Feeding Alfalfa flakes...?

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cereshill

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Sorry to have been away awhile; life, business and farming have been busy. I am contemplating feeding a row of cages alfalfa flakes to meet demand for organic feed. Any thoughts on how to do this to insure: moderate waste, prevention of soiling of the hay etc.?
Thanks,
CH
 
hay racks built out of extra cage wire with solid bottoms made from a section of house gutter like a giant J-feeder. whisk out gutter each week to prevent mold build-up with a little broom/old paintbrush...
 
I resorted to just placing it on their resting boards. I also got in the habit of shaking the flakes out pretty well before I did that, and blending some of the fines in with their grain. They seemed to REALLY like that, then eating the stems was just something they did to fill the time in between.
 
Golly no! I just had the idea pop into my head based on horse hay racks with an attached trough at the bottom--I haven't done it yet! Thanks for the brain storm though...If I build one I will take pics.
 
Any way to shake the hay first, in a large feed trough or big tub, to get the fines/flakes out, mix it as a basis of the feed ration and give the stems/straw as hay?
 
Jack":16obymkt said:
Any way to shake the hay first, in a large feed trough or big tub, to get the fines/flakes out, mix it as a basis of the feed ration and give the stems/straw as hay?
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That's exactly what I do. :) I get the compressed bale and split half of it into a rubbermade tub. I think I might even try shaking out the whole bale more thoroughly and fluffing it up on a tarp, then packing the stems in a bag to distribute for fiber snacks like regular hay and keeping the fines for feeding. It's really convenient just to scoop out a cub of fines for portioning! I wish I could buy alfalfa leaves only. The rabbits hate the pellets because the pellets are quite large (for goats, livestock,) and I hate feeding them to them. (The whole point was to get away from pellets...)
 
My pellet feed in $.18/lb I can get organic alfalfa for a fraction of this. With 100 cages, its a lot of money in feed...<br /><br />__________ Fri Feb 25, 2011 8:49 pm __________<br /><br />pardon my ignorance, but how small are the fines?
 
cereshill":1qebt289 said:
My pellet feed in $.18/lb I can get organic alfalfa for a fraction of this. With 100 cages, its a lot of money in feed...

__________ Fri Feb 25, 2011 8:49 pm __________

pardon my ignorance, but how small are the fines?
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If I'm reading it properly they are seperating the stems from the leaves. The leaves will be flat and about the size of an M&M, my favorites! I consider fines to be the dust left from pellets.
 
You know the "alfalfa" that is the base for your pellets if you feed pellets? It's made from alfalfa meal, which is basically alfalfa ground up. The leaves have the majority of the protein, while the stems are mostly fiber. If you watch chickens with a flake of alfalfa they'll clean it of the leaves, but leave the stemmy parts. The stems are very hard for most mammals to digest.

The alfalfa stems are HARD and can actually be used, under pressure, to create boards. (pressure creates heat which breaks down the stems and releases the lingnin in it, which is a natural glue)

okay. I'll stop babbling now :)

by the way...(okay, I'm not QUITE done)...alfalfa is considered to be as close to a complete feed as a single plant can be. High protein, high minerals, high fiber, high amino acids (most herbivores don't need much fat)
 
Anntann":1i853b5m said:
by the way...(okay, I'm not QUITE done)...alfalfa is considered to be as close to a complete feed as a single plant can be. High protein, high minerals, high fiber, high amino acids (most herbivores don't need much fat)
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If the GMO alfalfa is being genetically modified to grow in Alaska, I'm down.

I love Alfalfa. I hate that I can't get it locally.
 

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