Feeding Fodder

Описание: Paul Johnson's fodder system and fodder feeding routine. I didn't edit it, so the whole process took 23 minutes, and that is how long the video is. I'm feeding 12 trays per day to 8 horses, so they are getting 1 1/2 trays per horse per day. In the first pasture there are 5 horses, and I put 7 1/2 trays in their feeder. In the second pasture there are 3 old retired horses, and I put 4 1/2 trays in their feeder. There has been a little bit of grass in the pastures, so I haven't been supplementing with any hay for about 2 months. You'll see some hay in the feeders because I put some hay in the feeder when I was gone for the weekend and couldn't feed them fodder, and that was still left over.

I'm feeding a little over 2 pounds of barley seeds in each tray with 1/2 cup of black oil sunflower seeds. I buy the barley at a mill in bulk, and store it in sealed metal barrels until I use it. The barrels hold a little over 300 pounds each.

I'm on an eight day growing cycle now (no pre-soaking) and I just barely had a little mold in today's batch. That's why I put another chlorine tablet in the water, but the amount of mold that is still there does not concern me.

The horses in the first pasture are either young, or performance horses (polocrosse), but since my wife keeps fly sheets on them you can't tell what condition they are in. The one in that pasture without a fly sheet is a yearling.

The horses in the second pasture are old and retired playing horses. All three of them had been noticeably poor looking before I started them on fodder. Now they are maintaining good condition.

I have a Yahoo group for may fodder experiences at http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/ho...

I just started using the washing station in the video. It's just a fiberglass bathtub/shower fixture that I had removed from a rent house. I had to cut it into 3 pieces to get it out of the bathroom. I'm using it outside now as an experiment, and it seems to be working okay, so I hope to move it into my fodder room and wash the trays in the fodder room in the future.