Take a look. Or is this old-hat?

[grumpy]

http://dubuque.craigslist.org/grq/3825327766.html

Is this plausible in a commercial setting? I've not done much research on this, but it looked interesting.

Of course, you have to get past the "sales-pitch". You'd surely know the content of the feed used in your rabbitry. Here's the web address: http://www.affordablefeed.com

I'm going to look a little closer at this. I've dealt a little with hydroponics in the past. Always looking into possible ways to improve the health and growth of our charges.

grumpy.

 

[Cottie]

Is this plausible in a commercial setting?

I don't think so, at least not below an industrial sized operation.

http://www.affordablefeed.com/cost.html

The unit can produce feed for 56 horses for $39 a day. I bet that's the seed cost. The electricity requirements alone would be far above that. It uses "full spectrum LED lighting". That's expensive to replace.

Just for the light: A unit that covers a 2'x2' area costs around $225 retail, and uses 23 watts. Good for 6.8 years (without power surges), or 63 cents a day amortized over their lifespan. It would cost me 60 cents a week to run it (electric). It's a cost of $1.25(+/-) per week, per light, running 24/7 for their lifetime.

So...I'd want to know: size of a single tray (ie, how many trays per light), cost of seed for 1 tray, time from planting to harvest of one tray, required hours per day (most hydroponics systems I looked at suggested anywhere from 18 to 24 hours per day, depending on the crop), how many you'd need per x rabbits, how much the grow solution costs per tray per cycle.

I finally gave up the idea of hydroponics because it would require at least a $3,000 upfront investment, cost a few hundred per week to run, and that was only barely above breaking even profit levels. Granted, that was with standard HID bulbs rather than LED, and HID have a higher electric requirement. They're also a lot easier/cheaper to replace, so I think it might balance out.

 

[Ivory]

Sounds like waaaay too much money and waaaay too much work to me.

$300 a ton for hay? What, is it gold plated?

 

[MaggieJ]

We've been talking about growing fodder over on the Natural Feeding for Rabbits forum for ages. I have no way of telling if it would be practical for you, Grumpy, but it sure does s-t-r-e-t-c-h the grain. It turns one pound of 12% grain into about 6 pounds of 18% protein fodder.

I experimented with it on a small scale earlier this spring. It worked well while the weather was still chilly, but once it became hot, we encountered some problems with mould. There are ways around this, but with so much free forage the rabbits and chickens began to ignore the fodder... So we have put it on hold until late fall. But it definitely is worth looking at!
fodder-sprouting-systems-anyone-t10317.html

 

[Miss M]

Sure looks nice, but very $$$.

I do want to experiment with sprouting grain, but on a much smaller, much less expensive scale.

I do wonder why they are using the logo for Arm & Hammer?

 

[OneAcreFarm]

Fodder sprouting doesn't NEED extra lighting, there are other systems available that don't use it. Sun Roads Farmory, Farmtek, and FodderSolutions all make a system similar to this.

 

[Miss M]

Doesn't it need some sort of light after about 4 days, to green it up?