fodder filter??

[Jason N]

Has any grown grain fodder for chickens or live stock? I am planning a system that will have a media beds then go through a section to produce fodder for my chickens and cows and then to a raft. I am hoping that the fodder will filter out a majority of the fish solids as well as provide food for a few other animals. Do you think I need some filtration or other items I am not aware of. Still in the design phase.

[Glenn]

Yes, using 8  2' x 6' trays I include a hay, wheat grass, clover, and barley mix sprouted fodder system with my topping off and polishing section.  Water from the regular grow beds flows through the 6 youngest fodder trays before returning well polished to the FT. Each day I replace and or add 10 to 20% of the AP system volume with water  that is degassed and filtered of chloramines and purified with ozone. This is circulated through the last two or most complete trays. The goats, chickens, and rabbits so love the fodder. It saves a lot on the feed bill and shortage during drought etc.  is remedied.

[Alex Veidel]

Yes, Randall is correct. Grains grow great with just tap water. The point of wheatgrass, barely grass, or whatever you're using is to sprout it to unlock the nutrients contained within the seed itself, not to produce nutritious plants. And whatever you do, do NOT sow your media bed with wheat or barely grass. The root system is so intensive you will spend hours trying to recover your media...

We've been growing wheatgrass for juicing and barley grass for our chickens for almost a year now....it's saved us a lot of money on chicken feed and the wheatgrass juice makes me feel great! Once you get past the taste that is :P

Randall Wimbish said:

I have seen some discussion here on fodder and poked around a little with it myself and the best I can remember is that you will do just fine with clean, chlorine free water instead of Ap water. The seeds have plenty of nutrients to start with . If you don't change the water often fermentation and other things move in.  But don't listen to me. Type in fodder in the search bar at the top of the page and you should find some answers.

[Glenn]

Cooler weather and water temps lend to the growing of Rye Grass. Also awesome for juicing. I think the key to all sprouting/fodder etc. is good quality certified seed.  

 
Alex Veidel said:

We've been growing wheatgrass for juicing and barley grass for our chickens for almost a year now....it's saved us a lot of money on chicken feed and the wheatgrass juice makes me feel great! Once you get past the taste that is :P
 

[George]

It would be a serious challenge, I think, to produce fodder for cows in an ap system.  We use collards, kale, cabbage and broccoli for chicken fodder.  They love the leaves off of all those plants.  

[Rob Nash]

im with Randall, just use chlorinated tap water, and drain to waste.
if you recirculate the water.. it will go rancid real fast. you only need to water long enough to keep the root mass wet. maybe 1-2 mins every 1-3 hrs.
in fact .. keep it away from your ap system.. the seeds can introduce salmonella and other bad pathos to the system.

i would post some pictures of the awesome wheat and barley grass we grow, but some how the site wont allow me to add pics to replies any more... wtf?

[Alex Veidel]

Yeah, I agree. Wheatgrass "tea" is really rancid smelly stuff; I'd keep the two separate. If you tell people you're growing grass in your ap system, they give you funny looks :/

Exceed your picture limit for the day Rob?

Rob Nash said:

im with Randall, just use chlorinated tap water, and drain to waste.
if you recirculate the water.. it will go rancid real fast. you only need to water long enough to keep the root mass wet. maybe 1-2 mins every 1-3 hrs.
in fact .. keep it away from your ap system.. the seeds can introduce salmonella and other bad pathos to the system.

i would post some pictures of the awesome wheat and barley grass we grow, but some how the site wont allow me to add pics to replies any more... wtf?

[Alex Veidel]

Rye grass huh? I might have to try that....We're always looking for alternatives to wheat grass, mostly because of the taste. How does rye grass taste?
Glenn said:

Cooler weather and water temps lend to the growing of Rye Grass. Also awesome for juicing. I think the key to all sprouting/fodder etc. is good quality certified seed.  

[Glenn]

If you like rye bread and have acquired a taste for juiced wheat grass sprouts, you will probably enjoy rye grass sprouts and juiced rye grass sprouts. I prefer rye. Have only met one person who didn't after trying it and they said before hand that they didn't really like rye bread much.

Radish sprouts remain my favorite quick cheap snack and don't stay around long enough to become juiced.

When people give ya funny looks when discussing grass and "ponics" you might mix it up a little by throwing in talk of making rye drink.

Seriously though. It is very important to have good clean seed to start with. And then seeds should be sanitized/purified by soaking in ozonated or chlorine water prior to sprouting. Any discoloration in the root mass will add to the bitterness of the juice if you include the roots in your juice. The animals all seem to like it roots and all.

Alex Veidel said:

Rye grass huh? I might have to try that....We're always looking for alternatives to wheat grass, mostly because of the taste. How does rye grass taste?
Glenn said:

Cooler weather and water temps lend to the growing of Rye Grass. Also awesome for juicing. I think the key to all sprouting/fodder etc. is good quality certified seed.