What has been your experience feeding fodder?

[May1802]

How has it worked for you?
I've read up on it a lot, and we are in the process of trying it ourselves, it is just so helpful to hear from other people "in the trenches".

What do you see as its pros? Its cons?

Why did you stop feeding it?
or
Why are you still feeding it?

It seems like many have tried fodder for a short time and then switched back to a pellet-based diet. Is this b/c of health issues? Slow growth rates? Convenience? Other reasons?

I'd also love to hear from those who have fed fodder for a longer period of time? How is it working for you? What changes have you seen in your rabbits? Etc.

Thanks so much!

 

[ek.blair]

FOLLOWING! I too am in the beginning stages of trying this.

 

[mystang89]

How has it worked for you?
I've read up on it a lot, and we are in the process of trying it ourselves, it is just so helpful to hear from other people "in the trenches".

What do you see as its pros? Its cons?

Why did you stop feeding it?
or
Why are you still feeding it?

It seems like many have tried fodder for a short time and then switched back to a pellet-based diet. Is this b/c of health issues? Slow growth rates? Convenience? Other reasons?

I'd also love to hear from those who have fed fodder for a longer period of time? How is it working for you? What changes have you seen in your rabbits? Etc.

Thanks so much!

IMHO:

Pros - Good for them, more natural. Much much cheaper than feeding pellets.
Cons - Hard to get started. Need to know your situation in order keep the mold out. There are overall guidelines for it but each person has different circumstances.

 

[Ivory]

What is your definition of Fodder?

To me, the word fodder just implies something fed to domestic animals.

 

[prairie dog]

For me the only real con was mold issues and it's a bit of a pain in the butt.
Pros were the kits loved it, and I didn't see any digestive upsets when they had fodder as a first feed, vs the occasional messy butt from the ones going straight to pellets. The rabbits went wild for it. Cost was lower.

The mold was why I quit. At the time I didn't have an automatic watering system and unless I watered the trays every three hours it would dry out, and of course if it ever dries out you'll get mold starting. Currently I'm using an aquaponics system to just grow wheat grass for daily cuttings to give them, but I'm working on installing some hydroponic channels just like the Fodder Pro system uses, and once I get it running right I'm going to give fodder another go.

 

[skysthelimit]

There is a very large fodder thread here, about twenty pages.
I gave up after a month because they house was just not warm enough to get good growth, and it wouldn't work well for my show buns.

 

[zee]

I'm also wondering about this. I just started sprouting alfalfa seeds for my quail.

 

[Miss M]

What is your definition of Fodder?

To me, the word fodder just implies something fed to domestic animals.

What they are referring to specifically is seeds sprouted to between 4 and 8 days or so, in water only, and feeding the entire sprout, roots and all.

I'll be giving this a go soon with oats.

 

[Ivory]

What is your definition of Fodder?

To me, the word fodder just implies something fed to domestic animals.

What they are referring to specifically is seeds sprouted to between 4 and 8 days or so, in water only, and feeding the entire sprout, roots and all.

I'll be giving this a go soon with oats.

Oh right. I haven't tried that but I'd like to. So where can I ind out how to do it?

 

[AmysMacdog]

I started mine up about a month ago again. I'm growing wheatgrass for the rabbits, goats and ducks. I tried a few "new to me methods" to combat the mold and of course after I bought the bag of wheat, I read that wheat is the worst one for mold. Barley [which is hard to get here] and oats aren't supposed to mold as easy as wheat. So next bag I'll try one of those. I tried baking soda spray to keep down the mold, it helped but not totally so I went back to using soil and planting it. It works better for me to grow it, cut it then plant it outside after two or three cuttings or compost it.

Then I tried to sprout alfalfa and BOSS [black oil sunflower seeds] in separate jars and that went really well except for one thing. Nobody would eat either one!!!! Nobody! :shock: Boy you try to fix healthy treats and :evil: ............. :lol: Not even DD's chickens would eat them! I was shocked! They love the wheatgrass and look forward to the treat so IDK. So I'm back to just wheatgrass, when I use this bag up, I'll try oats or barley to see if that helps with the mold or not. I'd like to be able to give it out whole with the "biscuit" attached.

 

[skysthelimit]

Wow, they wouldn't eat it?

Mine are such pigs. If I don't forget this summer, I'll try again for grow out pens.

The BOSS that molded, I threw it out in the yard an had several sunflowers sprout this past summer.

 

[AmysMacdog]

I know! It was weird that mine wouldn't eat it. Usually they take things right from my hands, even the ducks love greens. Just not sprouts I guess. LOL They do look different, maybe that was it.

 

[michaels4gardens]

I grow my own "fodder" out side in the "real" soil, -- I tried growing sprouted grain feed for my rabbits in a greenhouse in trays with miricle-grow, and also with manure tea, -- most did not realy like it, and they didn't do very well on it-- I assume it was very lacking in food value/ calories, compared to the Kale, collard, chicory, radish, etc. I normaly grow for them in the garden, -- but --I supose if you were going to give them a "complete feed" with added hydroponic "fodder" they would eat some for the vitamins and enzymes they don't get from pellets.

 

[Miss M]

What is your definition of Fodder?

To me, the word fodder just implies something fed to domestic animals.

What they are referring to specifically is seeds sprouted to between 4 and 8 days or so, in water only, and feeding the entire sprout, roots and all.

I'll be giving this a go soon with oats.

Oh right. I haven't tried that but I'd like to. So where can I ind out how to do it?

Here's the 20-something page thread on it that Sky mentioned:

fodder-sprouting-systems-anyone-t10317.html

 

[ckcs]

I tried a boss fodder several times. I kept having mold issues. My rabbits loved it but growing it indoors in my limit setup and space wasn't going to be practical. I did plant a bunch of boss in a 6' x 6' area in my yard. I supplemented my rabbits feed with that for a couple of months. I'd just go out each day and grab a bunch of plants and give a bunch to each rabbit. Eventually the plants flowered and died. I was going to save the seeds but it didn't work out like I had hoped. I may sprout some in jars this year. Seems like a good idea since you can use screen tops and turn jars upside down to drain them well. You can also rinse the really well each day which should help with mold issues.

 

[May1802]

Thanks everyone, for your input! I do appreciate it! I had found the link several of you mentioned, a few weeks ago, and read much of it.

It seemed though, that most of the posts were from people who were just starting out and going through the trial and error process, like I am. I was hoping to find some who have been feeding fodder for a longer period of time. Hoping to get their input as to how it had actually worked for their rabbits (growth rate, fertility, litter size, over all health, etc) as well as any tips that they have to share.

Again thank you all!

 

[DogCatMom]

Here is a page from the blog of an RT member on her experiences feeding fodder to her rabbits (and chickens) since early in 2013. Sarah hasn't posted on RT (that I've seen, anyway :lol: ) for a while, but it may be because she's responding to so many questions on her blog.

She has more than one month of experience, anyway, so I thought I'd mention it. Maybe her longer-term info will help?

 

[May1802]

Thanks! I'll look at that!

 

[JessiL]

So, I hopefully will be starting a trial of feeding barley/wheat fodder to my meat rabbits this week. I have two litters of Americans to wean soon, and will try splitting them each into two groups. One set will hopefully be transitioned to all fodder and hay (maybe some black oil sunflower seeds too), and the other will stay on my typical 17% pellets, hay, and fun twigs from our property. That way I'll have two different genetic backgrounds tested simultaneously. I will most definitely report the results, as far as weight gain rates, health and condition of the rabbits, and costs for each method.

If it all works out as planned, I should be able to get fodder for a reasonable price from a local business. That way I don't have to devote too much of my downtime to getting the fodder made. If I like the results, we've already discussed transitioning to an organic grain source.

There are two main outstanding questions that I have - how should I give the fodder to them? It seems like if I put the mat on their cage floors, there will be significant waste. And the J-feeders are not really the ideal dimensions... Second - if I pick up fresh fodder 2x a week, how do I store the half-eaten fodder biscuits from day to day? I would guess the fridge, but I haven't heard anything suggested before. It's still getting below freezing here every night (though we are nowhere near as cold as the east coast), so keeping the fodder outside is probably not wise.

 

[HoppinHalfPints]

One question; do chickens on the fodder system need additional supplementing? Our 6 chickens roam around the yard and eat bugs.