Using Hydroponic Green Forage to Reduce Feed Costs in Natural Pork Production

2010 Annual Report for FNC09-786

Project Type: Farmer/Rancher
Funds awarded in 2009: $6,000.00
Projected End Date: 12/31/2011
Region: North Central
State: Ohio
Project Coordinator:

Using Hydroponic Green Forage to Reduce Feed Costs in Natural Pork Production

Summary

WORK ACTIVITIES
We started our project by constructing four 10-foot racks and sprouting trays. Each of the racks has 3 shelves and each shelf can hold approximately 50 to 60 lbs. of finished green forage. The design of the racks and sprouting trays are similar to those described by Hector M. Leon Gallegos in “Hydroponic Green Forage”. The design can be seen in the accompanying photos.

We ran several test batches of wheat, corn, and beans through one of the racks to confirm germination success. Unfortunately, due to the extremely wet weather during corn harvest, we could not locate a reliable source for corn that has not been dried. Our test corn did not sprout. We managed to locate a source for hydroponic wheat through the Grelton Elevator. The wheat seed has not been treated and has been screened in order to facilitate hydroponic wheatgrass production. The germination rate of this wheat was 98 percent, so we chose it for our experiment.

We started our hydroponic wheatgrass production on Oct 16, 2010, 10 days before we got our first test batch of pigs. We seeded 10 shelves with 10 pounds each. We soaked the seed overnight before seeding each tray. We seeded 1 tray per day, so by the time we got our pigs, our hydroponic feed production system was fully operational and the first batch of feed was ready.

We purchased our first batch of pigs on Oct 26, 2010 at the Kidron, Ohio livestock auction. The average purchase weight was 40 pounds and our batch size was 12 pigs. We split them in 2 groups of 6 pigs each. The pigs were inspected by the state veterinarian and certified as healthy. They also received their pneumonia vaccination and they were de-wormed before departure.

We split the 2 groups upon arrival at the farm. Our test group did not suffer any setbacks from being switched to hydroponic feed upon arrival.

As of today, 3/5/11, the first test batch of pigs is within 8 weeks of reaching ideal slaughter weight.

RESULTS
Wheatgrass hydroponic feed is easy to produce even in the winter months as it consistently sprouts and grows even as the ambient temperature is maintained around 50 degrees F. It does not require the installation of additional lightning.

The sprouting trays only require a rinse between the batches of feed and we haven’t had any problems with spoilage and /or mold, even though those are often quoted as major concerns for this type of feed production.

The hydroponic wheatgrass is extremely well received by the pigs and they continue to be enthusiastic about it. The weight gain on the hydroponically fed pigs matches the weight gain on our control group which we maintained on commercial hog feed.

The hydroponic feed definitely lives up to the promise of being cheaper to produce than commercial hog feed.

WORK PLAN
We plan to finish out our first test batch and continue our experiment with our second and third batches. This will allow us to analyze the performance of the feed against commercially available feed for the spring and summer months. We want to determine if the warmer weather will introduce a better chance for spoilage or mold contamination to occur.

We still plan to conduct a small workshop on building a small-scale hydroponic forage production system and publish the information related to the project on our website as described in our original grant proposal document.

OUTREACH
We have already held 3 small on-site demonstrations of our hydroponic feed production system. Ten people attended, with 6 of them being small-farm pig producers from the surrounding area and the other 4 interested in the system for producing pork for their own needs.

As we mentioned before, we still plan to conduct a small workshop on building a small-scale hydroponic forage production system and publish the information related to the project on our website as described in our original grant proposal document.

Objectives/Performance Targets

Accomplishments/Milestones

Impacts and Contributions/Outcomes