# Fodder System!



## Country-Girl (Mar 8, 2014)

If you have any questions go on my breeders website ! She was so inspirational that I had to make this too!
Fmicrofarm.com

From there she'll be able to answer questions! But here my mini barley fodder system! It sits right on top of the dryer right next to the window. With a mini fan constantly going to prevent mold problems!


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## bellaterra214 (Mar 10, 2014)

I was reading about this the other night and can you believe it. 1 lbs of seed will make 6-8lbs of feed that grows in 7-9 days. DAYS. I just went to my feed store and they had reclaimed barley and wheat. Bought a pound of each to try and will be getting mine set up this week. 

I have read so many articles about growing fodder and had a question. Which seed did you decide to go with? Are you planning on trying any other seeds? You can sprout so many different things. Sunflower seeds, peas, barley, wheat, oat...any seeds that sprout can be used. There are many people who used a mix of seeds, instead of a single variety at a time. 

The big, HUGE, plus side to setting this up is nothing! You can go to your local dollar store and pick up plastic containers of all different kinds of sizes. You have to make wholes on the bottom to drain the water, but a huge plus is you need no soil. Pound of seed of each cost me $1.50 ($0.75 each) At my feed store, they have 50lb bags of reclaimed barley ($19.50) and wheat ($16). 

Midway City feed, since I see you are located in SoCal, is a great place to get supplies for rabbits. Pellets(new batch of pellets delivered every 3 weeks $2/3lbs bag or $10/25lb bag), hay(oat, timothy, alfalfa, orchard) flakes and bales and today I have found, they carry seeds that you can use to create fodder.

So 50 lbs of seed will turn into 300 lbs of feed. A bag of seed will last me a whole year and I would not have to buy veggies for my rabbits. While at the same time, I know where it has come from and what has gone into it as it was growing. You will also eventually be able to wean your rabbit off commercial pellets and provide a healthy alternative and most importantly, saving me tons of money. You will still of course have to provide roughage for you rabbits to help their digestion.

So excited I found someone else trying to grow fodder on this website. keep it updated; the pictures of feeding and growing different seeds. Totally curious on how it will go for your buns. Let me know


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## bellaterra214 (Mar 10, 2014)

Sorry, had a couple of questions (well some more, lol)

How many rabbits are you feeding?
Are you measuring seeds or just doing the 1/2" recommendation?
How long did you soak your seeds for? Some say 6,12 or 18 hours.
Did you use bleach/peroxide to help with the mold?
How often are you watering them?
How long have you been growing your current containers? lets say top left first?
I hear room temp makes a big difference. Have you found this to be true?

Oh geez, sorry! this fodder growing has been on a mind quite a bit and I have so many questions.


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## MuddyAcresHomestead (Mar 13, 2014)

Fodder is great! We use it to supplement our chickens and ducks in the winter


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## Country-Girl (Mar 18, 2014)

I am using recleaned whole barley. I did try just whole barley and it was way to dirty for me to work with! BTW sorry I haven&#8217;t gotten back to you sooner, ive been busy with school & work! Anyways, I am using whole barley, I just think that the recleaned is so much cleaner haha! Im not planning on trying to sprout anything else because its really hot here where I live and keeping the mold off the barley is hard enough! Probably in the winter Ill get more adventurous! Yes I have seen people sprout all sorts of crazy stuff! & I would love to give it a try! 

I know isn&#8217;t it great how cheap you can make your set up! Of course the more animals you have to feed the more room for space and money youll be spending but its not so much itll burn a hole in your pocket! Plus its LIVE feed so its 1000 times better than just commercial pellets!

My rabbits has never had a pellet ever in her short lived life haha (born 1/2/14) my breeder Sarah Cuthill only feeds fodder and grains right when they reach maturity to be weaned from mother milk, so I got real lucky! She has Youtube videos and everything to show how to do step by step process! 

Im actually behind schedule on my fodder, my bf is away in san jose and I decided to visit him for a couple days and left my fodder at home, on that note, im starting all over again with the whole fodder cycle. Which is a pain trust me!

I will do my best to update on the fodder and feedings, im thinking about posting a video on youtube next week on everything I do! So stay tuned and ill hopefully come through with it lol!


How many rabbits are you feeding?
1 french angora doe 10 weeks old

Are you measuring seeds or just doing the 1/2" recommendation? 
I put ½ a cup of dry seed and soak for 12-18 hrs. leave in the sprouting buckets then once there sprouted I put them in the drain containers you see in the pictures by the window, I water 2-4 times daily depending if im home all day or if im really busy, it varies. Just remember that its good to leave them in the sprouting bucket because itll give you a better idea of how much you put in the drain containers because once there swollen with water they because huge little seeds, you don&#8217;t want to exceed ¾ of a inch because itll be way too much for the container

How long did you soak your seeds for? Some say 6,12 or 18 hours.
I actually tried multiple soak times and ive had best with 12-18 hrs. anything less than 12 didn&#8217;t sprout for me very well!

Did you use bleach/peroxide to help with the mold?
I tried finding peroxide but it was just too hard to find, I do use bleach, which is what my breeder doesn&#8217;t use, she uses vinegar, I use bleech during the initial soak, it does help with the mold but what really contributes to keeping the mold away is air circulation and temperature (60-70 degrees)
Its literally impossible to have your fodder outside, from what ive experimented with, the temperatures are everywhere and not steady making it harder for the fodder to consistently grow.
How often are you watering them?

How long have you been growing your current containers? lets say top left first?
I actually only need 6-7 days to grow fodder anything longer than that and I run into mold! The biggest is 6 days all the way down to day 3
I hear room temp makes a big difference. Have you found this to be true?


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## Country-Girl (Mar 18, 2014)

only feed the rabbits 6% of their body weight

so weight the rabbit multiply their weight by .06 (6%) and thats the recommended weight of the fodder per feeding per day


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## bellaterra214 (Mar 19, 2014)

So your rabbit will get a container each day? Those are sandwich plastic container, right? I used a deeper tray for my first fodder, but my new containers are much more shallow which should help with the fermentation. I think. I also am planning on a thinner layer to seeds to help with the air flow. 

I tried cutting the grass off and feeding that to the rabbits, but they liked to pulled the grass out themselves. Still smelling a little funky, nothing like a cucumber.....yet. Weary of feeding this to them yet. 

BUT, my neighbor has offered to buy a container of wheat grass for $5 each. lol, he saw my shelf set up (old shoe rack) and asked if I would be willing to sell the wheat grass. I said for sure, but I also told him how I set it up so he can do it himself. I would love to make money off it, but the whole processes is time consuming just for my rabbits. I live in an apartment so it's not too hard when you start out with 2 or 3 containers, but you are rotating 9 trays it gets a bit time consuming.


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## Country-Girl (Mar 20, 2014)

Lol it's extremely time consuming sometimes I just want to quit lol. But I don't ha! My boyfriend wishes I did. Because he hates how much time in a day I spend watering it making new seeds rotating buckets to drain containers & etc. no I feed 6% of her body weight. So I have a food weighed I got on amazon. And I weigh her. Then times that by .06 & then cut the fodder in squares and weigh one square and try to get as close of a measurement as I can to 6% of her body weight. I'll add or take some away if it's too much or too little.


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