Case Studies
Shed Grown Stock Feed
Feb 2007 - From Brian Trevena, Benella Vic
Brian Trevena has doubled
his barley stock feed
production using
Excel-Crop
in his hydroponic shed.
I thought I would write and let you know how things are going with the Excel-Crop for hydroponically grown stock feed in the shed.
We have been using Excel-Crop in the shed for about a year now and are very happy with the results.
It has been a steep learning curve as to application rates. I use an all purpose 6 litre garden sprayer to apply Excel-Crop onto the barley at least two times over an eight day cycle. Before we used Excel-Crop the trays would weigh about two kilos now after using Excel-Crop our trays weigh around about four kilos.
At the rate I am applying it, 50 mls per day, 20 litres will last 400 days. Each tray receives about 20 mls mix every time the mix is applied.
From our 6 x 12 meter shed we are producing one tonne of quality green barley fodder and feeding it out every day.
How It's Done
We use Excel-crop to grow Barley Grass in a Hydroponic Green House ,for
cattle. The Barley is soaked in water with Excel-Crop added to the water. After a few
hours of soaking ,the water is drained off and the seed is placed in trays ,where it is left
to grow for 7 to 8 days.
Excel-crop is added about every 3 to 4 days, to feed the Barley as it grows .Although it has not been proven scientifically, Excel-Crop also offers the bonus of stopping most mould which is a problem for hydroponic grown fodder. I think that the natural fish oil in Excel-crop is controlling most of the mould. We have used other products and all are not as good, unless you treat the water with some sort of Chemicals. With Excel-Crop we do not treat our water at all. For us the change to Excel-crop has been very good. In the past
.
Hydroponics Cont….
we had to keep the water heated to ensure the chemical plant food stayed in solution so we are now saving money on heating and on the nutrient.
The cost of Excel-Crop compared to other products is far cheaper
How Much Green Feed Can you Produce A Day
Barley Grass is a high quality feed for our Cattle, which we can grow all year round. We mainly grow our feed from April to September and if needed during the summer. It means we can buy new cattle stock at a moments notice with out thinking about being short of feed, as a result our beef operation is very flexible.
We use about 1200 litres of water per day and about 110 kilos of grain a day to produce one tonne of green feed daily. The work load is about 3 to 4 hours a day for one person, including feeding stock daily. Over all it's not a bad system and we recycle the water with a saving of around 50%.
With a hay supplement 100 cattle can be fed with 1 tonne a day hydroponic production from a single small shed.
If you would like to discuss growing shed fodder Brian is happy to talk to you. Please call us and we will give you his contact number.
Regards Brian Trevena
Benella