly, we in the south do "sprig" our Bermuda grass. But, the advances in "Immaculate Germination" that you must experience could revolutionize grazing.
Go to the adjoining thread "Hydroponic Fodder Production" and do your homework..... then offer some "insight" on the process.
OOOOOMMMMM..............
Okay folks....Let's make this easy for each other. There is the group here that this thread is meaningless to...... larger landholders, folks in ultra-fertile areas that "just cant understand" why hay isn't simpler, people with just too many cows, or too little time.
Most of the smaller landholders, urban homesteaders, and limited resource "simpler life" folks, not to mention the folks in Nevada, S Texas, Utah, New Mexico,& Arizona who are hard pressed for any forage/fodder/cheap hay, ..... These folks will benefit from information on this and similar threads.....AND YOU WILL SELL THEM THEIR MILK COWS AND BEEF STEERS. Customer service is the name of the game.
SO.... just post any links, sites, companies, or blog threads that will help us all gain an overall picture as to efficiency, nutritional value, cost of production, design, and operation.
I for one......am now interested (and I sheepishly apologize for my earlier dismissal). I am going to allow the idea to circulate in my mind's "in box" for a while, and I would like to see any info available. I will post what I find on this link.
Thanks..... "Remember.....we're all in this together"
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Fodder
Feb 1, 2013 13:55:07 GMT -5
Post by mamatomany on Feb 1, 2013 13:55:07 GMT -5
I'm really interested in doing this..>I have one pregnant dexter right now...due to calve the beginningo f may, but I do have too many dairy goats They seem to be very picky eaters as it is. I do not feed prepacked concentrate to them I hand mix oats, BOSS, beet pulp, and cracked corn. They do get local alfalfa hay. I have chickens that I know would benefit from this, and Sally Mae would love a green treat! Still researching. Went to Family Milk Cow Board...oh only 29 pages of input to go thru...sheeshhhh... I'm one o those, go buy this...do this at this time, etc. I'm an excellent student just tell me exactly what where when
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Gorignak
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Fodder
Feb 1, 2013 14:30:36 GMT -5
Post by Gorignak on Feb 1, 2013 14:30:36 GMT -5
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Fodder
Feb 1, 2013 14:51:03 GMT -5
Post by lakeportfarms on Feb 1, 2013 14:51:03 GMT -5
Mike, thing big! If you can adapt a paint shaker to make butter, surely you can find and gear down a surplus machine at Home Depot that goes around with the carpet (or wire) spools, adapt it to take trays, then load from one side, and by the time it gets to the other side 7 days later it gets unloaded. I'll let you know when mine is completed
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Fodder
Apr 15, 2013 0:42:07 GMT -5
Post by kida on Apr 15, 2013 0:42:07 GMT -5
I'm new here and and just doing my research since I'm not planning on adding cattle to my little farm until next year but since I built my own fodder system I thought I'd add in my two cents here. I used PVC pipe and some seed planting trays for my system. I modeled it loosely after the half-pinthomestead systems (who is a lovely person btw, very helpful) but since I have no electricity in my shed I didn't want to automatic system. What I built is approx. 6' x 2' x 4' with holes in the seed trays so that the water makes it to the bottom without having to spray every level. It produces about 90 pounds of barley fodder per day at maximum production (I'm currently only using 6 of the availble 36 trays because I only have my poultry right now). It's a 7 day cycle so one days worth is soaking while the other 6 days are in various stages of growth. I'm looking forward to learning what I'll need to do for my future cows! ETA: quartz ridge ranch also has a lot of info on using fodder for various animals
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Gorignak
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Fodder
Apr 15, 2013 18:59:02 GMT -5
Post by Gorignak on Apr 15, 2013 18:59:02 GMT -5
I have not abandoned this effort. I tried oats and yellow dent corn a few months ago in the greenhouse.....it is warm during the day, but was probably too cool at night. The results were....disappointing. I need to source barley. The problem......all the barley that we sprout gets turned into beer......From the old moonshine days, it was illegal to sprout grain in a container in Arkansas until about 10 years ago. Yeah. I know....an Alfalfa sprout raid by the brain police...... come and get me.
Anyway....we can bump this thread every few weeks and keep it in front of folks.....Good Luck
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