After our experiments with fodder, we are convinced it will work out and have moved into full scale production for the cows and chickens. Our capital outlay included a 9'x9' greenhouse we got on sale, two shelves from Costco, and 56 seed trays.
These need to be rinsed twice a day. We also milk our cow twice a day and run sanitizing water through the milking machine just before we use it. We are using that sanitizing water to rinse the sprouts and haven't had any mold growth.
We start by soaking the seeds for 24 hours. Each morning I measure in enough seed for eight trays, about ten pounds, and cover it with plenty of water.
The next two days, the seeds are put under pressure to sprout. I've read this increases the germination rate, and it does seem to help. We use a plate with weight on top. The buckets are covered with a tarp to keep the light out. Each bucket has holes drilled in the bottom to drain and are sitting in another bucket to catch the water. They get rinsed twice a day.
Each morning I spread out the next batch of seeds into trays, day 3 for the sprouts. Their first day in trays they are put underneath another tray to keep out light and add another day of pressure.
By day 4 they have lots of roots and are swelling up to fill the tray.
The ones at day 5 always worry me. They look dry, but I think they are shedding their hull. They have the first hints of little grass.
Not much seems to be happening on day 6, but those roots have formed a solid mass and they look less dry.
On day 7 things are starting to happen.
Day 8 shows another inch of growth, but it's uneven. They must have different conditions at the front and back of the tray. We found that if we just move them straight up, one end looks much healthier than the other end, so now we rotate them each day and it's evening out.
By day 9 they are strong and healthy. Frankly, I'd like them bigger. We are finding that temperature makes a big difference so we started running a space heater overnight. That seems to help them grow faster and stronger.
Underneath, the roots have grown into a solid mass. We pull these into bite-sized pieces to give to the cows. The chickens just get a full biscuit to peck at.
Each evening I rinse the used trays in the sanitizing water and quickly wipe them down to prevent mold growth. Each morning I start another batch soaking and spread out the seeds from day 3. Every tray gets rotated and moved up. Morning and evening everything gets watered. There are holes drilled in the bottom of each tray so they drain into the one below it. It's like a big rainfall. We have tubs at the bottom to catch as much water as we can, but part of the reason we are doing it outside is so I won't care if some spills on the ground. With reusing water, the sanitizing water from the milking machine, and the water for soaking, we have enough water to keep them all hydrated and rinsed.
The next step is to run little sprinklers on the shelves and automate the watering.
We are working the animals up to four trays for our milk cow, three for the two steer calves and one for the chickens, keeping an eye on their health as we go. The steers and chickens love it. They come running when they see it. Our dairy cow gets her fodder at milking time. Right now she's getting three trays a day and we've dropped her grain from twenty pounds per day to four. Her milk production has stayed up and she seems healthy. We haven't seen big drops in hay yet, but we're not up to full production yet.
