Fodder Experiment Flop

Hi all. Just a quick update on my fodder experiment. Just to let you know, it isn't going well. :'( I'm going to start everything over again soon, but for now I'm giving it up. I had some mold growth early on and very little sprouting. I'm going to evaluate my procedure and set-up and start over!

Thanks for reading!

Sprouting Fodder Grains: Day 0

Hi all! It is the beginning of my fodder system experiment and I'm very excited! If you haven't checked out my other blog posts about this, you can find them here:

What The Fudge Is Fodder?

My DIY Fodder System Set-Up
                                                 
The first thing you have to do before you even begin sprouting the grains is to soak them. Like many other seeds, soaking helps the grains germinate so that they will sprout and grow.

First, you must decide how much barley (or whatever you are using) you will need. The sources I have used both suggest that when sprouting you want about a half inch depth in your container. Now, to achieve that depth after soaking, you actually want to pour in enough in the pan to measure 1/2 inch then cut that in half. Once again, soak half of what you think you need. The barley will plump up during soaking and will be twice the size of the original grain. I use a plastic tumbler to scoop mine out of the grain sack, as it is the perfect amount once it has been soaked.

Soak the grains in a clean container. I use a large plastic deli container. You really can use pretty much anything. Pour the grains into the container and cover completely with water. I like to use about twice as much water, so the water to barley ratio is 2:1. I like to use lukewarm water.

Finally, you just want to allow the grains to soak for 12-18 hours in a room where it won't be bothered and that is 50-70º (which is most ideal for germination). They don't require sun.

That's it until tomorrow! Thanks for reading!

My DIY Fodder System Set-Up

Hi all! In my last post, What The Fudge Is Fodder?, I talked about what fodder is and why you would want to use it for animal feed. Remember that when I say fodder, I'm actually referring to sprouted fodder, or sprouted grains.

This time I want to share some information about getting started with a homemade, small-scale fodder system. Most fodder systems currently available for purchase usually produce a minimum of 50-60lb of fodder daily, and cost upwards of $1000. That's a bit much for the homestead farm, but don't despair. A homemade fodder system is easy to put together and comes at a small price.

I first became interested in fodder systems while following my favorite YouTube Channel, Michigansnowpony. I've talked about this channel in other posts. This channel has been a driving force of inspiration for my homestead endeavors, so why should fodder be any different? I followed her source links to Sarah Cuthill's YouTube channel and blog (which are also phenomenal). I will be putting their links at the bottom of this post. If you're truly interested in pursuing or learning about these DIY fodder systems, I would check them out.

My DIY Fodder System Set-Up

Materials Needed:
    * Wire shelving
    * 7-9 Sturdy plastic containers
    * A drip pan/catcher
    * Soldering iron or nail & pliers or meat fork
   
1. Starting out, you need some wire or mesh shelving to hold your fodder containers. You can use anything as long as it fits your containers, has enough shelves and can drain water from shelf to shelf.  I've seen people use cooling racks, industrial shelving, garage shelving and more. I'm using the greenhouse shelving we bought earlier this spring with the greenhouse plastic taken off.

2. The next thing you'll need is sturdy plastic containers to hold and sprout your grains in. You can use basically anything. The preference seems to lie with square/rectangular containers, but if you have success using something round (like a butter bowl) I'd love to hear about it. I'm using some plastic casserole containers I bought at Wal-Mart.

3. Now, you need to poke some holes in one end of each container. (The woman at Wal-Mart balked when she found out what we were doing with the containers. She thought I was making some large meal for a get-together. Hehe. Well it is for a meal of sorts.) I started out using a nail that I held inside a pair of pliers. I only had a small nail on hand and was not terribly impressed with the size of the hole that it made. You want your holes to be large enough to drain water without being so large that the grains will slip through. You're looking for a happy medium. I ended up ditching the nail in favor of my kitchen meat fork. I have a cheap one that I rarely use and it was perfect. At any rate, you need to heat up the tool you use, whether it is a nail or a meat fork. I performed the operation next to my stove and it went along quickly. 

     Some Tips
       * be sure to heat up your tool completely. I heated mine for about 20-30 seconds and I was able to puncture 2-3 rows of holes.
       * the meat fork worked perfectly because I was able to poke two evenly spaced holes at a time.
       * don't force down on the plastic too hard. If it doesn't slide through like butter, it needs to be reheated. Trust me on this one. If your tool is too cold and you force it, you will crack your plastic. (Voice of experience!)
       * I made 5 closely spaced rows on mine. I'd say you want anywhere from 3-5 rows depending on the spacing. They don't have to cover half the container.

The picture on the bottom right is my original hole poked with a nail. 

4. On the opposite end of the holes you need to add something to keep the containers at an angle. It seems that 10º is suggested, but as Mitch points out, 10º is barely measurable. I think that as long as you don't have some drastic angle and everything is consistent, then any slight angle will do.  Michigansnowpony used shims for her set-up (awesome idea). Since I forgot to buy some and I was eager to get started I just used some glue sticks I had handy. I will be changing this very soon though.

5. You want to place your containers in a zig-zag like pattern on the shelving. This will aid in proper draining of the system.

For example:
The first container on the first shelf has its holes facing forward. The container directly below that will have its holes facing to the rear. The container below that one will have its holes facing front and so on.

6. The last shelf or the bottom of the shelving should have some kind of drip pan/catch basin for all of the water that will be draining off. I have a long shallow container that fits I under my shelving.

So, that's it. That is your basic set-up. To learn more you can check out the links below!  Thanks for reading.

Michigansnowpony

Sarah Cuthill

Sarah Cuthill's page and blog

What The Fudge is Fodder?

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 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. 

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.

http://www.foddersystems.com/

All images were gathered from Google images.

Reusing Fall/Halloween Decorations for The Farm

Hi all! It is November now and time for us to begin taking down some of our fall/Halloween decorations. I decided it was time to move our straw bales out of the front yard since 2 out of 3 were beginning to grow grass. Eeeek! Not so cute when that happens. Our jack o'lanterns were sunken in and rotten and our scarecrow had a moldy butt. Time to go!

I decided that we could use the rotten pumpkins in the compost pile, so in they went. I got a twisted sort of glee tossing them in and watching them splatter. Probably good for relieving stress! Just keep your mouth closed to avoid yucky pumpkin gloop.

The 2 grassy straw bales presented a bit of a problem since the twine had rotted and split immediately upon use. So, unfortunately I had the task of picking them up in 2-3 large (wet, stinky) clumps. I toted them to the garden where I split them up into flakes (where they naturally divide into sections upon splitting apart) and tossed them in all around. These will (and already have begun to be) split up further by our curious, yard roaming flock of chickens. This will break down somewhat during winter and will be tilled into the soil in the spring. Hopefully helping to create a straw "mulch" that will slowly breakdown in the soil, keeping things moist and amending it little by little. *Fingers crossed*

Some straw in the garden before and after the chickens flattened it out.

The bale of straw that was still wet, but not rotten was used in the chicken run. It was too wet to be used in the confinement of the coop, but I thought it would provide some entertainment, bedding, bugs, and grains for them. I split it up into flakes and tossed it sporadically throughout the run and left the rest up to the birds. Within no time their curiosity was piqued and they had it spread out beautifully.

One more chore marked off our winter prep to-do list. I'd love to hear how you reuse/recycle your fall/Halloween decorations! Good luck with your winter prep. I know we need the luck!

Thanks for reading!