Thoughts on Feeding Barley Fodder?

[RoppFamilyFarm]

I have been reading up recently on growing and feeding barley fodder to cattle to supplement hay.
1 lb Barley grown over 7 days will produce around 20 lb of fodder. From what I have read up the Nutrition quality of a 7 day growth would be about 18-20% Protein, 4% Fat, 11% Crude Fiber, 15% Starch, including lots of minerals.

Since everything you read on the internet is true :lol: , I figured that I would ask some fellow cattlemen on what their thoughts are on this, and if anyone has any personal experience growing/feeding fodder. Or if it is even worth the time and effort for cost savings.

I would only be feeding this to about 6-8 steers and an occasional cow that needs a little extra protein/fat in their diet. Not the whole herd!

Just in case you are interested, here is one of the links that i have been reading up on:
http://fodderforeveryone.weebly.com/

 

[mwj]

Just feed the barley and plenty of fresh water. All the other steps may make a person feel better about what they are feeding, but it does not matter to the cattle.

 

[Dave]

I have heard a lot about this. The secret they don't want to tell is to compare the nutrient content on a dry weight basis. Suddenly it won't look so good. Without a doubt it improves digestability and palatability but to turn 1 pound of 10% protein into 20 pounds of 18-20% protein by adding a little water. Science and reality are both tough task masters.

 

[Bigfoot]

If it actually worked, it'd be a sweet deal, for horse people.

 

[TexasBred]

I have been reading up recently on growing and feeding barley fodder to cattle to supplement hay.
1 lb Barley grown over 7 days will produce around 20 lb of fodder. From what I have read up the Nutrition quality of a 7 day growth would be about 18-20% Protein, 4% Fat, 11% Crude Fiber, 15% Starch, including lots of minerals.

Since everything you read on the internet is true :lol: , I figured that I would ask some fellow cattlemen on what their thoughts are on this, and if anyone has any personal experience growing/feeding fodder. Or if it is even worth the time and effort for cost savings.

I would only be feeding this to about 6-8 steers and an occasional cow that needs a little extra protein/fat in their diet. Not the whole herd!

Just in case you are interested, here is one of the links that i have been reading up on:
http://fodderforeveryone.weebly.com/

That 20 lbs. of fodder will give you about 4 lbs. of dry matter. What else do you plan to feed the cow??

 

[RoppFamilyFarm]

Thanks everyone - that is what I wanted to hear. When you break it down and compare apples to apples, it really doesn't make much sense. 4lb of DM is not much at all. I would need to feed like 150 lbs of fodder just to get their daily DM intake. Even if i did supplement with hay. It does not pencil out.

Thanks for bringing me back down to earth from the World Wide Web of everyone's great ideas.

 

[ChrisB]

I've looked into it a bit and even toured a place that had invested around $250,000 in a fodder setup for their dairy. They were still working out the kinks as growing it is not as easy as the ads make it sound. But needless to say with that much invested they were believers in it. It really isn't a way to save money on the feed bill but the advantages were more health and performance related. I forgot now how many pounds a day they were feeding, but they just drove the TMR mixer by a loading dock and tipped the trays in. It was really an interesting setup. This was for an organic dairy, I really don't see any worthwhile advantages for a beef herd. At least that was my conclusion, and I was all excited about it at one time.