Sprouting fodder for our livestock Part 2 - Rinsing & draining & rinsing & draining

As I mentioned in Part 1 I started out with a small amount, 1/4 cup each, of pasture mix, 5 grain scratch, black oil sunflower seeds and winter wheat.  I soaked them overnight (in clean pickle jars that we'd been saving), on the kitchen counter.  The next morning, about 12 hours later, I rinsed them in tepid water.

Rinsing the black oil sunflower seeds.  They were soft and plump.  I picked out anything that looked bad (there was one piece that was a brownish color and odd shaped).

Rinsing the pasture mix.  It took several refills of the jar to get all the grass seeds out.

The pasture mix after rinsing.  Some of the red clover faded to a more lite pink color.  The grasses (timothy, orchard, fescue & rye) seemed fuller/plump.

The 5 grain scratch after being rinsed.  The barley, sorghum and wheat plumped up a bit.

Rinsing the wheat.  It ended up being the plumpest out of all the seeds.

After we rinsed them I transferred them into pint size canning jars.  I used a thin cotton tea towel that I'd cut into pieces held down by the screw on ring to cover the tops.  I filled the jars with water and then drained them again.  I ended up changing the tea towel out for cheese cloth because the water wasn't draining well through the towel, I was having to shake it out and was worried that it would damage the seeds.

You can see the water sitting in the bottom of the black oil sunflower seed jar.

You can see the water sitting in the bottom of the pasture mix seed jar.

You can see the water sitting in the bottom of the 5 grain scratch jar.

You can see the water sitting in the bottom of the winter wheat jar.

You want the water to drain out, but not dry out the seeds.  Others have reported molds growing if they don't drain the excess water.  The Urban Rabbit Project is growing theirs in small organizer type trays with slats in the sides, tipping to drain.  Their main rabbit, Mufasa, is a big fan of the fodder!

Propping them to finish draining.

More draining.

In one of the groups I belong to there is a lady sprouting lentils for her chickens, she's got the trays in her living room on the floor so they can get sunlight.  I think one of the greatest things about this process is that you can do it pretty much anywhere and with seeds, grains, nuts, the possibilities are numerous. 

More links with great information

I love that I keep finding others that are successfully growing and feeding fodder!  Over at Farming in My Fifties she talks about sprouting fodder to combat against the high hay prices after last years droughts.

Granny's Best has quite a few posts about fodder for her goats!  So far she's got 4 parts and is still documenting her trials.

A paper on the nutritional qualities of sprouts and fodder.

Sprouting fodder for our livestock Part 1 - testing what we've already got on hand

I stumbled upon sprouting for livestock when I was looking for information on sprouting for my family and it became a subject I needed to know more about.  The cost of feeds has and is going to continue to go up, and even though all of our animals (except the rabbits) free range graze all day everyday, we still buy feed to supplement.  We currently spend about $400 a month on feed, not including hay that we purchase for the rabbits & for winter.  When I started researching, I was blown away by  how much we could save while increasing not only their nutrition but the amount it would produce using a fraction of what we're currently feeding.

What was really interesting to me was that once I started looking for information, I found there were quite a few others who'd already started and were sharing their journey (at the bottom of the post I've got the links of the places I found).  Facebook groups for backyard chickens and rabbits were talking about, goat farms and alpaca herd owners were doing it.  Then I went out to a farm a couple of hours from us and they had a wheelbarrow sitting at the entrance of their barn full of fodder that they'd sprouted in their workshop!  They were feeding it to their goats, ducks & chickens and they gobbled it up!!  That was all I needed to see to know that this was something we HAD to learn to do and implement as soon as we could.

Starting the overnight soaking

1/04/13 - I started with a small amount, 1/4 cup.  I want to make sure what I'm using will sprout before investing bigger amounts.  I'm using what I've already got here on the farm.

From left to right - Jar 1: Pasture mix (orchard, timothy, fescue & rye grasses with red & ladino clover) - this is what we use to seed our fields for the cattle, horses & goats.

Jar 2:  5 grain scratch (corn, wheat, sorghum, barley, black oil sunflower seeds) - this is part of what we feed our chickens in the evening.  I don't have much faith that this will do anything because its already been mixed and the corn is cracked. 

Jar 3:  Black oil sunflower seeds - we mix these into all of the feeds.  One of our rabbit does will dig through her feed and pick out all of the boss, throwing the rest out, so she gets hers separate in a small bowl.

Jar 4:  Winter wheat - we use this to seed our fields as well as have one field just for growing it thats fenced off from the cattle.

5 grain scratch close-up

I weighed everything out.  

The pasture mix - 1/4 cup = .80 oz (23 grams)

The 5 grain scratch - 1/4 cup = 1.35 oz (38 grams)

The black oil sunflower seeds - 1/4 cup = .85 oz (24 grams)

The winter wheat - 1/4 cup = 1.50 oz (43 grams)

Pasture mix close-up

These charts are not my creation, they were posted on facebook.

This chart came from The Nourished Seed, but their wordpress blog has been deleted at the time of this posting.

This chart is from Oolaboolah and is part of their article on sprouting nuts and seeds for good health.

Part 2 will be tomorrow, I'll share the rinsing/draining of the jars and what we'll be using for cover.  I'll also be sharing more information from those who've run into issues, are having great successes and how their animals are responding.

Links for great sprouting/fodder information

I love the setup that Quartz Ridge Ranch has and they've been so encouraging with their support!  They've got quite a few posts about fodder on their blog with lots of great pictures!

Little Seed Farm shares their sprouting routine for their goats with lots of pictures and information.

Over at Promiseland Farm they've got a video showing how they  prepare their seeds and talk about the nutrient values and what to look for when you're purchasing seeds.

In the Backyard Chickens forum a couple shares their setup and success sprouting in the PNW on their back porch!  Lots of pictures and steps.

Paca Pride Guest Ranch is sprouting on a bigger scale for their, you guessed it, alpacas!  They are also in the PNW.  One of the things I really liked about their journey is that they had the sprouts tested by their vet to confirm the increased nutrition value.  In the comments they talk about places to find seed on the west coast.

Over at Alpacanation.com there is a great thread with a farm owner, Holly Zech, that has been sprouting successfully for her alpacas since June 2011.  Full of great information!

To Sing with Goats shares a tutorial and parts list.

YumUniverse breaks down what sprouting is, how it works, why you soak & rinse as well as the nutritional value for people.  Lots of great pictures and information!

Hydroponics.com.au has a great article on sprouting fodder for rabbits.

Hydrocentre.com.au has a questions page thats worth reading through.

Faster Fodder - Florida inmates sow barley as part of an inmate training & self-sufficiency program

Happiness

Rabbit update

We've made quite a few changes with our rabbits.  We sold just about all of the rabbits, with the exception of our pedigreed New Zealand Black doe & buck.  We bought a breeding trio of pedigreed Silver Fox rabbits, to get started.  We raise our rabbits as part of our food, so we started researching feed to meat conversion as well as dressed out weight vs live weight and then also temperament.  Everything kept pointing to the Silver Fox.  Aside from being a beautiful and docile rabbit, they also have a higher dress out weight, around 65-70%.

In the midst of starting over, we also redid all but 2 of our cages.  There are a lot of things that we learned as we went, things I wish we'd thought to ask about ahead of time (I'll do a separate post on that soon).  The cages we'd been given and had purchased along with rabbits were all wood.  The rabbits got much enjoyment chewing on it.  And they were HEAVY, took up a ton of space and were really hard to clean because of the designs.  We decided to suspend the cages that we built, opening up much more space.

(don't mind Oreo next to the hay, he's visiting)

We added foam insulation sheets, 4'x8', behind the cages (there is a 2" gap between the back of the cage and the insulation, so no rabbits are able to get to it to eat it).  During the summer the bottom row is removed and stored.  We're able to open the doors that line the entire outer wall of the room (if you're new here our barn is an old tobacco barn with 1 ft door every 2 ft the entire length of this side of the barn) and with the fans, it keeps the room cool and ventilated.  The heat lamps are removed and stored in the summer.

Our plan to redo the floor is still happening.  We're picking up the wood tomorrow!  You can see some of the gaps in the floor, and some of the wood is really weak, it bends when we walk on it, some of it has broken as we've moved cages in and out and while supporting the weight of the old cages.

We have 4 buck cages, (you can see 2 of them on the far left, with the solid wood doors) that measure 4'x3'x2.5'.  The Silver Fox is a big rabbit and we noticed that when it was breeding time, there wasn't enough room in the buck cages, so we took out the middle wall, opening them up.  Now there is plenty of space to play chase and uh, bunny hop ;-)

Our doe cages are all suspended with an attached oak nesting box.  The reason we picked untreated, from the mill rough cut oak is because it is a REALLY hard wood.  It also doesn't seem to absorb/radiate the air temperatures like the other wood did.  The nest boxes stay cool in the summer and warm in the winter.  The cages are 2'x2'x2' and the nest box is a couple inches smaller internally due to the thickness of the wood.  The nest box has a wire floor, we put in 1/4" plexiglas when its time for them to kindle.  In the winter we add about an inch of hay underneath the plexiglas.  They all get a bunch of hay to make a nest with along with their hair, year round.

The rabbits have their own website http://roguewildrabbitry.weebly.com/

Homemade Almond Milk

Step 1:  Measure out 1 cup of almonds

Step 2:  Cover almonds with filtered water and soak for 48 hours in the fridge

Step 3:  After soaking for 48, drain & discard the water, rinse the almonds

After rinsing

Step 4:  Add almonds & 4 cups of filtered water to the blender

Step 5:  Blend on high for 2 minutes

Step 6:  Strain - I put a towel inside the mesh sieve for a fine strain

Step 7:  Squishing all the milk out of the meal

After its drained, I put all of the almond meal into the towel, bring the edges up to create a pouch,

twist the towel to create a tight pouch and squeeze, twisting the towel.  This will get the rest of

the almond milk out of the almond meal.

Step 8:  Pour into a glass jar (I used a 1 qt mason jar), store in the fridge for 4-7 days.  If it starts to smell

funny, discard.

Almond meal - I have plans for this ... stay tuned!

Here's your garden sign

Plant peas, beets and lettuce when the first leaves appear on the lilac bush. 


Plant corn, beans and squash when the lilac blooms. 


Plant cabbage when the dogwood is in full bloom or when the apple blossoms bud.


Plant corn when oak leaves are the size mouse's ear or elm leaves are the size of a squirrel's ear. 


Set out tomato transplants when the first ladybugs appear. 


Beans, carrots, cauliflower and beets do well in close quarters. 


Plant radish with your lettuce..flea beetle will stay away. 


Plant carrots and onions close, keeping the carrot fly away. 


Cabbage away from tomatoes and celery. 


Cucumbers are improved when beans are grown between them. 


Turnips like to have some peas nearby. 


Beans and sweet corn do well in alternate rows. 


Plant beans on top of your potatoes to keep the potato bug away. 


Marigolds throughout the garden...all over the place!

Incubator's running full speed ahead! February's hatching percentages

We started putting eggs in 2/23.

2/23
IN - 8 duck eggs
HATCHED - 6 (as of 3/22/12, with a couple more days of possible hatch since duck eggs take 30-35 days depending on breed)
HATCH SUCCESS = (6/8) 75% (this number could change)

2/24
IN - 5 chicken eggs
HATCHED - 4
HATCH SUCCESS = (4/5) 80%

2/25
SOLD

2/26
IN - 10
HATCHED - 9
HATCH SUCCESS = (9/10) 90%

2/27
IN - 19
HATCHED - 17
HATCH SUCCESS = (17/19) 84%

2/28
IN - 7
HATCHED - 6
HATCH SUCCESS = (6/7) 86%

2/29 Caught the dogs eating eggs, the coop gate was open =o(
IN - 2
HATCHED - 1
HATCH SUCCESS = 50%

So for the 6 days in February that we incubated and hatched eggs, our success percentage is 78%. We did lose 4 of the chicks after putting them in the brooder.