Hi all. I have developed an intetest (obsession) in fodder feeding systems for the livestock animals on our farm. I'm itching to try it out and I feel the need to share the enthusiasm. Some of you may be wondering, "What the fudge is fodder?" I hope to answer that question and more with this post.
What is fodder?
Fodder is defined as food for domestic livestock. The technical term for the object of my obsession is actually sprouted fodder. But, for the sake of simplification I (and most everyone else) simply say fodder. I just don't want to confuse anyone because in my own experience, researching fodder has oftentimes been misleading and contradictory. I think this is mostly because it is an old concept that is gaining new popularity and praise.
Fodder is defined as food for domestic livestock. The technical term for the object of my obsession is actually sprouted fodder. But, for the sake of simplification I (and most everyone else) simply say fodder. I just don't want to confuse anyone because in my own experience, researching fodder has oftentimes been misleading and contradictory. I think this is mostly because it is an old concept that is gaining new popularity and praise.
Fodder is a sprouted grain (usually barley, but can also be wheat, oats, or legumes) that's been grown and sprouted to form a grassy mat anywhere from 1-10 days. It is fed as a substitute/supplement for grain feed in livestock diets. It is said to contain a higher percentage of nutrients than plain (unsprouted) grains. It is also said to have a higher rate of ingestability.
Fodder is grown to form a grassy root mat that is cut apart and fed whole. Most feeding instructions/suggestions say to feed at a rate of 2% of an animal's weight. So a 100lb animal would recieve a daily ration of 2lbs of sprouted fodder. This means each animal has its own individual feeding needs.
From most of the sources I've used to gather info, it seems that the weight of the sprouted grain yields are 4-6x higher than the plain unsprouted grain. Put more simply, 1lb of dry grains typically develop into 4-6lb of sprouted grain. Theoretically, one could get 200-300lb of sprouted grain from a 50lb bag of dry grain. Pretty incredible, right?
Fodder as a complete feed?
Many people ponder whether fodder is suitable to be fed as a complete feed. This is actually not really advocated, even by people selling commercial grade/scale fodder systems (and they would stand to gain the most by such a claim). The main suggestion is to feed at a rate of 2% of the weight for the grain ration. Then, supplement this with 1% of the weight in roughage (hay) for fiber (particularly in rabbits and ruminants-horses, goats, cows). This ratio may be the complete diet you are searching for, but as one source put it "Variety is the spice of life." It is ok (probably better) if you keep a ration of grain as back-up and/or the occasional supplemental feeding. Treats, too, are acceptable.
Many people ponder whether fodder is suitable to be fed as a complete feed. This is actually not really advocated, even by people selling commercial grade/scale fodder systems (and they would stand to gain the most by such a claim). The main suggestion is to feed at a rate of 2% of the weight for the grain ration. Then, supplement this with 1% of the weight in roughage (hay) for fiber (particularly in rabbits and ruminants-horses, goats, cows). This ratio may be the complete diet you are searching for, but as one source put it "Variety is the spice of life." It is ok (probably better) if you keep a ration of grain as back-up and/or the occasional supplemental feeding. Treats, too, are acceptable.
All of this is important to me because I want to introduce sprouted fodder into our animals' diets. I hope to elaborate more on the topic later. I will be beginning a sprouted fodder experiment of my own, right here on Edgington Farm. Stay tuned for updates and info!
Thanks for reading. Hopefully I didn't bore ya too much being too wordy or too jargon-y. Below is a link to a commercial fodder system from Farm-Tek. I wanted to include this link with my introduction because it can help you "get your feet wet" so to say, in regards to learning about fodder systems and how they work.
All images were gathered from Google images.
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