- Oct 13, 2008
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Every now and then I see yet another article about how wonderful comfrey is as a chicken feed. It's really high in protein, low in fiber, the plant accumulates potassium and trace minerals of all kinds--awesome! It's so easy to grow, and really productive--great!
Except when I pick some and throw it to them, they'll never eat it. It just lies there till it rots. (the rabbits don't like it much either, btw).
So, what if I chopped some up and COOKED it (wouldn't take long at all, and I already cook up batches of root crops for to make fermented mash with)? This would elimate the prickly hairs (part of why some livestock don't like it--which is understandable). I could then mix it into the fermented mash along with everything else, and perhaps they might find it more tasty? Would it not also be more digestible for a monogastric animal?
I can't find anything online (except more articles saying how great comfrey is). So has anyone done this or something similar? Are there problems to doing this that haven't occured to me? How might the cooking process and the fermentation process affect the nutrition or palatability of the comfrey?
I would be grateful for your thoughts. If I could find a convenient way to supplement some free protein in their fermented mash, this would go a long way towards lowering our feeding costs (and the only decent feed available here is 30--40 dollars a bag, so little tweaks add up quick).
Cheers!
Except when I pick some and throw it to them, they'll never eat it. It just lies there till it rots. (the rabbits don't like it much either, btw).
So, what if I chopped some up and COOKED it (wouldn't take long at all, and I already cook up batches of root crops for to make fermented mash with)? This would elimate the prickly hairs (part of why some livestock don't like it--which is understandable). I could then mix it into the fermented mash along with everything else, and perhaps they might find it more tasty? Would it not also be more digestible for a monogastric animal?
I can't find anything online (except more articles saying how great comfrey is). So has anyone done this or something similar? Are there problems to doing this that haven't occured to me? How might the cooking process and the fermentation process affect the nutrition or palatability of the comfrey?
I would be grateful for your thoughts. If I could find a convenient way to supplement some free protein in their fermented mash, this would go a long way towards lowering our feeding costs (and the only decent feed available here is 30--40 dollars a bag, so little tweaks add up quick).
Cheers!
