Fodder grown in a green house

[just_sawing]

Does anyone here have real experience in growing fodder in a green house? I had an interesting conversation with an ag teacher and came home to Google it. It really appears to be a great solution for the small homesteader. Here is a link to a Australian link.
What this does is in a contained situation converts 3 pounds of wheat or barley into 25 pounds of fodder. This fodder I am finding out is running 29% protein. It also is higher vitamins and is 825 digestable.

YouTube

[||Downhome||]

Ive had thoughts on something simular, if you use water tanks for thermal mass in that green house you could raise fish and duck weed as well.

(I know the water tank is not such a new idea but I think the duckweed might be new to some)

[6e]

I don't have any experience with it, but it is a fascinating idea and I may try it. Not on that scale probably, but it would be a neat idea.

[fordson major]

back in 1968 the fellow we bought our farm from had such a set up. trays of barley sat under florescent tubes to extend the natural day light to produce fodder for his cows. needed more energy than it produced! wrong type of bulbs in the fixtures and he heated the air instead of the soil. labour intensive, you could grow and sell hot house plants for way more than a fodder crop! plus it gets to the minuses here during the winter months.

[TheMartianChick]

I really liked this fodder system and thought about getting into it when we were planning to move to the Ocala Florida area. There are a lot of horse farms there and we thought that it might be a nice little business. I don't know that I would ever do this for my own animals, though.

http://www.grazegreen.com/

[Michael Kawalek]

The nutritional benefits off sprouted grain are well known, and this looks like a system with a lot of potential. I think though that I can see problems in the details of the system. I have a lot of questions about implementation.

First, it seems that this system is ripe for fungal infections. How do they keep the wet grain from molding and spoiling before it sprouts. I'm assuming that once your system gets a fungal infection, you'll go crazy trying to clean it back up.

[just_sawing]

The system has no soil so fungi is minimum. The trays are portable and can be washed easly. The system is using hydoponics watering. We grow plants in this area with no problems.
What I am looking at is a winter feed suppliment. I have 8000 extra BTU on my water boiler system. That will suppliment a green house with no problem. I have a abundance of slab wood that I have to dispose of. I would like to feed the fodder to a rabbit operation. With 25% protien that appears optimal.

[pafish6]

what kind of seed would you be sprouting for the rabbits? I watched some the YouTube videos on the fodder systems and it is VERY interesting now that we've had snow and my chickens and rabbits will be not getting the fresh weeds/plants I have been picking for them. Would you be supplimenting the fodder with pellets? hay? dry grains? thanks for the info

[Katey]

I can't see how this would ever pay for the expense of putting up a greenhouse, but I suppose if you had one sitting around already and not being used in the winter it might be worth a try.

[Wags]

Fascinating - wonder how cost effective it would be for a small set up. And if it would mean there wouldn't be a need for additional feed.

ETA: $25,000 for a system that produces a 1/4 ton a day - which is the smallest system that Crop King has.

That's way more production then I would need, wonder if there would be way to do it on a smaller scale.

[Michael Kawalek]

Originally Posted by just_sawing

The system has no soil so fungi is minimum. The trays are portable and can be washed easly. The system is using hydoponics watering. We grow plants in this area with no problems.
What I am looking at is a winter feed suppliment. I have 8000 extra BTU on my water boiler system. That will suppliment a green house with no problem. I have a abundance of slab wood that I have to dispose of. I would like to feed the fodder to a rabbit operation. With 25% protien that appears optimal.

I've spend some time collecting my own seed for various projects, and test sprouted seeds in plastic trays without soil. Fungal infections is the single most serious problem I've encountered! I am expressing this concern based on experience, not what I think MIGHT happen.

If you want to make sprouting trays out of scrap wood, I'd suggest your contamination problems would be even worse.

Will 8000 BTU's be enough for a winter greenhouse? I would think you'd need more like 80,000. This greenhouse doesn't need to just stay above freezing, it needs to stay at about 80F for the sprouts to develop quickly.

By the way, I seriously have to question the claim of 25% protein. I checked the nutritional facts for bean sprouts, which start out with more protein than barley, and it's protein content is only about 3%. As the developing seedling sprouts, it's stores of starch and protein get depleted to produce the new green growth, which is relatively low in protein.
http://caloriecount.about.com/calori...prouted-i11043

In any case, why don't you try a test batch first in your kitchen and see what happens. You can buy barley ready to sprout at a beer making shop, and I'm sure you have some kind of baking dish that could be used for a sprouting tray. Then you'll be able to make an informed decision.

[james dilley]

The link, says there useing DEAD dry seed. Excuse me but dead seed will not grow. The seed needs living germination capabilities to grow, And they said dead seed not once but 2X..

[just_sawing]

The dead term as I understand it is dormant versus actively growing. One is full of enzymes and the other is not. One of the articles that I have been able to find goes into quite a long explanation with cattle. As far as the protein is concern the local high school is doing this and have sent their grass off for analysis so I will keep you posted.
I don't see any way that a person could use scrape lumber for trays due to infection.

[MaggieJ]

Interesting thread. I've tried sprouting in plastic trays without soil, but usually run into problems with mould before they are quite ready. I've had better luck growing them in soil in the same trays, but then you can't easily feed the root mat. So I'm still experimenting.

I raise rabbits, chickens and geese. The geese and chickens free-range all year, but can't find much once the snow comes. They get a mixed grain ration and I supplement this with scraps and surplus or damaged eggs. The rabbits are on a natural diet of alfalfa and grass hay, greens and mixed grain. In summer I gather for them, but with winter approaching, fresh sprouts and/or grain grasses would be valuable additions to their diet. I've been looking into germinated grain as opposed to sprouted-to-grass and this seems to be much easier, quicker with less likelihood of mould problems.

I have only seven hens, three geese and a half dozen adult rabbits so I don't need huge quantities... but I'd like to get a workable, trouble-free system in place now. Look forward to further discussions on this topic.