Fodder
http://whitewingrabbitry.weebly.com/rabbit-tidbits---blog/fodder-sprouts-bunny-salads ***
We have a simple system that is easy to build. If you are interested in using our design we have a Design PDF available. It includes how to build the system and details on how to get started with fodder. It is set to water 2x a day and that seems to keep the grains moist enough without over watering. The grain we use is a food grade wheat from the local Mennonite store (a bulk foods type store). It is non-GMO, and chemical free (just not certified "organic"). We were able to purchase a small amount to test prior to buying the bulk 50# bag. I like being able to buy "test" amounts because I have personally been "burned" buying feed (animal) grade grains for sprouting because all I could buy was 50#+ and then they didn't sprout, or didn't sprout well. They were usually cheaper than the food grade wheat, but I was "stuck" with 45# of unused grain (I don't have chickens or pigs or anything else that likes it unsprouted, just the rabbits who prefer it sprouted). You can use: wheat, barley, oats, bird seed mix, deer plot grass, just about anything that will spout into an edible plant for the rabbits (or whatever animal you are growing it for). The key is to remember the ease of sprouting, and the economy of the starter. There will be minor variations in nutritional value, but not so much that one is "off-limits" or "best". Wheat and barley are the "most common" with oats probably coming in 3rd (for those who have any luck with them). The bird seed and deer plot grass seem to be more experimental from what I've seen. Prior to using the auto-watering system with our wheat we were getting pretty much 100% sprout. Since switching the sprout rate has dropped to about 95%, but that is still pretty good in comparison to what I got on the feed grains (50% at best), and the auto-watering system saves me at least 2 hours a day. |
Day 0 - Dry wheat is set to soak. Initial soaking time has not seemed to have a huge affect on the finished product. We recommend soaking for at least 30 min, but they can be left 8-12 hours with no real affect on the sprouting. We generally soak 2-4 hours, whenever we get back around to draining them. We rinse again (soak for 2-5min) before bed, and again in the morning before putting them in the tray. |
| Day 6 - Grass should be thickening nicely, and even strong enough to lift up and inspect the root mat. Prior to this if you want to inspect the mat be careful or breaking the grass. |
| Day 7 - Grass is ready to harvest. It should be at the beginning of its "soft" grass stage. Cutting it up now you will get the "grass" smell, cutting prior would usually give me a "cucumber"-like smell, both are still pretty sweet smelling. How you cut it is up to you: single serving or chopped for "salad". We chop. |
Always remember that growing conditions vary. I'm in central Virginia, and my house isn't really going above 65*F right now. Increasing the temperature will help it grow faster, but will increase your chances for mold. Consistent rinsing helps prevent mold, but also too much moisture can invite mold as well.... It is a balancing act that will vary slightly with locations.
"Bunny Salads"
The fiber/roughage is gained from the hay, of which you have several options. You can do regular hay (recommend in a hay rack), chopped hay, hay cubes, or hay pellets. I've done them all, and I'm loving the chopped hay mixed in. The straight hay I always worried if they got enough, same with straight feeding of any of them. The cubes fed straight some played with, most eventually got peed on, but it gave them something to chew and play with. I crushed/broke them up for a while and that worked nicely, but was time consuming and did a number on my hands (even with pre-breaking with a hammer). The pellets were nice because I could scoop them and knew exactly how much I was giving.... but my rabbits didn't really like them (seems a lot of people had that issue on the forums). The chopped hay has been the easiest because I can mix it and the rabbits eat it.
The minerals/salts there are a few options, you have wheels, big blocks you can break hunks off, the Himalayan rock salts (same as the big livestock blocks), and then I've seen bags of it (for horses and other livestock, but that's the same with the big blocks). I have switched to the bagged loose minerals and everything is working great.