Post by lew92 on Jan 27, 2012 12:08:21 GMT -5
I thought I'd start a new thread, rather hijack the other one. This was a good way for me to get started with fodder feeding with no investment on my part. The corn was gleaned from the neighbor's field after they harvested and the gallon glass jars are ones that I use for storing milk. I would not have been able to do this if my cow were in milk this winter.
I will be replacing this with a shelving system within a month or six weeks, so well in advance of my cow freshening. The photos follow my explanations.
The red container is what is going to Buttercup for this feeding, the gallon glass jar is the next feeding's sprouts waiting to be rinsed, and the tan container is corn I've just shelled waiting to be soaked:
This is Days 1-3 of growing. This is next to my wood furnace so that it is warmer for the beginning of sprouting. Starting at the back, the tan container is Day 1 of soaking. The middle container is Day 2, the water has been drained, the corn rinsed and an ice cream lid on top of the container so that it doesn't dry out. The jar at the front is Day 3 and has plyban rubber banded over the mouth of the jar so that the sprouts stay nice and moist. At the back of the photo on the right is a half gallon jar with a sprouter lid (plastic mesh) - I'm also sprouting lentils for us to eat and to share with the chickens.
On Days 4-8, the jars are on their sides in a big roaster pan. I still leave plyban on the jars to help keep them moist:
On Day 9, the sprouts get separated for more growth, with half of them going into a small plastic container. They get fed to the cow on Day 10.
This picture just shows how 2 cups of corn can nearly fill a gallon jar in ten days:
I will be replacing this with a shelving system within a month or six weeks, so well in advance of my cow freshening. The photos follow my explanations.
The red container is what is going to Buttercup for this feeding, the gallon glass jar is the next feeding's sprouts waiting to be rinsed, and the tan container is corn I've just shelled waiting to be soaked:
This is Days 1-3 of growing. This is next to my wood furnace so that it is warmer for the beginning of sprouting. Starting at the back, the tan container is Day 1 of soaking. The middle container is Day 2, the water has been drained, the corn rinsed and an ice cream lid on top of the container so that it doesn't dry out. The jar at the front is Day 3 and has plyban rubber banded over the mouth of the jar so that the sprouts stay nice and moist. At the back of the photo on the right is a half gallon jar with a sprouter lid (plastic mesh) - I'm also sprouting lentils for us to eat and to share with the chickens.
On Days 4-8, the jars are on their sides in a big roaster pan. I still leave plyban on the jars to help keep them moist:
On Day 9, the sprouts get separated for more growth, with half of them going into a small plastic container. They get fed to the cow on Day 10.
This picture just shows how 2 cups of corn can nearly fill a gallon jar in ten days: