Progress report for FNC24-1428
Project Information
Harry Cope
Harry is a 4th generation farmer and is the owner of Cope Grass Farms LLC. Cope Grass Farms is a regenerative livestock farm located in Truxton MO and has been following sustainable practices since the early 2000’s, with one of the newest practices added includes feeding micro greens fodder to the livestock. Cope Grass Farm currently raises beef, pork, lamb and various poultry that are sold directly to the consumer. In addition to livestock, Harry is an advocate for soil health and emphasizes the importance of planting native grass mixes for his pasture. These grasses are not just vital to soil health, it is a focal point for wildlife habitat to thrive and improve. Because of his dedication to sustainability and soil health, Harry was the recipient for the 2023 Missouri Leopold Conservation Award. The project will be built and shipped to his site in Truxton, where the automation portion of the research will be conducted.
Josh Payne
Josh is a regenerative farmer located in Concordia, MO. Payne Farms/Rusted Plowshare is a diversified farm that is not afraid of a challenge or trying something new: including being the first among his like minded colleagues to take the step to feed micro greens fodder to his livestock. On his farm, Josh currently raises grass fed grass finished beef, lamb and chicken. Alongside his livestock, Josh and his family grow chestnuts on their farm and host community events on his farm in order for consumers to understand food can be grown regeneratively and has a place at their table. Josh is planning to test this project on his livestock as well.
Several SARE projects have researched the nutritional effectiveness of feeding sprouted winter cereals to livestock, including a major university study by Utah State that is ongoing. Many of these have demonstrated comparable or improved animal performance on BSF with significant sustainable benefits but the labor involved with current systems has proved costly or too much for a one family farm to consistently handle. A common thread of the research can be summed up by the authors of FNC 12-881: “Although the system yields a very effective product, the labor was difficult for us to maintain throughout the week. With more efficiencies the labor might be reduced but the requirement of daily inputs would still remain.”
Currently, both Harry Cope and Josh Payne have produced 1000 lbs per day of BSF with a hand harvested hydroponic system for the past two years, daily producing BSF to be fed on pasture to meat producing livestock (primarily sheep and cattle), and have experienced the daily grind of fodder production. While there are fully automated systems on the marketplace, they are expensive, require major infrastructure investments, and highly specialized, which would make it hard for farmers to be able to repair on their own.
Harry Cope and Josh Payne have conceptually designed a fully automated hydroponic grow system that should reduce labor, and therefore BSF production costs, significantly. The new system is designed by farmers, for farmers using readily available parts and technology with which farmers have experience. It can be installed either in an existing building or placed in a used refrigerated semi-trailer, so it can be portable, and even leasable, thus making this sustainable feed source available to producers large and small alike.
Essentially, the design involves a multi-level manure spreader apron built
with existing apron chains and drive systems available from a major manufacturer. The frame will be constructed out of aluminum by a local machine shop and designed to fit in a used refrigerator trailer, which is readily available nationwide due to the shipping industry. Seed will be automatically dispersed using a renovated grain drill seed box and spread using the electric / hydraulic driven manure spreader apron. Harry and Josh will use their existing lighting and water distribution systems, along with a pool sand filter and a mounted plastic water tank, to clean and recycle water on site, further reducing water needs. Solar panels can be included at a later date to further enhance the sustainability of the project.
On day six of the grow cycle, a switch will be triggered to engage the desired manure spreader apron, and the BSF will be rolled out of the system into a highly customizable chute which can be adapted to fit the equipment of pretty much any farm. This machine should allow the producer to produce up to 2000 lbs of BSF per day while drastically reducing labor costs.
Since multiple SARE grants have tested the nutritional viability, we will primarily focus our research on the labor saving components of this project. Once the machine is running, we will do multiple quality control BSF forage analyses through Dairy One to ensure consistency with previous trials, but this will be a sub-section of research. Instead, we will continue running our existing, manual systems and research labor inputs per lb of BSF to provide a baseline cost. This includes handling seed in a variety of ways farmers might experience it - 50 lb cleaned sacks and bulk tote bags (appx 2000 lbs), spreading seed, daily washing trays to prevent mold, and carrying trays to dump in a feed delivery method.
Once the machine is constructed, we will chart the same time requirements using the automated system, both for the machine and the human running the machine, thus providing a meaningful comparison to the hand harvest system already in place.
Objectives:
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- Maintain hand-harvest production of BSF
- Construct automated BSF production machine
- Evaluate the benefit of this machine to the farm.
- Evaluate the daily costs of feeding livestock with this machine.
- Share findings via a field day/demonstrations.
Cooperators
- - Producer
Research
The machine shop that was supposed to build our machine - the guy tore his rotator cup and was out for surgery. This year, April-May he built the structure in April and automated it in May. As of June 3, 2025, we have it built, installed in a trailer, and it’s ready to start running fodder as soon as we move it in position at Harry’s farm. Everything went according to plan. We went back and forth on what to use for the belt: normal conveyor belt or what, but we went with a bailer belt. We slightly modified the seed delivery system, but basically we just made it simpler.
The main machine and delivery system is created now – which means it’s time for tinkering. We’ll be tinkering with the sprinkler system and delivery system and more.
We have good numbers on the labor it takes to produce X pounds of fodder in both Harry and Josh’s manual systems. The good thing is that he’s going to have to continue making hand fodder for a while. Once the new system is running, we’ll have a really good side by side comparison of cost to produce the fodder in the same conditions.
Educational & Outreach Activities
Participation Summary:
No outreach activities yet. When we have the field day, we'll have a really nice side-by-side comparison that people can see for themselves. We’ll still be making fodder the old way and the new way, so people will be able to see both.