Cooking grains

[lew92]

So I've been feeding sprouted grains/fodder for a couple of months now and am very happy with how much less grain we have to buy. We bought four barrels of whole corn from our neighbors, so I see no reason to buy cracked corn for feed...but then I know it isn't as digestible for the cattle and pigs. I've always soaked cracked corn for the pigs anyway, so I had started soaking the whole corn for feeding to the steer, trying to fatten him up to butcher in a couple of months.

Anyway, we bought a new rice cooker last week and when Frank was going to throw out the old one, I decided to try cooking the corn. I discovered that whole, dry corn in the rice cooker needed a second cooking with additional water and that was too fussy for my taste, so I tried cooking some of the corn that I had soaked for a couple of days. I found that it got cooked through and it appears to be very digestible, with no corn showing up in the manure.

To make things more nutritious, I've been adding some barley and wheat to the cooker as well. I've gotta say, it smells absolutely lovely and I'm planning on buying some wheat for cooking for the house with my next Azure Standard order.

Now that I have it figured out, I'm splitting the cooked grains between the chickens, both calves, and the cow. I'm phasing out the sweet feed ration for the cow and the heifer, but will continue to feed it to the steer - mostly because I want him growing well (tender!) when he goes to freezer heaven, but also because we just bought three bags of it.

[Becky in TX]

Very interesting! I tried sprouting oats but got mold instead! Considering my luck with the oats I've been reluctant to order wheat. Is it easier to sprout or have you only been doing corn?

[wacowgirl]

Wheat is very easy to sprout. I couldn't get my oats to sprout either.

[lew92]

I was mixing chicken wheat (from Azure Standard - not human grade) with corn to soak to feed the steer and it was sprouting within a couple of days, so I know it would sprout well. I'll be adding oats to the cooker until I run out - I buy them locally and they are pricey and it just seems like there is so much hull in comparison to nutritious seed in an oat.

[lew92]

A success update: Two days after starting to add the cooked grains and reduce the commercial feed for my chickens, they went from an average of 6-9 eggs a day to 12-16 eggs per day. I know that the longer days will encourage higher egg production, but two days isn't enough for that drastic and uptick, IMHO.

[jerseycowgirl]

This is very interesting! Do the chickens eat the cooked mixed grains better than the commercial mix? How much do you feed the chickens?
Pam

One more question, Does the cooking stretch the grain like growing the fodder does?

[lew92]

The chickens pretty much clean up all of their feed, but I've reduced the amount of commercial mix they are getting by about a third. So they are eating everything I give them. I suppose about 3 cups of commercial and almost the same amount of cooked grains, plus two cups of whole dry corn - just because they love that.

Cooking does increase the volume, but it also makes the nutrients more available to the animals, IMHO. As I said above, I started doing it mainly for the steer but wanted to treat the chickens, too. They only get a handful or so of the sprouted fodder, so I felt they were being kind of cheated...

I do feel that the grain is now being utilized so much better than it is if being fed in its dry condition. I think that the increase in egg production demonstrates that fully.

[fishyfarmer]

Have you got a reason you think cooking improves bioavailability? From what I understand, cooking tends to remove nutrients. Check out this chart:
www.dummies.com/how-to/content/preserving-nutrients-when-cooking-foods.html
You will note a comment in this article about how heat improves nutrients in beans, but actually that is incorrect. It is the SOAK that neutralizes the undesirable contents. Ever find nuts hard to digest? Soaking works on them, too:
wakeup-world.com/2012/03/04/the-benefits-of-soaking-nuts-and-seeds/
I can't argue your results - more eggs is more eggs! Your girls seem to approve, but as far as maximum nutrition for them, I think sprouting has it over cooking. When I start my seeds for my fodder trays, I just start some for my girls, too. The chicken feed goes 3 days, the trays go 9.

[lew92]

For the cattle, at least, the grains are easier for them to digest than when they are dry, which is why I'm cooking them. The pigs will appreciate them being more tender, too.

I don't have enough room to sprout all of the grain that I would need to feed everybody, so sprouting some and cooking some is a good combination to get to what I need.

[Deleted]

All of your information has been good. We just moved to the country and have 4 week old layer chickens and a few ducks. We are looking for a nice gernsey milk cow. I have been amazed at the increased amount of feed our 4 ducks and 28 chickens go through. I was not sure sprouting was necessary for fowl and am encouraged that it will increase the nutritional benefit as well as the volume and egg production. I will also try cooking some of the grain and add it to our other homemade feed. I am also ordering grains for them from Azure. Thank you all for your good advice and experiences. By the way ducks are very messy, but cute and smart. I separated them yesterday and discovered the chickens are very clean compared to the ducks. Thanks!

[lew92]

You are very welcome. I've said it on the fodder thread and I'll repeat it here - between sprouting and cooking, our feed use has gone WAY down. Three weeks into it, I still haven't finished off the first 2 bags of chicken wheat and barley. I've completely quit giving sweet feed to the cow and heifer, cut the amount of soaked beet pulp I was feeding and the chickens are down to 3 cups (kitchen measuring cups) of commercial feed per day. I pull the fodder apart as best as I can and it amounts to about a gallon apiece for the three bovines. The horse, chickens, and guineas only gets a hand full each of the fodder.

The steer gets about a quart of the cooked grains, the chickens, cow and heifer probably 3 cups each. the horse gets a handful.

Plus they all get free choice hay. Right now I am feeding good grass hay. When the cow freshens she'll get second crop mixed alfalfa and grass hay.

Ducks are cute, but they are awfully messy. I won't have them in the coop anymore and was glad when we found someone who wanted a couple pair of them. No more ducks for us!