“Base Camp for your Mountain Loop Experience” www.PacaPride.com Twitter - @PacaPride www.facebook.com/PacaPride www.PacaPride.wordpress.com www.YouTube.com/dabudsta Fodder Mat Production

Trial with an alternative feed approach for winter diets

David Capocci Paca Pride Guest Ranch

The Dilemma

• Most “good quality” hays are imported outside the Western WA region • Cost per bale for orchard grass is reaching over $15 • Pelleted Ration expenses add up, choke is a danger, and some feel it affects fiber quality over time • Winter diets consist of dry, dry, and more dry

The Barley Fodder Background

• Whole Fodder Shed solutions in place in Australia, just Google “Peter Doyle Fodder” • Typically used in drought stricken regions • Dairy cow farmers starting to take note in Florida and Texas, and most recently New York. Increases milk production • Rabbit breeders: increased litters and weight gain

The Hypothesis

• Sprouts are great for humans, ergo… • Fresh is better than dry • Cost of Barley grain is cheap • Cost of transporting barley is cheaper than hay • Barley (and ) can be grown in the region • Barley is nutritionally complete • From Seed to Feed in 9 days • Sprouts for nutrition, dry hay for fiber/roughage Hmmmm… let’s try this out!

The Goal

• Buy local hay from within Western WA region • Eliminate pelleted grain rations • Save $$$ • Increase herd health • Positively impact fiber staple length and poundage harvested The Infrastructure Required

• Hydroponic Flood and Drain Tray system • Water reservoir used in trials (no reservoir in production system) • Vitamin B1 solution (though plain water works too!) • Chlorine bleach solution for Soak Bucket • Minimal lighting/Ambient lighting • Shelving, timers, electrical/plumbing • Climate control necessary (but not a challenge for PNW) 50-60 degree optimum The Process:

Day 0 - Seed Soak “Field Run” Barley being used - it’s the cheapest - contains dirt and

1) 6 lbs of seed for a tray 2) RINSE and remove chaff 3) Place in mesh bag 4) Add 3 TBSP bleach to 2.5 gal water 5) SOAK : 4hrs to overnight

Soaking in bleach solution kills yeast and mold spores, increases germination by softening hard shell, reduces fermentation activity in the system.

Why bleach? It’s cheap!

The Process:

Day 1 – Spread to Tray

This is when the system chores get done:

1) Drain seed from soak bucket and spread in tray 2) Check tray connections 3) Run system to assure smooth flooding and draining 4) Check and change water reservoir as needed (trials only) 5) Go Rinse and Soak more seed The Process:

Days 2 - 4 Within 24 hours, Barley sprouts white tips Root Hairs start forming next and reach downward The Process:

Days 4-5

Growth of barley shoots begin

Now things speed up!

A little bit of light helps to “green up” the sprouts

The Process:

Days 6-9

Growth!

The Process

Harvest! Detach Tray from system Remove Mat Clean Tray and Refill with Soaked seed Challenges • Not a summer time without climate controlled environment (reduced mat and molds) • Barley ferments! Foamy Water and Yeasty smells. • This is not a sign of something going bad, only something that occurs naturally, thus beer making! • It does impact production • Water changes are necessary for reservoir systems • The Bleach soak really keeps this down. Production Notes

• Current Flood and Drain Trays measure 13” wide x 40” long x 3” deep • 6 lbs of seed will fill tray between ¼ - ½ inch deep • Each tray turns 6 lbs of seed into 24-27lbs of fodder • Production is impacted by water quality, grain quality, germination rates, fermentation • Poor fodder mats and ungerminated seed still get eaten, nothing wasted unless there’s a mold problem, you are just not getting the max weight gain (big difference w/summer vs. winter growing) Nutritional Analysis Done with early trials - No water additives

18.59% protein - High Low in nitrates – very good Low levels of minerals in dry analysis

Vitamins were not tested in this analysis But other studies show : mg/kg DM Barley Barley GRAIN GRASS Vitamin-E 7.4 62.4

Beta- 4.1 42.7 Carotene Biotin 0.16 1.15 Free Folic 0.12 1.05 Acid Commonly claimed benefits

When barley is sprouted, it releases many vitamins and minerals as well as converting hard to digest starches in easily digestible proteins.

Some of the benefits include:

• Water use reduction and conservation compared to field irrigation • Reduction in overall daily feed costs. • Significant reduction in feed waste - the entire root mass is consumed with the grass • Increased nutritional value in the feed • High yield in a very small area • High digestibility • Vitamins & mineral saturation • Phytic acid reduction for pH normalization • Enzymatic activity increase • Increases in Omega 3, amino acids, natural hormones • On-demand availability of fresh green feed 365 days a year - all season access.

How much to Feed/Grow?

• From the Vet: 2% feed rate per total herd body weight, plus 1% dry hay for roughage • For our herd of 14 alpacas 2 llamas, 1500 lbs of herd weight translates into 30 lbs per day minimum, my goal becomes 2 trays over 40lbs per day. More to allow for unequal intake and waste; 50lb target. • 12lbs per day, 4380lbs per year…That’s 88 50lb bags of grain, about 4 pallets worth (if feeding year round, half that for a 6 month winter feed program) • 4380lbs @$.16 lb = $700 year supply grain costs ($.18 = $788, $.20 = $876) And do they eat it? From Trials to Production - Dedicated Fodder Room in , climate controlled - Tripled daily output (3 trays daily, 75lbs, 30 trays total) - Footprint: 7’w x 6’d x 6’h - Fresh water vs. Reservoir - No plumbing to detach from trays. - Trial through the Winter: measure hay usage, staple length, and fleece harvest weights (in June) - (LED holiday light strings still to come for each shelf) www.PacaPride.com Twitter - @PacaPride www.facebook.com/PacaPride www.PacaPride.wordpress.com www.YouTube.com/dabudsta