Hydroponic Fodder in an Organic Pastured Poultry System: Can feed costs be reduced?

2013 Annual Report for FNC13-902

Project Type: Farmer/Rancher
Funds awarded in 2013: $7,500.00
Projected End Date: 12/31/2014
Region: North Central
State: Indiana
Project Coordinator:
Lisa Burke
Farming Engineers LLC

Hydroponic Fodder in an Organic Pastured Poultry System: Can feed costs be reduced?

Summary

2013 Results Overview
  • Laying hen results were equivocal due to excessive predation
  • Broiler results show some promise
  • Completely eliminating bagged feed is unlikely
  • In year 2, we hope to determine if the feed costs are reduced enough to offset the labor of fodder production.

 

Objectives/Performance Targets

Fodder production, Layer & Broiler specifics

Sprouting the fodder: There is a bit of a learning curve for producing fodder.  Our sprouter is located in a greenhouse.  A fan comes on when it’s over 85 degrees F, but we have no way to keep the temperature down on hot summer days.  Fodder grow out is definitely worse when it’s hot.  The water valves on the sprouter we bought turned out not to be ordinary “left = on, right = off,” and there was a learning curve associated with making sure the water was actually on when we thought it was.  We didn’t have any trouble with cold weather fodder production, although we move our production indoors when it’s below freezing.

Layer experiments

We started out with approximately 150 total hens.  They were divided into two groups of about 75 birds each in March when the weather was suitable for putting them on pasture. Mobile roosting houses were used (see attached photos) for each group.  Each group was surrounded by 180′ of electrified poultry net.  The roosts were moved daily and the whole fence was moved about once a week, either when the birds were all eating, or at sunset when the birds were roosting.  We put the groups on opposite ends of a 5-acre pasture in order to minimize migration between flocks.  This was fairly effective; we didn’t often see birds outside of the fence.

Layer experiment A: The fodder flock produced fewer eggs than the non-fodder flock.  We switched the flocks after 12 weeks to see if fodder was causing the difference in production.  This did not appear to be the case — the relative production per flock didn’t really change.  The laying hens consumed the fodder readily regardless of how it looked coming out of the sprouter. 

One confounding factor in spring 2013 was that abundant spring moisture produced extremely lush pasture grass.  This abundant grass likely filled some of the same nutritional niche as fodder.  The grass became very tall before it was dry enough to cut for hay.  

We knew we were losing some hens to predators because our egg numbers were dropping, but the extremity of the problem was not apparent until after the grass was cut.  We combined the flocks (only ~36 hens were left by this point, out of 180) and made further efforts to predator-proof their nighttime housing.   Various efforts were made to eliminate our predator, a coyote (or maybe a herd of them!). We didn’t feel that we’d get meaningful data with less than 20 birds per flock, so we suspended the laying hen portion of this experiment until January 2014, when the next batch of layers will start laying.  Depending on our results in 2014, we may apply for an extension to get another year of laying hen data.

We had been less vigilant than in other years about making sure our nighttime roosts were predator-proof.  We thought the electric fence was going to be enough.  After our catastrophic loss, we made several improvements to the nighttime roost (more chicken wire, better doors, no gaps allowing the birds to escape before dawn) and they seemed to work.

Broiler Experiments

We raise broilers in groups of 125.  Generally, we have three Salatin-style pens.  We put approximately 45 birds in each of our larger pens and about 35 in the smaller pen.  To keep the experimental flocks comparable, we fed fodder to one of the 45-bird pens for each of our 3 experiments this summer.

Broiler Batch 1:  We fed some barley fodder to one group with our homemade sprouter.  The grant money didn’t arrive early enough to buy the sprouter, so we couldn’t produce enough fodder for this batch.

Broiler Batch 2:  We determined that a 100% barley fodder diet was not feasible, and that broilers would not necessarily eat all the barley fodder provided even when they were clearly hungry. Birds that would not eat much fodder at week 4 of age did eat more of it by week 6 – 7.  The fodder and non-fodder groups all weighed about the same at the end of this batch. 

Broiler Batch 3:  We added pea shoots to the barley fodder rations, and sprinkled bagged feed over the fodder each day to entice the broilers to eat the fodder.  They consumed the fodder more thoroughly as they got larger.  The fodder group ate 20% less bagged feed and dressed out to 7% lower weight than the bagged feed groups.  

In batch 3, we were able to show that fodder can reduce the amount of bagged feed consumed in broilers. 

Accomplishments/Milestones

Goals for 2014
  • In 2014 we hope to get more meaningful laying hen results. We are considering different housing on the pasture, or getting a guard llama.
  • In 2014 we will continue to refine our broiler system to see if we can further reduce the bagged feed consumption.

Collaborators:

Matt Burke

burkefarm@gmail.com
Owner
Farming Engineers LLC
3394 S CR 1380 E
Kirklin, IN 46050
Office Phone: 3178365061
Jeremiah Herin

Farmhand
6280 E CR 100 N
Frankfort, IN 46041
Ryon Herin

Farmhand
6280 E CR 100 N
Frankfort, IN 46041
Lisa Burke

burkefarm@gmail.com
Owner
Farming Engineers LLC
3394 S CR 1380 E
Kirklin, IN 46050
Office Phone: 3178365061