Anyone here know about barley fodder for horses?

Absent Minded Farmer · Sep 4, 2012

I took a load of hay down to the horse farm, today. They were all giddy with some concept of growing barley hydroponicly & feeding it to their horses. Supposed to be a big deal in Austrailia. Is there anything to this or just some kind of fad? I guess I don't mind helping out with the setup, provided I'm not helping myself out of buisness. So, if anyone here could impart some knowledge, I'd apprciate it.

Thanks,
Mike

GeneMO · Sep 4, 2012

Tell the hippies to grow all the hydrophonic barley they want. Then when their horses are starving you will have forage to sell them. (At twice the normal price)

Gene

Absent Minded Farmer · Sep 4, 2012

The thought has crossed my mind. I really can't see the barley as being sustainable or feasable financially. Not sure how the nutrients stack up against my pasture mix, either. For what little I've read about it, it seems awful labor intensive just to save a couple bucks.

Mike

JDseller · Sep 4, 2012

This is the latest "fad" on the organic/tree huggers wish list. They think that growing everything hydroponically will reduce the need for farm land. They have been writing about it for 40 years.

If you go on line there are several articles on it. The cost right now is about four times what the cost of dry hay would be.

Anonymous-0 · Sep 5, 2012

Have no idea what hydroponically means or exactly what they want to do with the barley grain, but I got a few round bales of barley straw and put up about 200 small ones to mix with hay for the gelding and empty mares to keep their weight in control without cutting quantity..... They are crazy about it and the gelding gains weight on just the straw (quit giving him hay because he wastes it now)...... Oat straw is just about better than some hay........

However..... Folks we know put out round bales free choice and several horses gorged themselves on it and coliced.... Guess they didn't drink enough....

keh · Sep 5, 2012

They have been talking about growing things hydrophonicaly for a lot more than 40 years. Never heard it applied to small grains, unless you count growing rice in paddies. Part of the reason for rice growing in water is to control weeds, as well as to increase production.

KEH

Nancy Howell · Sep 5, 2012

Hydroponics is growing plants in a liquid nutrient solution rather than in soil.

Mike (WA) · Sep 5, 2012

I remember seeing a hydroponic setup on display at the local auction barn when I was a kid- probably around 1957 or so. Oats or barley- grown in water and nutrients until it was about 6 inches tall, then "harvested" and fed to cattle. Harvesting was lifting the mesh basket out of the water and draining for a few minutes, then feeding so much to each cow. Pour some more seed in the basket, adjust the water level, test and add nutrients as needed.

Facilities required for even the average 30 cow dairy of those days was way too expensive, and too labor intensive. I remember dad inquiring about cost for our size dairy, then telling the guy "That's more than I paid for the farm."

Anonymous-0 · Sep 5, 2012

(quoted from post at 06:27:53 09/05/12) Hydroponics is growing plants in a liquid nutrient solution rather than in soil.

Thanks....... I's a little less ignant now :roll:

Sid · Sep 5, 2012

Dave you are to be commended for the effort you took to cure your ingnorance. I am proud of you for not trying to cover it up as some posters on this topic seem to have done.

Absent Minded Farmer · Sep 5, 2012

That is indeed the setup they're talking about. Seems rather spendy & quite labor intensive. Out of six web sites visited so far, five have touted this idea as a "totally new concept". It reminds me of the auto industry selling the idea of crew cabs as being a modern concept in the '90s.

Mike

Absent Minded Farmer · Sep 5, 2012

Horses..... eat straw?? Didn't know there was anything good leftover in the stem after the grain goes to seed. Learn somethin' new every day, I guess.

Did you have any luck with Weasler? I'm kind of curious about their prices. The shaft on my spreader is getting tired & I'm wondering if I should go new or new old stock. Every once & a while, a NOS part may not have had it's price updated in a while. At least that's the case when dealing with the Parts Depot. You should see if there's a version of the Parts Depot over there in Germany. It could be a great help to you if there is such a thing. I would ask at a CaseIH or Deere dealership, seein's how those were the two companies that masterminded the Depot, here, in the States.

Mike

Anonymous-0 · Sep 5, 2012

Good on the shaft...... Gave up the hairbrained idea of the interchangeable joint and just replaced the tubes and center disc on what I have (like new now)..... Neighbor kid took it to work and put together the safety covers. Baled up the last few bales today and cleaned everything. Lube and a onceover in the morning and put it under roof til next year.....

Absent Minded Farmer · Sep 5, 2012

Yep, cost is the big thing. They say they can get a reefer trailer, cheap & should be able to go to Fleet & through Farmtek for the hydroponic setup. That's about $6k out the window, already. Never mind the copious amounts of fuel, seed, stuff to treat the seed because it gets some nasy mold or fungus if you don't, nutrents, minerals & water or a water filtration setup. All of that being continuous, mind you.

I've done my homework on what it's going to take to get them a gorgeous pasture, identical to mine. From plow to bale, fuel, seed, etc., they're looking at $5k - $5.5k. Provided their inventory of horses does not change much, the field will have payed for itself in 4 - 5 years. Not too shabby, in my opinion.

Mike

Absent Minded Farmer · Sep 5, 2012

Ja, I know about hairbrained ideas. Always best to follow the path of least resistance. ;v)

Speaking of balers, whatever happened to Mengele? Three or four years ago there was a web page, but seems to have up & dissapeared into skinny air. I was hoping to score some literature on those sharp-looking blue balers they have or had. They also had cigarette lighters listed on their webpage listed under gifts & such. They weren't Zippo's either. Just a cheap, plastic lighter. Funny, that's how I remembered there was a web page, the cheap lighters.

Mike

Absent Minded Farmer · Sep 5, 2012

Mike (WA) has it. It's grown in water until it reaches 6" tall, pull it out of the tray & feed it. After doing a bit more research this morning, I've come to find the idea to be expensive & tedious. Faaaaaaaaaaaaar from what any of the web sites promote it as. Typical.

Mike

36 Coupe · Sep 5, 2012

Bedded a box stall with rye straw. We were chopping it for hen house litter.The horse ate all the straw.She was on good pasture.

Absent Minded Farmer · Sep 5, 2012

Wow! It must be some good stuff. I wonder what the horse thought after she realised she'd just eaten her bed?

Mike

Anyone here know about barley fodder for horses?

Absent Minded Farmer

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GeneMO

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JDseller

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keh

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Absent Minded Farmer

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