Fitting Fodder into Your Day...

The first thing to know about fodder and producing it is this:  It WILL require an additional bit of effort on your part!  With fodder, there is no more "scoop the feed, fill the feeders, move on"...you have to be sure it is watered, prepped, and doing well each day.  To a small degree it is a "set it and forget it" thing, but it still adds a bit to my day.

During trials, it was especially hard because nothing was really set up right - I had some trays balanced on the sink and over a few rubber maid tubs and was just making to do.  I wanted to see if the added effort was something I could keep up with and most importantly if the wheat I had found would even grow.  Well, it did :)

From seeds to fodder mat, ain't it pretty???  I was highly excited, but due to the fact that the inside of our house is pretty much all wood I knew we couldn't be growing fodder indoors.  Nope, can't take a chance with this little cabin we call home...so I admit I have tried a few things and so far have settled on one I think will work mostly long term, for now...but that's another post...

Suffice it to say fodder adds about 15-20 minutes to my morning and a few more minutes to my day here and there.  I have chosen NOT to go with recycled water in my system, and I also do not use automated watering (at least not yet).  With the fact that those would require some plumbing and what not, well, I am no plumber even if I did grow up in a hardware store (and I did) so it's me and my hose until I get creative enough or my husband gets tired of having to water it for me when he is home hahaha....

I guess all together, doing it "the hard way" and watering by hand it adds about an hour to my day - but since I am often outside piddling around aimlessly for about that much of the day anyways just checking on the critters and what not, well, it's not that bad and not it is not that aimless either :)

Even if you have the watering automated, plan to spend an extra 15-20 each morning prepping the fodder.  I have chosen to soak the seeds first in a bleach solution, then come back after I feed everything (when I remember to) and spread them on trays and I water it the first time after I feed it...

It's not too bad adding the extra bit of work for the quality of home grown feed we now have - sure a little Clorox goes on it, but no other crazy harsh chemicals once I have it at least and the animals LOVE it!

This is Rocket, who is NOT a "grabby, mouthy" horse by any means all but snatching it right from my husbands hands!  No really, honest, Rocket NEVER tries to "take" anything from your hands - forget treats with this horse - but fodder he WILL take! He runs to eat each morning now and is looking good that's for sure! And the goats! Oh my good grief! They fight over it and I have had a jail break where they chose the fodder over the feed room once...naughty greedy things those does!

Speaking of, I am late to milk tonight...but just remember this:  If you don't have a few extra minutes in your day fodder may not be for you and that's okay too :)  But it sure is worth if it you can squeeze it into your chores!

Sourcing Seeds for Fodder...

The first thing I did when preparing for my fodder trials was clear out a spot in the mudroom to actually grow the stuff, and then I gathered a few trays that would work.  Seeds however were a bigger challenge....

Here in Texas,. barley is not nearly as common or easy to come by as it is in other regions of the U.S.  This posed a problem - everyone was talking about BARLEY fodder...okay...so I looked and researched some more...It seems people also use a product from Tractor Supply called "Plot Spike" - it is meant to be tossed out in the woods and such on deer leases to get stuff growing that deer will like to nibble on.  Deer and goats being so close in so many ways, I knew that I could, if need be, sprout this stuff...but it was pricey! One major point was to bring down costs right?  Plus, I intended to feed this fodder to our horses and they are very much NOT like deer right? Okay...

So then I discovered that WHEAT would grow as well....okay...still not all that easy to find...but I DID find it!

A tip for those in Texas growing fodder...if your feed store carries Boyce products, ask them to order the Wheat.  It grows BEAUTIFULLY! Now, what if you aren't in Texas or can't get the Boyce products?

Well...call around....Human Health Food Stores - ah ha!  They carry organic and often non GMO as well barley AND wheat for sprouting and grinding into flour and such!  It will cost you a little more, but to me it is worth it.  Plus, the most local to me place will order it in bulk and offers a discount if they do that for me.  Pretty nifty right?

Call local or near as you can find local grain elevators.  They often can help you and point you the right way.  Call the other feed dealers.  Here we have Lone Star, MG, and a few others...the rep at Lone Star actually told me about Boyce...see...they CAN be helpful even if it is not their product!  They aren't out to be jerks, and can point you the right direction.

I actually called around for a friend yesterday.  She lives a few hours away from me, but still here in Texas.  First, I called Boyce and asked who the dealers were nearest to her, and got their number.  Then I ended up on the phone with a very nice, if ill informed as far as fodder goes, gentleman who talked my ear off LOL :)  But he was super helpful, gave me the info I needed to pass along to my friend and SCORE!  She now has a good source for wheat!

It does take a little creative effort sometimes to find what you want.  Often, telling people what you are doing with it helps!  Don't be afraid to say that you are looking for something that you can grow into fodder.  Most people will be glad to help you and even intrigued as to what you are up to.  I can't tell you how many times I have had to stop and explain the basics of fodder itself when I was telling someone on the phone what I was up to and why I wanted whole wheat or barley.

So, lesson here is:  don't be afraid to let your fingers do the walking, pick up the phone, and exhaust all resources before you give up and don't get hung up on growing just one thing like barley!  I almost didn't even attempt this after hitting a few dead ends...but perseverance is the key :)

I had my wheat, I had a few supplies...and the trials began :)

Bio What????

Bio - Available:    the extent to which a nutrient or medication can be used by the body.

In this case the "nutrient" in mind is fodder in general.  Barley, wheat, doesn't matter what you sprout.  Just know that by sprouting it you change it's "bio-availability" and make it easier to digest for your livestock and that fact was a big part of the switch for us.  The way I picture this concept in my mind, though a bit gross, is to think of corn and do some comparing...

All fodder starts as a seed...let's use wheat fodder because that is what I grow...Now, wheat berries and kernels of corn are both seeds and are both edible.  I've never chewed on "wheat on the cob" because it doesn't exist.  But I HAVE eaten corn on the cob.  Guess what...if it goes in it has to come back out and kernels of corn often return as those same kernels don't they?  Yuck, yes, but the blatant honest truth isn't it? I imagine if I were to go boil some wheat and choke it down I'd get wheat back on down the line too...I don't know for sure...but I'm guessing this is what would happen.

Clearly, whole seeds are not the most bio-available form of what they contain if they return as seeds still right?  Okay...so we grind them up and make flour out of them.  Whole wheat bread AND corn bread both go in as bread and come back out as...well...you can't tell it was ever bread!  But you would think that since it is more bio-available in that form it's the best one for us right?  And thusly, if whole seeds are hard to digest, then we should grind them up and make them into pellets for our livestock just as we make breads out of these ground seeds for ourselves right?  WRONG!!!!

See, here's the thing....when any seed sprouts, it turns into a plant.  Livestock, in general, are plant eaters.  Horses, goats, cattle...they eat grass and green things not breads and muffins (they shouldn't at least). Their bodies are meant to chew, grind, and in the case of ruminants they ruminate that green stuff into nutrients their body can use.  Sure, they can survive and thrive on pelleted feed (which is like the livestock version of humans bread I guess).  But it isn't what they are meant to be eating.  Even ground up, it's harder for their bodies to get at the proteins and vitamins in there...now, turn it into greenery which they ARE designed for and you get a different result.  It is easy for them to break down into the vital bits and pieces they need to thrive and grow and produce. 

Heck, if you think about, breads in high amounts aren't really all that great for humans either.  If I eat a diet heavy in bread I gain unhealthy pounds of chub-a-dub-iness that's for sure...so when I finally grasped the fact that sprouting wheat into grass made the stuff in it my critters needed to be healthy available to them it made even more sense to switch to fodder.  Then I realized I myself needed to eat more veggies and less bagels, but that's another story isn't it? Basically, by growing fodder I am providing a diet with fresh veggies for my livestock instead of dingdongs and pretzels...hmmm....which way of eating is healthier?  The veggies I believe...

Needless to say once I had pondered this, I knew I wanted to give fodder a go.  I wasn't sure if it would fit in with our farm, and I was having a heck of a time finding the so highly revered barley seeds everyone speaks of using in their fodder systems...so the next step was locating something to sprout and seeing if I could handle it...plants tend to get forgotten around here.  They just don't cry for help when they need a drink of water like the pig does when he tips his bucket over ya know? But I was armed with some basic knowledge and ready to give it a try...once I found that dang barley!

Ahhh....fodder...the saga continues....tomorrow....:)

 

Ok...so WHY Fodder???

Well...I choose fodder for a few reasons.  First and foremost it is more natural to what my livestock would eat if they had their own choice in things.  Sometimes, they do get a choice - we are on 10 acres after all - but at night they are stuck in their pens close to the house for safety and some days they are stuck there as well.  When it rains the back of the property turns to a bog I prefer them not to play in...plus they won't leave their shelter anyways in the rain, so they stay there. Also, the front is not yet fenced for the horses and NONE of it is properly fenced for goats (besides their pen areas)...so I try to get out there an hour or 2 a day and let them "free range" if you will - that's another blog post though...let's just say that no matter what after a few years of crummy drought conditions anyways I am always prepared to feed my animals plus dairy goats need to eat more than just browse if you want the best, highest yields on your milk...

Anyways, horses, goats, cattle - none of these things go out on the hunt for corn or soybeans in their pastures.  Sure, if they find it they will eat it - heck, they'll eat your garden if they get the chance!  But naturally the bulk of their diet is fresh GREEN stuff!  Grasses, weeds, shrubs...Pelleted feeds make a decent supplement to this (particularly if you are in a drought and there is nothing green left!), but it's not natural at all.  Especially for the goats...goats can get acidosis, or bloat, from things like a corn heavy diet. This article explains it a little better...  Let's be really honest here - go check a bag of pelleted goat or horse feed - a good portion of it is corn or soy.  It's certainly not fresh green stuff at all! So, if by chance an accident occurs and you over feed (like the day I fed and then my husband fed thinking I hadn't yet...that was a doozy) or if you just are over feeding and not realizing it...you are setting yourself up for failure in a way...We actually took the corn out of the goats diets a few years back now and have not had a case of "bloat" or acidosis since then, but it was not uncommon to run up against it from time to time before when we fed traditional goat feeds...

Then, there are our horses...over feeding pelleted feeds can lead to colic.  Too much bagged type feed and not enough roughage and you set yourself up for it - ask our friend who lost her beloved mare after making that mistake...plus it's much harder on their teeth and such to eat those pellets than it is to grind up some grass.  Sure, horses teeth are meant to grind and pulverize - GRASS - which is actually fairly soft, stringy but soft, compared to pelleted stuff - not hard like the pellets in bags are.  Since switching to fodder our middle aged gelding (17 years old - not ancient, but getting up there) has had a much easier time staying the right weight. (And yes, he has been properly wormed, had his teeth floated, etc...but you can tell his body processes fodder better).

That's the other thing - fodder is much more bio-available to the animals to digest...we'll save that talk for tomorrow though...

Then there are all the horror stories and recalls and what not in regards to processed feeds...This article hits very close to home and then there was my own mysteriously dropping poultry...these are just 2 examples of why you have to be careful what you feed your animals.

You also have the whole "non-GMO/organic" vs not side of the debate...it's still pretty easy to find and source organic type barley and wheat to sprout compared to finding organic feed (at least where I live).  Also, even though it may be more expensive to go the non-GMO route, it still is a money saver to sprout it into fodder...

Oh yes - one 50lb bag of seed turns into 250lbs of feed!  You still feed by weight, just as you should with pelleted type feeds, and you actually feed pretty closely to the same amounts.  You just get far more bang for your buck with fodder!  So, it's a money saver that's for sure...They also seem to go through less hay when you feed fodder.  YES, EVERYTHING still needs hay!  Those long, dry, fiber filled grassy bits help their digestion just as humans need the right amount of fiber in their diets.  But we are using less of it that's for sure! Here, during the winter, we were going through close to 2 square bales a day pre-fodder - now that I have made the switch, we are down to about one square bale a day and that will certainly be less as it greens up out there with spring coming on...but knowing next winter I will need less hay to get through is NICE!

 PRE-fodder, I was bringing home 8 to 10 50lb bags of feed every 2 weeks - even after I thinned the herd! Now, I bring home maybe 5.  My goats still get their alfalfa pellets for the calcium (we are a dairy herd after all and calcium out in the form of milk = needing calcium in to make more) and I need the pelleted stuff for the pig some days so I can soak it with whey and milk for him...otherwise he tips the bucket and spills it...messy thing!  I've basically cut my feed bill easily in half even including the hay!

So, without going all scientific on you just yet, that was my initial take on why we were going to switch.  It was more natural to what they would eat, FAR less processed and meddled with by humans, a way to cut back on the feed bill when I ran the numbers in theory (though now I know for sure), and a power packed form of feed that was easy to digest!  The next thing I had to do was look at it more in depth - it seemed like a good idea...but I had to do some more research..

If you go to the following blogs and websites, you will see some of the info I found and can read through it for yourself - these people have put TONS of time and effort into this and have some great material!

Paca Pride Guest Ranch has an awesome blog and videos!
Half Pint Homestead has tons of info and sells kits geared towards smaller producers (like us :) )
The facebook Fodder Group is full of people with tons of knowledge ready to answer any questions you may have!
Here and here are 2 more sites more geared towards the larger producers with their set ups...

Also...remember fodder works for pretty much everything, not just horses and goats....take a look and watch for more to come from me...you'll be amazed when you read through it all...

Shoulda gone for it....

This morning, I woke up to this outside my bedroom window:

That is not OUR bull...and I'm still not really sure who he belongs too or if he found his way home yet.  I made a few calls, couldn't get any of the neighbors on the phone and the one guy I talked to swore they weren't his cattle...

They all wandered off to the back of the property and a few hours later here they come again! They circled around and came back through and my first thought was: "Beef, it's what's for dinner"  But I didn't do it, I couldn't.  They aren't mine and I would be mad as hell if someone did that to me....so I didn't...but i REALLY wanted to put just one tasty cow in the freezer.  Course all three freezers are pretty full right now anyways...so like I said I didn't...

See...there they go...no one would miss just one right?

I don't know what it is with the jail breaks lately...maybe it's something in the air perhaps? But if I see these guys tomorrow I might change my mind. ...beef may be on the menu if they return uninvited!