What is fodder? It’s simply a great source of food for your life stock. It’s usually sprouted from grains and fairly easy to grow your own at home.
I feed mine to my chickens and my goats. They love it. It’s great to grow for when it’s cold and they can have fresh green grass. It’s also full of protein.
Here is my method and how I do it.
You can use wheat berries or barley.
What you need:
• 2″ deep planting trays or tinfoil pans
• bulk bag of untreated, red wheat or barley.
• bucket or a big bowl
• a rack or shelf to keep the seeds on
Instructions:
• soak the desired amount of seeds in a bucket or large bowl for 12-24 hours.
• strain the seeds and line the trays with the soaked seeds (no more than 1/2″ deep to avoid mold.)
• water the seeds 2-3 times a day. Do not leave standing water in the tray. Just leave enough for growth, standing water will create mold.
• keep watering for 7-9 days. the seeds will start to form a mat of roots and become easier to water, and strain. You will have almost 5-6 inches of grass by day 9.
• harvest! You will have a whole tray of fresh protein packed grass for your animals. It’s easy to cut into small pieces for small animals like chickens and rabbits, or break up for the goats.
They can eat the whole mat of grass, seeds and roots.
In order to keep a good cycle of fodder going for you animals it’s best to start a new batch of seeds every 1-2 days, depending on how many you’re feeding.
This Little Farmhouse 
Can you feed this to bunnies? I have goats, ducks and chickens that would love this, but also have bunnies………thanks.
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You’d sure can. It’s great for bunnies. Barley fodder is what I think is best for rabbits. They will most likely eat the greens, and some of the root mat. It’s highly digestible and is full of nutrients. Like any new feed I would just introduce slowly. A 50 pound bag of barley will give you about 200 pounds of fodder. It’s a great way to save on feed, plus it’s natural and organic. We sell small kits you can start with. If you’re at all interested you can email me at thislittlefarmhouse@gmail.com
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Thank you for this information. I was thinking about trying this. But reading how easy it is ,to do. I know I can do it. Thank you.
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Excellent guide! Thank you.
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Are the trays kept out side full sun part sun or inside filtered light? Thanks
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I just keep mine on a little rack in the laundry room by a small window. You do not need a lot of light just for it to sprout. It’s really simple if you’re just doing small amounts indoors. :). Hope that helps. I think I need to make a more detailed post. I didn’t expect so many people to be interested. 🙂
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So do you just water the seeds to keep them damp then dump out the excess water right away? Also is this your sole source of feed for the chickens.
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Yes. I do not leave them sitting in water after the first 24 hour soak, they will start to mild if you do. It’s easiest just to spritz them with a sprayer and keep them damp. No I still feed a mid of scratch and pellets. This will replace hay for goats though if you have goats.
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