Fodder Part 1

The cattle are eating everything much faster than we thought they would and had read that they would.  So far every pasture we have put them in is cleaned out in 1-2 weeks AND pasture rotation doesn’t work if new grass has not grown in the pasture that is resting.  I imagine rainfall has a lot to do with how many acres a cow need to live, and our lack of rainfall = no grass growth so we would need more acres per cattle.  Bummer!  I have been searching for a way to feed our cattle and sheep and not have a $350 or more feed bill per month. 

In my internet searches and looking through farming catalogs I keep reading about fodder systems.  They are expensive but seem to be a great way to give the animals the nutrition they need.  Then we started looking into making our own fodder system.  Quartz Ridge Ranch  http://quartzridgeranch.wordpress.com/2012/12/08/our-daily-fodder-routine/ has done an incredible job of showing how they made their fodder system.  Darling Husband and I decided to put shelves next to his shop that way they would be easy to cover if we decide we need to but temporarily we can just protect the area with a tarp.  We ordered trays to put the seeds in.  Then we started searching for Barley Seed.  Our local stores didn’t carry any but I could order it.  In internet stores many were out, many who had barley seeds at reasonable prices it wanted to charge insane amounts for shipping, others had the seed but higher prices than I wanted to pay.  I spent hours searching then I thought to put California in the search for barley seed. WALLAAAAA! On the top of the second page I searched was an organic seed company near my husband’s work!