Marans eggs on ebay....

[Wynette]

I'm interested in the question about barley, too. I feed it as a snack once in awhile to my chooks; they love it, I've done so for years, and haven't noticed any ill effects....

 

[Katy]

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Mine love it...they go after it big time and my call ducks love it too.

 

[Katy]

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I'll see if I can scan picture from one of our farm magazines....ot find one online.

They "roll" it a lot for the cattle and hog feed. They grind it for chicken feed.

I'm not sure how widely grown it is. We used to grow it (sometimes still do) and wheat, but now we grow corn, soybeans, and wheat. A lot of people around here still grow it quite a bit.

It kind of looks like a giant millet head.

 

[Katy]

Here's couple of pictures....not the best, but maybe you'll get the idea. It comes in both red and white colors. The plant itself looks like a shorter corn stalk and grows to about chest heighth. Milo harvest is going on in our area now.

 

[Dustin Biery]

To me it is a nuisance crop and hard as heck to get rid of once you have it. I have tried pullin it and it comes back. The way I ended up with it was via scratch grains.

 

[Randy]

I love it when it comes up from scratch grain. I use the chicken tractors and when I move them some always comes up. I just pull it up and feed it to the chickens or move the pens back over it and let them eat it up.

 

[Katy]

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I think what you're talking about is what we call "shatter cane". That is a pain in the butt. Milo doesn't keep coming back like that. It would be very easy to get rid of. Shatter cane has a similar berry, but a little smaller than milo.

 

[Dustin Biery]

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I think what you're talking about is what we call "shatter cane". That is a pain in the butt. Milo doesn't keep coming back like that. It would be very easy to get rid of. Shatter cane has a similar berry, but a little smaller than milo.

And I guess that could be a very good possibility. Will have to take a picture of it next year, as I have mowed the pasture for the last time (fingers crossed) for the season.

 

[Krys109uk]

Thanks for the photos Katy. I wonder whether the red crop I sometimes saw in Indiana was Milo.

I'll ask at the feed merchants about milo in the spring & perhaps I can, also, persuade them that fishmeal is the best protein for chickens.

I think, for now, corn is probably good during the scary winters here in the frozen wilds of Minnesota. I think the white Marans would sooner be warmer & yellow.

BTW does the red milo colour the feed? (maybe I could have pink chickens.

)

 

[Katy]

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I would imagine what you saw probably was milo.....especially if it was this time of year that you saw it.

No, the red milo doesn't color the feed.....the red color is only the outer hull on the berry....it's white on the inside.

I'd still like to find a better picture of milo out in the field for you.