# Fodder growing ideas



## smaj100 (Oct 17, 2012)

Who's doing it? 
Is it worth it? cost vs effort?

What does your system look like?

We are planning on starting to try and grow some barley fodder for the chickens and goats to offset the cost of straight grain.


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## Grimm (Sep 5, 2012)

I was growing fodder in the fall and early winter. 

Winter wheat. I was using large sprout baskets stacked. I watered the top basket and it rained down the stack. It took a while to get the wheat to grow to a decent height to feed our chickens. About 9 days or so. Normally by a week there would be some mold or fermenting. My house smelt like I was brewing bad beer. If left too long to grow the sprouts started to yellow. 

I am working on a homemade feed mix to feed during the spring and summer of which sprouted grains is a part of. I don't sprout past 3 days for fear of fermenting again. 

I am going to have K build me a rack for my baskets this summer so I can have my set up in a small greenhouse and out of the house. I still have tweaking to do with my system but with all the tall green grass and weeds in our yard I see no need to grow fodder right now. If I do grow inside again I'll get a grow light to prevent some of the yellowing.

Btw as for cost the wheat was $7 for 50lbs at the feed store. I still have more than half the bag. I was sprouting a cup a day for 7 chickens. That was a lot of fodder but it was easy for me to remember and filled the baskets. The girls loved it and ate 90% of the fodder each day.


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## oskizzle (Nov 23, 2015)

My long term plan is to have a gravity fed system, but I'm going to try a simple test of growing a single tote from beginning to end just to get the process down and see if it is something I want to put time and effort into.


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## Grimm (Sep 5, 2012)

I forgot to mention the system in the greenhouse has a solar powered 'sprinkler' type waterer with pump on a timer to eliminate the need to water multiple times a day.

There is a really good thread over at BackyardChickens.com forum that has a similar setup. Very picture heavy and great info.

http://www.backyardchickens.com/t/437115/wheat-sprout-feeder


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## oskizzle (Nov 23, 2015)

I have to stop watching this thread, it is reeeeeeeeeally hard for me to not go all out and buy racks and buckets and sprinklers....too many projects already on tap!!!


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## JAR702 (Apr 1, 2015)

I grow fodder for my 75 chickens and 12 rabbits, yes it is economical (50# seed = 200-300# fodder) plus it's good for them.
I don't have pictures of my set up, I have a shelving unit in a bathtub, water from the top and then the water goes down the drain. 
It took me a bit to come up what works best for me, I use wheat but I want to grow other seeds.


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## smaj100 (Oct 17, 2012)

We jumped in whole hog. Here are some pics of our fodder growing. We started with wheat while we waited for our local feed store to get barley in for me.


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## crabapple (Jan 1, 2012)

Is this for persons who do not have pasture to let these animals out into or is it better for them then an pasture.
For chickens & rabbits a pasture could be as small as 50, 100 or 200 square feet, well fenced in of course.


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## Grimm (Sep 5, 2012)

crabapple said:


> Is this for persons who do not have pasture to let these animals out into or is it better for them then an pasture.
> For chickens & rabbits a pasture could be as small as 50, 100 or 200 square feet, well fenced in of course.


My chickens would strip a pasture clean in days. It took 7 chickens 2 days to turn their lush 200 sqft run into a dirt mess.

Right now they get fresh grass and weeds daily from the rest of the property that I pull up or cut when tall. Once summer kills the grass and weeds I'll start sprouting for them again.


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## crabapple (Jan 1, 2012)

Grimm said:


> My chickens would strip a pasture clean in days. It took 7 chickens 2 days to turn their lush 200 sqft run into a dirt mess.
> 
> Right now they get fresh grass and weeds daily from the rest of the property that I pull up or cut when tall. Once summer kills the grass and weeds I'll start sprouting for them again.


I have 10 acres so maybe I went a little smaller then I should have, but I was thinking of an hour or two a day or every other day would be the same as the little mat of seeds in the photo.
But what do I know, I thought fodder was cutting corn field or clover field, not growing seeds in a pan.
Guess you learn something everyday.


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## smaj100 (Oct 17, 2012)

We are sprouting 10oz of seed per pan and 9 days later feeding 10lbs of the sprouts per pan to the goats and chickens. Both have pasture and areas to graze in this helps us cut down on the amount of feed everyone was going through. At $17/50lb for barley seed and we are getting better than 10:1 ratio its much more economical for everyone. We still put out grain for the chickens and goats get a much smaller evening portion to maintain a balanced diet.


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## Stillmeadow (Apr 25, 2016)

Welcome to chick dom. I have been raising them for about eleven years now. They are amazing and addicting. The only livestock I have stuck with the whole almost twelve years of our farm.


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