We had read about fodder in books and online, someone we talked to did it and spoke highly of it, and it seemed like an easy way to save money on animal feed. So, several months ago we decided to try it.
We got food grade buckets from Tractor Supply to grow it in and ordered 300lbs of organic barley from azurestandard.com. We drilled holes in the bottom of the buckets, soaked the barley and then put it in the buckets outside rinsing several times a day. It should have started sprouting in a day, but days passed, and it was starting to smell pretty bad...
We did a bit of research, one of the things we found out was that fodder should be kept at 60-75 degrees Fahrenheit, it was in the 90's outside where we were trying to grow it. So, we definitely needed to do it inside, which meant we would have to come up with a way to deal with the dripping water.
I tried a small amount in a ceramic pie pan in the pantry, trying my best to drain the grain without spilling it everywhere. It did sprout, but then scarcely grew at all, it seemed to be drying out too fast... but what people were saying on the internet made it seem like that shouldn't have been a problem.
However, I decided to cover it with plastic wrap for the next experiment just to see, and this time I put it in a paper plate with slits cut in the bottom and put it by a sunny window, since someone said they do this (put it by a window, not in a paper plate).
It grew WAY better and being able to drain the water without super carefully tipping the container was nice, but needless to say, paper plates are not good for growing fodder in, after a few days it was falling apart, so it was hard to rinse it very well.
I fed that little bit to our chickens, who seemed to like it a lot. The ducks didn't like it AT ALL, it was actually really funny, they would run over and grab it but then spit it out. One of them would spit it out and then back away as though it were poison or something.
The challenge then was to find containers that would work, somebody's blog we read said they use shoe boxes, so we picked up a ten pack of those at Walmart for $10.
I think they are probably the best we will get without getting a premade fodder system.
What Grain to Use
As I mentioned earlier, we are using organic barley from Azure Standard. The two main grains used for fodder are wheat and barley since they sprout well. As far as sprouting I don't know if there is much of a difference between wheat and barley, but we want to avoid hybridized grains, so we use barley.
What Containers to Use
The containers we use are BPA free, made in the USA Sterlite shoe boxes, we get them at Walmart for $1 each.
The person who wrote the blog about using them said she drills holes in the bottom of the container and uses the lids to catch the drips, however, we have found that unless we cover our fodder (at least untill the grass starts growing) it dries out too fast.
So we just make sure to drain out as much water as we can after rinsing and then put the lids on top. However, it is not the easiest to do it this way since you have to try and keep the fodder from coming out when you pour the water out.
A better option might be to just drill the holes and then find something to put under the shelf to catch any drips.
How Much to Put in Each Container
If you are planning on growing your fodder out to grass you should aim to only have about about one seed deep covering the bottom of the container. If you are just getting roots to grow, you can go up to about an inch deep.
These amounts are for unsoaked fodder, once the grains are soaked and start to grow the amount you have in the container will increase by many times what you originally put in.
How Long to Soak
We have found that a short soak time of around 2-4 hours gives us the best sprouting percentage and the least amount of mold. Some people suggest a much longer soak time, but this has not worked well for us.
How Often to Rinse
You should rinse your fodder a minimum of twice a day but preferably three times a day. This is very important to prevent mold from growing.
When is it Ready?
If you are feeding the fodder to chickens or ducks as a large portion of their diet I would recommend that you only grow your fodder until it has long roots but hasen't started to grow grass yet, probably around three days after you start it.
For other animals you can grow it out to grass, but don't grow it for longer than six days or you may start to have a hard time with mold and the nutrient content starts to go down around day seven.
How Much Should I Feed
Fodder can be fed to most animals as a replacement for grain as long as they are receiving a mineral supplement as well. For most animals it is recommended that you feed about 1-2% of their body weight in fodder a day.
We haven't successfully fed just fodder to our chickens and ducks yet so if anyone has we would like to know how you do it! When we did try for a short time they stopped laying almost completely.
There were many reasons why it may not have worked for us that time, but we have just not tried it again yet.
The Steps
Rinse the dry fodder grains to remove dust and any foreign objects
Let the grains soak for 2-4 hours
Drain and rinse
Rinse at least twice a day until the fodder is ready
Hopefully this information was helpful, if anyone has any tips, suggestions or questions on growing fodder please feel free to leave a comment or contact us!
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