Developing the grass in your yard for increasing free ranging nutrition

[Kassaundra]

The "plugs" are generally a bocking variety, meaning their seeds are sterile, and they are a genetic line created back in 1950's (through good old fashioned selection no gmo voodoo) for fodder and sterility. The seeded variety is the "old fashioned" kind it will spread by seed and rootings, it is also higher in the alkaloids it is known for, the fodder bocking variety ( #4) has less alkaloids. Bocking 14 is known more for composting. The biggest "nutritional" difference between old fashioned seeded and bocking 4 is the amount of alkaloids

Europe has used the traditional seeded kind as animal fodder for centuries.

 

[Aphrael]

The "plugs" are generally a bocking variety, meaning their seeds are sterile, and they are a genetic line created back in 1950's (through good old fashioned selection no gmo voodoo) for fodder and sterility. The seeded variety is the "old fashioned" kind it will spread by seed and rootings, it is also higher in the alkaloids it is known for, the fodder bocking variety ( #4) has less alkaloids. Bocking 14 is known more for composting. The biggest "nutritional" difference between old fashioned seeded and bocking 4 is the amount of alkaloids

Europe has used the traditional seeded kind as animal fodder for centuries.

I thought it was the opposite way around on the alkaloids. When I was reading up on it, the articles I read said that the Russian Comfrey (that the bocking type is derived from) was the highest in the alkaloids and that the old fashioned common comfrey was the lowest. Now I'm confused...

 

[AletaG]

I wonder what the nutritional difference is between the seeds and the plugs. With the plugs you can order a cultivar specific to poultry and pig fodder. But seeds are sure easier to ship ... and they are more affordable.
I wonder if the plants are as easy to divide and replicate as things like hostas are. Presuming the don't swallow the property on their own.

Our property in Hillsboro (which I miss) had 2 comfrey plants. They were in a rotten location, and in my ignorance, I dug them up. There are now over 100. Probably still there, the new owners don't do much with the place. All it takes is a pinky nail size piece and it WILL grow like crazy.

The "plugs" are generally a bocking variety, meaning their seeds are sterile, and they are a genetic line created back in 1950's (through good old fashioned selection no gmo voodoo) for fodder and sterility. The seeded variety is the "old fashioned" kind it will spread by seed and rootings, it is also higher in the alkaloids it is known for, the fodder bocking variety ( #4) has less alkaloids. Bocking 14 is known more for composting. The biggest "nutritional" difference between old fashioned seeded and bocking 4 is the amount of alkaloids
Europe has used the traditional seeded kind as animal fodder for centuries.

Due to the aforementioned experience, I will probably purchase the bocking variety and plant them in the huge tree tubs or half a 50gal drum (works for root spreading blackberries too) ...
A seed spread variety would probably have the local imported plant police at my door. Of course, I'd be the first one to cause me grief. I'm sort of a native plant nut.
I also thought the 4 had softer prickles so was easier to get animals to eat without having to wilt or silage it first? Did I read all that right?

 

[Kassaundra]

I have only ever had the bocking 4 so don't know if it is less prickly then any other, but it is prickly. My hens had no compunction about eating it fresh though. The plants planted outside of the chicken area are happy and healthy and not spreading at all. The crowns are getting bigger (or base of the plant) This spring I will divide the crowns and hope to double my crop.

 

[Fentress]

Great Thread! I just ran into it and look at the response. This fall I moved the flock into the garden area which also included a plot that I had cover cropped last year (the red clover was spent, but the other plant, I think it was tricticale sp? was still going strong) plus the compost pile! They had a feast and used the sunlfower, Okra and tomato cages as protective cover. I plan to plant more tall crops to enhance not just their diet, but their overall environment as well. For me it is about having a good pasture, because they need grass under their feet, I will not accept anything less, but also, how does the plant enhance their environment, in terms of diversity, insect habitat etc. That's why I respect the native weeds, because I think they belong in the pasture. When I get a small denuded area, I may not even reseed, but instead allow the natives to move in. I know I am rambling, but I needed to post, to thank Bee for starting this thread.

Mark

 

[LindaB220]

Yeah, to be on the safe side, the 100 seeds I bought will go into pots also. Just saying.

 

[HEChicken]

Whew. I am finally caught up. I was following this thread in the beginning but got busy and couldn't keep up. A couple of down days and a chance to catch up on reading and I'm ready to go again

Loved the discussion on sheep. I have a half dozen sheep and a pair of goats. I was asked recently which I prefer and had to say that while I enjoy both, if I was forced to choose just one, it would be the sheep. I was surprised to see someone who hates sheep and had a bad experience because my experience with them has been only good.

I also enjoyed when the discussion turned to Comfrey. I rarely meet anyone here who has heard of it but I grew up on the stuff. My mother was an amateur herbalist and always treated us with herbal remedies before even considering taking us to a doctor. When we had a sore throat, she cooked up a batch of Horehound candy. When we had a cold, she made an infusion of mints and had us breathe in the steam from a bowl of hot water. And, if we had any kind of skin affliction or a bruise, out would come the (home-made) Comfrey ointment. My brother and I recently joked that such was our mother's confidence in Comfrey to cure all that ails us, had we been dying, instead of calling 911, she would have whipped out the bottle of Comfrey ointment, quite sure it would heal us.

That said, while I have vivid memories of the Comfrey plant growing outside the back door, I knew very little about growing it and enjoyed the conversation here. I went on to google it some more, thinking about starting a patch next year, and among the other information I read, I came across a Mother Earth News article about it, originally published in 1974 but with some updated information. The article can be found here.

However what concerns me now is the Editor's note at the end of the article:
Quote: An additional article I read while researching also said that Comfrey should not be taken internally as it will cause liver damage. So for those of you growing it to feed as fodder to your poultry (and other livestock), is this a concern for you?

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

....

That said, while I have vivid memories of the Comfrey plant growing outside the back door, I knew very little about growing it and enjoyed the conversation here. I went on to google it some more, thinking about starting a patch next year, and among the other information I read, I came across a Mother Earth News article about it, originally published in 1974 but with some updated information. The article can be found here.

However what concerns me now is the Editor's note at the end of the article:
An additional article I read while researching also said that Comfrey should not be taken internally as it will cause liver damage. So for those of you growing it to feed as fodder to your poultry (and other livestock), is this a concern for you?

Yeah ... in the quotes from retail sources for comfrey that I posted in post #164 above I highlighted those concerns ... I haven't come to a specific conclusion yet ... but also I'm not growing comfrey yet, either.

 

[Kassaundra]

I came across those articles when I first looked into comfrey too. I am not so overly concerned for a couple of reasons. In their tests they used high concentrations of the alkaloids themselves, not feeding the actual plants to the test subjects (I looked for those articles that I had read again, but couldn't find them), I feel the actual plant has an interaction of many properties that when fed in normal amounts and the combo of all the other properties of the plant make it far less harmful then those studies indicate, this is backed by the fact that European farmers have used this comfrey as a fodder source for centuries w/o problems leads me to believe it is safe for my chickens and rabbits when I get them.

I think animals that have free choice of many food sources left on their own shun poisonous foods, my chickens had free choice the comfrey they devoured was growing in the yard and they had access to many other plants, fermented grain, commercial feed etc.... and still ate the comfrey until it was killed out. Leading me to believe the chickens did not find it harmful by instinct.

The other sources online that feed comfrey to their animals w/o reports of death and ill health, these people are living off their animals and if they were having mass death and ill health they would change what they are doing.

I do not have enough comfrey yet for feeding a lot of it since my chickens 1/2ed my original purchase but as I feed more, I will keep an eye on the livers of those I process. I always check the organs of all the birds I process.

 

[Lacy Blues]

The nay-sayers on comfrey, I believe, are funded by the soy movement. Comfrey is a fantastic feed. I'm not worried about it at all.