Don't tell the wife, I'm growing fodder in the 2nd bathroom!

[duluthralphie]

Well, dairy cattle overwintering on hay generally maintain weight, while dairy cattle overwintering on silage generally gain weight. There's nothing new or faddish about silage. It's made in vast quantities every year, and has been for decades. Silage is a fermented fodder.

Obviously, you did not read it.

As I previously stated FF is like a religion to the followers of it... but I will now leave this thread as to not hijack it anymore..

Have a great day.

 

[gtaus]

Biased subjective opinions are not science. Peer review has not occurred amongst qualified scientists. which takes me back to, if it is so good why is it not available commercially and why are the commercial egg factories not using it?

What you say is true, subjective opinions are not science. Long held beliefs are not science either, but often accepted as true. When someone in my family gets really sick, my mom starts calling friends and family for prayers. If they get better, it was because of all the prayers. If they don't get better, it was God's will. None of your logical arguments would convince my mother otherwise.

But, speaking of faith, when I was in Nursing School there was a big scandal where a pharmaceutical company had faked a research study to get a drug approved by the FDA. I think they even had peer reviewed (paid) support for that fake research. Eventually they got caught and therefore the scandal. I kind of lost faith in some of our peer reviewed journals at that point.

I don't necessarily think that if something is good, it would be done commercially on a large scale. I grew up in farm land. Our farmers would plow the fields every spring and we would see dust storms of top soil flying in the air. How can that be good for the soil? But it makes commercial sense for the large farmer who trades off loss of topsoil with the benefit of being able to plant acres and acres of crops with minimal labor cost. A small home gardener who builds the soil with compost and tends the garden lovingly will certainly have a much bigger crop yield per square foot, but at the cost of their time and labor which they don't count. You could not afford food at that price if done commercially.

 

[gtaus]

FF is like a religion to the followers of it... but I will now leave this thread as to not hijack it anymore..

After 300+ posts on this thread, it's hard to keep things on the initial topic. But let me try bringing it back to my fodder experiment.

My little experiment in growing fodder was to see if I could do it, how much time and effort it would take, and was there enough benefit for me to continue growing fodder. Of course, I do not have access to a lab in my house, so I am just going by observation of my process.

What I found out is that it is very easy to grow fodder, it takes me less than 5 minutes total per day with the fodder tower I built, and I am able to convert 1 pound of dry grain into about 5 pounds of fresh green fodder. My chickens eat every part of the fodder from the top of the blade to the bottom of the root mat. Nothing goes to waste. From a return perspective, I can convert a 50 pound bag of barley seed for only $8.00 and turn it into about 250 pounds of fresh green feed for $8.00. That is worth my time and effort.

 

[N F C]

After 300+ posts on this thread, it's hard to keep things on the initial topic. But let me try bringing it back to my fodder experiment.

My little experiment in growing fodder was to see if I could do it, how much time and effort it would take, and was there enough benefit for me to continue growing fodder. Of course, I do not have access to a lab in my house, so I am just going by observation of my process.

What I found out is that it is very easy to grow fodder, it takes me less than 5 minutes total per day with the fodder tower I built, and I am able to convert 1 pound of dry grain into about 5 pounds of fresh green fodder. My chickens eat every part of the fodder from the top of the blade to the bottom of the root mat. Nothing goes to waste. From a return perspective, I can convert a 50 pound bag of barley seed for only $8.00 and turn it into about 250 pounds of fresh green feed for $8.00. That is worth my time and effort.

Good return on your investment for sure!

 

[Major_in_MS]

when I was in Nursing School

Hey, I'm a nurse too. I went to nursing school when I was on the fire department. Now that I have retired from fire service I nurse full time.

 

[Major_in_MS]

From a return perspective, I can convert a 50 pound bag of barley seed for only $8.00 and turn it into about 250 pounds of fresh green feed for $8.00. That is worth my time and effort.

 

[gtaus]

Hey, I'm a nurse too. I went to nursing school when I was on the fire department. Now that I have retired from fire service I nurse full time.

I went to fire fighting school in Japan back in the 1980's when I was in the Navy. Hats off to the real people who chose that profession. I went into nursing after my civilian job dried up, and now I'm semi-retired, but keep my nursing license current.

Lots in common, I guess. Looks like we both have chickens in the backyard!

 

[gtaus]

UPDATE 10/11/2019: I think I am on Day 8/9 of this caper. I have finished growing my first barley fodder bin and will be feeding it to the girls today. So I thought I would update you with some pictures and statics on my results.

Here is what the finished barley fodder looks like after about 8 days growth. The grass is about 8.5 inches tall, nice and dark green, and has an excellent root mat holding it all together. I would estimate the germination rate at 95%+.

Here is a close up of the root mat. Notice how it is all held together. The unsprouted seeds in the mat will all be eaten by the chickens too.

Here is a picture of unsprouted seeds left in the bin. Very little grain left. The girls will eat this too. So nothing goes to waste.

Finally, I weighed the product. I started with 400 grams of dry grain and ended up with 2149 grams of fresh, green fodder. That is equivalent to converting 1 lb of dry grain to 5.37 lbs of fodder. The results of growing fodder in my bathroom are consistent with growing fodder in the garage this summer.

I am very pleased with my results, and even more so that Dear Wife still has not found me out.

Finally, my oats and oats/barley bins are not doing as well. I don't think the oat seeds are germinating nearly as well as the barley seeds. Those bins look about 25% to 35% germination rate, and there is practically no root mat holding them together. Of course, the chickens will eat everything, but the oat fodder is just not the same quality as my barley fodder grown under the same conditions. I do not think I'm going to spend any more time or effort trying to grow oat fodder. It was worth a try, but I'm not happy with the progress of the oats and the oats/barley bins.

 

[StaffordshireLady]

@gtaus I can't help thinking that you've fallen prey to a very bad case of cultural norms and gender orientated brain washing. Of course you're getting rounds of applause and encouragement for suggestions on how to resolve this problem. What may have escaped your notice is the enthusiastic responses to your attempts to mollify your wife are in general coming from other females. Not only are you unlikely to find a working resolution to the problem, you're demonstrating a line of excuse tactics used by males to a whole bunch of other females and thus not only weakening your hand, but making life difficult for the husbands of the thread contributors by alerting their wives to male strategy.
You say you've been married for some 30+ years. I suggest you adopt the same strategy often sited on this forum regarding unproductive hens; don't keep them. No lay eggs, no get fed. This is assuming you've squeezed all the productivity you want out of your wife in the last 30 years.
The obvious solution hasn't been posted. Not hard to see why not given the contributors.
That solution is; lose the wife. In the event that you find you are having difficulty coping then you can always move in another female; just don't sign any paperwork!
There is absolutely no point in keeping an uncooperative and belligerent wife when there are so many good ones out there.

May I suggest that you don't go out on a dark night?

 

[Shadrach]

May I suggest that you don't go out on a dark night?

Of course you may.