Why Sprouting Fodder?
Fresh sprouting fodder enables the digestive system to process food in a much more efficient manner than it does with grain because:
• it eliminates phytates to improve mineral absorption
• it eliminates enzyme inhibitors to improve the digestive process
• it improves the enzyme activity to make the whole process less stressful on the pancreas
Feeding fresh sprouting fodder means less energy is needed by the animal for digestion so it channels this unused energy into production.
Of the 100% energy that an animal (for example a milking cow) takes on board:
• 20% is used to generate heat.
• 20% is used in "system" maintenance
• 20% is used in production energy (milk, reproduction, growth)
• 40% is used in waste (30% fecal, 5% gas, 5% urinary)
Feeding fodder will reduce the amount of time the animal spends searching for food in the field. Feeding fodder will improve the digestive process so the animal absorbs more energy, spends less energy on the process and spends less energy in producing waste.
This net improvement is in energy available for production, whether this is milk, reproduction or weight gain.
Dry Matter vs Fodder
Many farmers and nutrionalists use dry matter as the yard stick by which livestock should be fed. However it is clear that much of that energy in dry matter is wasted by the animal in the digestion and processing of feed with much of the feed passing though the animal without being processed.
When asked "would you agree that the introduction of fresh green grass into the diet of your animal on a daily basis is a good thing?" the vast majority reply positively.
The high digestibility of fresh hydroponic sprouting barley means that the animal needs less weight of feed to produce the same results and is the same as feeding fresh spring grass to your livestock, every single day.
Nutritional Energy
Per kg, sprouting fodder holds 12.7 megajoules (mj) of nutritional engery. The total amount of digestible matter in fodder is 91% with on average over 20% protein and 20% starch along with all the trace elements needed such as Potassium, Calcium, Copper, Cobalt, Magnesium, Sodium, Iron, Manganese, Zinc, Molybdenum, Manganese & Selenium.
Beef Trials
In the beef trials conducted in New Zealand, the control group were fed approx 25% more Metabolisable Energy (ME) per day than those fed on fodder. However the fodder group gained 41% more weight.
Fodder Supplement
Ruminants and grazing animals were not designed to process hard dry matter, they were designed to process grass.
H2O Farm do not advocate a complete replacement of dry matter with fodder. In fact it is suggested that on a daily basis to give fattening livestock 2% of sprouting fodder based on the animal's current body weight and access to unlimited dry matter in the form of pasture or straw.
Fodder will help with the digestion of dry matter and the dry matter helps the fodder to fix in the rumen or gut to be fully absorbed.
Hydroponic sprouting barley as a part of a complete ration
Hydroponic sprouting barley is used by some of our farmers as a complete replacement feed. These tend to be farmers of sheep, goats and deer where the animal can obtain some additional feed through normal grazing of pasture. H2o Farm do not necessarily advocate using our fodder as a complete replacement for dry matter. We suggest that on a daily basis to give fattening livestock 2% of sprouting fodder based on the animal's current body weight and access to unlimited dry matter in the form of pasture or straw.
Ruminants and grazing animals were not designed to process hard dry matter, they were designed to process grass.
Our fodder will help with the digestion of dry matter and the dry matter helps the fodder to fix in the rumen or gut to be fully absorbed. They will work in a complimentary manner.
http://www.h2ofarm.co.uk/Science/Dry_Matter.aspx
Note: I am not trying to promote this particular company but rather using it for the discussion here so others have a better idea of what I am talking about. There are many companies that sell these fodder systems and I am just posting some of the information to share in hope of generating discussion
