Fodder Feeding - Our family farm path to organic.
Every excruciating detail, but I want you to see that it took me 22 minutes. When people complain about all the fuss, I want you to see it is 20 minutes, twice a day. We were using locally milled animal feed for our 25 chickens and 2 calves, and feed costs were killing us. We did not want to go to even cheaper feed, we wanted to go organic. I stumbled across a youtube video about fodder feeding, found an extremely helpful (and ongoing) thread at http://familycow.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=pasture&action=display&thread=47939 that gave me enough detail to jump in. My calves and chickens are healthy and happy, and my feed bill saw such a drastic cut that I have switched to organic grains and still save money! (Shout out to azurestandard.com for making organic grain affordable and available!)
Comments
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I only have access to corn and regular rice seeds, no wheat and barley.. Can I use them for rabbits?
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I have found that using a small laundry bag for the 1st two days before they go into the tray. I get near 100% germination doing that. I put in a water bucket for 12 hours first, then 3 more times for a minute the next day. Nice kick-starter for seeds, and saves me room on my rack for more grow-out time. 2 small laundry buckets for what I do, 1 3/4 lbs a day goes into 3 trays that are 8 x 11 inches. I might go to 4 trays making it a little thinner in the root mass.
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be careful. it should be at the "end" of the run. pretty much (clean water) high starch content. of the water means it should go back into the veggies. not into the fish
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Great video! Thanks for sharing. Here is a video on how we grow our animal feed I think you will enjoy http://youtu.be/E_cMSNDnJoI
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nice vid where do u get the barley, wheat seeds
ty for the vid -
Niice Id pike to see them Thx
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you mentioned experimenting with hydroponics have you refined your process? Have you made a vid for that as well? I enjoyed your vid it was very informative Thx
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(Sorry so slow, this comment did not show up in my inbox for some reason.) That is too warm, if you are still working with this, try more frequent watering with very cold water. It gets too hot here in the summer, so when the cows are on good pasture I take a break for a couple months. If I did not have pasture, I would get a temperature controlled area for sprouting at about 65 degrees F.
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Barley and wheat are available locally, I get corn from azure standard.
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I tried making my own fodder with wheat. I soaked it for 24 hrs, drained it and put it on the tray for sprouting. The next day, there was a strong pungent smell. I washed it in again in soda and put it for sprouting again. Ambient temp was 35 degree celsius (95 degree F ) By the next day, the wheat had to be thrown away becuase of the smell. Where did I go wrong ?
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When they have it, I order the animal feed grade barley and wheat - they do not always have the barley. I found a local grain / feed supply place that sells non-GMO that I use when I can't get what I want from Azure Standard. I'll bet your rabbits will love it!
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I found a website called "Hawaii Shelf Reliance" (run that together with the dot com) that has human grade stuff, maybe they can at least point you to a supplier for animal grade. The other thing I would try is talk to the suppliers you found and ask if they have any non-GMO. Many local growers around here do not bother to certify "organic" but they use organic practices. Good luck!
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hi great video! im interested in experimenting with fodder for my small chicken flock i am unfortunately having a miserable time finding GRAIN. do you know where i can have some shipped to me in Hawaii? i called the only 2 feed stores available to me and they didnt even know what fodder was. LOL please respond if you could so kindly! thanks
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From sprouthouse dot and a com, they are sold as wheat grass sprouting trays. BUT - they only lasted about a year, and they make small biscuits. I am changing over to larger trays, and will make an updated video soon. I have simplified some of the process, too.
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Your black trays look very sturdy. Where'd you get them from?
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I am seriously thinking about feeding this to my rabbits when I get them. Thanks for sharing this.
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Thanks for the update, and I look forward to the next, I hope they love it as much as my silly cows do!
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Well I thinned my next batch out and have my official mold sniffer (my husband :-) ) come and see if he can smell anything and I started putting just a little bit of vinegar in the wash once a day and so far so good. I dont have anything tall enough to feed yet cause I thru a whole 2 days batch to the chickens because of the mold. But in about 3 days I will be able to see if they will eat it or not. Ill let you know.
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Keep the grain no more than 1/2 inch thick, I think mine is closer to 1/4". I flood and drain four times a day then cover overnight to keep it moist. If it ever goes completely dry, it'll mold, tho the flipside is too wet and it rots. Depends on your climate. It is VERY dry where I am. Constantly having to add water to our fish tanks!
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