# Hydroponics Fodder for horses?



## horseluvr2524 (Sep 17, 2013)

The following article states one of my concerns-sugar content. Fodder is fresh sprouts, so just like spring grass it is very high in sugar.

Is Hydroponic Feed in Your Horse's Future? | TheHorse.com


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## gottatrot (Jan 9, 2011)

I've read up on it a little bit because of a friend that was interested in it. She wanted to feed her horse this way, but it seemed like you'd have to spend a lot of money and do a lot of work for very little product. I don't see how you could actually feed an animal this way, and have twenty pounds of feed stuff or more daily ready to go. It seems like that would require so much space and continuous rotation of growing product. The article says 2 lbs of seeds means 15 lbs of product. So feeding it to a horse daily...you'd have to have 2 lbs of seeds a day? Just from buying other seed such as grass seed that sounds very expensive.
Then also there is that concern as you mentioned about how high in sugars this fresh, green stuff would be. 
Possibly it could be for snacks? Or a grain substitute? But again, lots of work.


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## Yogiwick (Sep 30, 2013)

All I can think is isn't that just about 2 bites worth? So plant something care for it and wait x amount of time then have your horse eat it in 20 seconds? I'll pass.


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## Left Hand Percherons (Feb 1, 2011)

There is alot of smoke and mirrors in the promotion of fodder. At the end of the day, that 15# biscuit is only 2# dry weight calories. 2# of anything doesn't qualify as a snack for any horse. They promote that the average horse can thrive on 2 biscuits a day. Could your horse survive on 4# of anything a day? Horses on green pasture consume more than 100# of grass. How can they not require a similar amount of fodder as they are both mostly water? The other part that no one brings up is the water. 100's of gallons of water is used to produce the fodder. Water is viewed as free and plentiful . Not in my world.
Obviously, I have never tried it but a friend's mare was. She was hysterical after being on it for 2 days. The owner started supplying additional hay and moved her as soon as she could.


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## Foxhunter (Feb 5, 2012)

Several racehorse trainers tried it for a couple of years. It made a change for the horses and was fed as an extra rather than an actual feed. Mostly it was barley they grew as it was faster. 

I don't think anyone kept it going after trailing it.


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## QtrBel (May 31, 2012)

I've sprouted several types of grain for myself when I make sprouted grain breads. I've done wheat grass for juices when that was a big part of my diet. Mostly though I do this for the chickens. The dogs and cats enjoy having it to snack on but for horses. No. Too much water, too much time, too much effort for too little return.


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## KLJcowgirl (Oct 13, 2015)

Subbing! I've been wondering about this.

Good info so far


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## Yogiwick (Sep 30, 2013)

Left Hand Percherons said:


> There is alot of smoke and mirrors in the promotion of fodder. At the end of the day, that 15# biscuit is only 2# dry weight calories. 2# of anything doesn't qualify as a snack for any horse. They promote that the average horse can thrive on 2 biscuits a day. Could your horse survive on 4# of anything a day? Horses on green pasture consume more than 100# of grass. How can they not require a similar amount of fodder as they are both mostly water? The other part that no one brings up is the water. 100's of gallons of water is used to produce the fodder. Water is viewed as free and plentiful . Not in my world.
> Obviously, I have never tried it but a friend's mare was. She was hysterical after being on it for 2 days. The owner started supplying additional hay and moved her as soon as she could.


Interesting.

Even IF it met nutritional requirements as we know the horses gut is designed to be eating constantly. There's no way to split that up where it would be more than maybe one meal a day.

I think as a supplement as Foxhunter said, for something rich (worthwhile nutritionally) and hard to get, it may be an option. Like alfalfa around here. I still think $30 for a dense bale of alfalfa would be more worthwhile. Or pellets are cheaper though they do require slight prep.

It's like melting snow for water as opposed to turning on the working faucet  The concept is interesting, just unsure about application.


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## waresbear (Jun 18, 2011)

That seems like a huge amount of work and cost for the little fodder it produces.


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## horseluvr2524 (Sep 17, 2013)

Yogiwick said:


> Interesting.
> 
> Even IF it met nutritional requirements as we know the horses gut is designed to be eating constantly. There's no way to split that up where it would be more than maybe one meal a day.
> 
> ...


I agree. I don't think it could ever provide enough to feed a horse satisfactorily AND provide enough nutrition. But as a supplement, or even just a treat... its interesting, like I said.

However, there's no way in heck I would dump thousands or even hundreds into a system. I'm a DIYer, so I'd probably just sprout and grow my own, possibly in traditional old soil, rather than hydroponics.


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## jaydee (May 10, 2012)

I knew someone in the UK that had a system and used it for years to feed all of the horses on the livery yard (boarding barn) he owned (still owns) as a hay replacement. I don't know if he still does, we did have a member here at one time that keeps her horse with him but I never thought to ask about it. We did buy some off him for a mare we bought that was in really poor condition and wouldn't eat hay and as it was winter we had little to no grass but she was happy to eat that
They still sell the units so someone must be buying them but I'm not sure how much feeding haylage in the UK took over from a bigger rise in units like this because that took away some of the pressure of trying to make hay in such unpredictable weather but when you're looking at any area that's got a shrinking agricultural landscape or totally unsuited to growing grass then it would have some advantages over shipping in expensive hay from other parts
I know one of our members FlyGap was growing small amounts as a sort of trial thing a while ago
This is a 2012 BBC Countryfile film that's quite informative


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## Celeste (Jul 3, 2011)

The only hydroponically grown greenery that seems as if it would be profitable is not legal to grow in the state of Georgia.


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## QtrBel (May 31, 2012)

It just wouldn't be cost effective for most because the start up is so high, unless you were in an area where access to pasture was non existent and hauling in was also cost prohibitive. The basic system to support my herd would be $10,000 plus for the hydroponic equipment (without shipping) then in order to keep the growing conditions met I would need a greenhouse with a heating and cooling system that would need energy to run as well as maintenance. I'd be looking at $30 a day for seed again no shipping cost figured in. The system also comes with a recommendation that you feed 1% body weight in dry matter added to the fodder to keep the gut moving things along so you're still needing access to some type of hay. I will say if I had access to a lab and horses kept in confinement with high nutritional needs to support them as athletes and a healthy bank account because they paid their way I would consider it and do performance studies.


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## Yogiwick (Sep 30, 2013)

I didn't know this:
"The system also comes with a recommendation that you feed 1% body weight in dry matter added to the fodder to keep the gut moving things along so you're still needing access to some type of hay."

Basically what that says to me is that the product does not meet the dietary needs of horses. So I will stick with what meets the dietary needs of my horse!


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## RJHAMPTONJR (May 10, 2017)

*Devil in the Details*

The mathematics and science of feeding fodder is completely misunderstood and indeed wrongly explained in the negative by many individuals with fancy degrees. I do not pretend to have all the answers but I will share some variables which are worth considering. 

1. You do not feed 100% Hydroponic Fodder. There is not enough roughage. Feeding ratios vary depending on Hay quality, availability, price and traditional supplementing programs. If you only have lower quality grass hay available in your area, then the benefits of Supplemental hydroponic fodder are far greater than if you live in an area with low cost Irrigated Alfalfa. 

2. The benefit of Hydroponic fodder is beyond the nutrients in the fodder itself. If you feed fodder with dry hay the moisture of the fodder increases the bioavailability of the nutrients in the dry hay that was fed along side it. The wet sprouted grains also increase its bioavailability due to the moisture content. 

3. Scientific types get stuck on a ration of dry mater versus dry matter. This is a fallacy which is designed to show hydroponic fodder as unfeasible. They additionally describe the process as a 100% percent replacement. First, while dry matter is a concern as the horses gut needs a certain volume of roughage through there system to keep things moving, with replacement feed programs of 33% dry hay and 66% Wet Fodder there is plenty of roughage to keep things moving. When you get stuck on the notion of dry matter and hydroponic fodder as a 100% replacement value it is obviously not going to math out. 20 lbs of hydroponic fodder has 3 pounds of dry matter whereas 20 pounds of alfalfa has 18 pounds of dry matter. 

4. Water usage has been completely taken out of context. Most real systems are close loop and the only water of note lost is during the grain soaking stage. 

5. Energy cost is only a concern in cold or hot climates. the goal is to maintain a growing temperature of 60-70 degrees with the lower end being preferable. The warmer you get you run into mold and spoilage concerns.

6. Protein uptake is a huge part of the Hydroponic Fodder equation. An easy way to factor this is by drawing a parallel between the protein content of the dry matter of hay and of the dry matter used to produce the wet fodder. In very simplistic terms, 3 pounds of dry grain once sprouted is equivalent upwards of 10 pounds basic dry land grass hay. 

7. Grain cost is another way the individuals down talk the viability of sprouted fodder. Once you move the math from 50 pound bag pricing to per ton pricing you will see a drastic mathematical improvement. A ton of Barley at 50 pound bag pricing from the feed store will run you over $400. A ton of Barley from the silo cost about $140. Where pricing gets even better is when you are a grain grower and sprout your own produced grain as part of your farming operation. 

8. Time... yes it takes time to save money... you have to run the math to see if it is worth it for you and your life. Most figures on time needed are loaded heavily. It will certainly double your daily feeding time for most smaller operations. Being a wet feed also makes it more difficult to feed in cold weather. No one wants to be handling a wet sod piece of sprouted fodder in sub zero weather. You will get wet and you will get cold and your animal will question the tastiness of spout-cicles.

RJ Hampton


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## 6gun Kid (Feb 26, 2013)

@RJHAMPTONJR, As in THE R.J.Hampton, singer/songwriter/rancher?


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## QtrBel (May 31, 2012)

The devil is sorting the details and making sense of them. Ok now I can add timing out to my list of issues with this site. Lost an entire reply. Totally agree that fodder has benefit beyond just replacing your bagged feed. It is similar to a whole food diet using fresh, organic foods to feed yourself except that this would be a monoculture which isn't ideal. The availability of nutrients (phytonutrients) and range of nutrients is dramatically different when you look at more than just the additives used to bring feeds up to the RDA of what it has been determined is necessary to meet the minimum in terms of the nutrients (vits/mins) themselves. Sooo you would need to weigh in what you are getting from your bagged feed vs what you are getting from the fodder+drymatter as some form of dry matter needs to be part of the equation.

Time input for me would be the least of my concerns as I am spending time no matter how I feed. Space, initial cost, cost to run and maintenance are my biggest factors. Sure I could cut down the hypothetical cost of grain use daily by putting in a bin but first I would have to have not just the space for the bin but enough land to get the trucks in, out and maneuvered around for loading the bin. An alternative could be bulk grain storage bags as some even come with spouts but I'd have to have a rodent proof place to keep it and again room to get the truck or trailer carrying it in as well as equipment on hand to offload and store it. 

Water cost is a factor if you are not on a well and have to pay for it. Even on a well it takes energy to run and that costs. Loss of what you use to sprout is negligible compared to what you add to get the growth you need. Granted your animal now consumes it and you may lower the input for your fresh water supply but you aren't collecting the urine and processing to reuse. When I think (almost totally) closed loop I think dairy that has a well for drinking water for the animals, collects and funnels urine into a lagoon where it is used to spray the fields that are harvested to feed the same animals. 

There isn't a location that would be that ideal temp range year round 24 hours a day. You will have costs to cool/ heat or both. Then you have maintenance costs. If you had a livery as mentioned above with no turn out and the space to put a system in then it could be something that eventually pays for itself. Those that I know that fed fodder didn't have horses they were feeding. They were small farmers that were feeding their (limited number of) dairy cows or goats, sheep and chickens, producing enough to sell to other small farmers/backyard farmers to make their systems pay. Why, because they did not have the acreage to support anything but very limited turnout and were in environments that limited the days of year where pastures were actively growing and could be utilized. The only time of the year that temps were perfect to reduce costs to run the system were when pastures were green and grazeable. 

All of that to say there is no easy answer or set of circumstances that makes it a necessity.


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## QtrBel (May 31, 2012)

You would also have to look at the richness (sugars) and realize laminitis could be an issue especially if this is now going to be 66% of what your horse eats. That was meant to be included above but when the initial reply was eaten by the timed out monster I missed it when reformulating my reply.


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## RJHAMPTONJR (May 10, 2017)

A few years back during a drought I experimented heavily with sprouts during the resulting hay shortage. I made my own small scale system and fed 7 horses from spring to fall with Barley and Wheat Sprouts and various straws and low cost native grasses for fiber. I was feeding heavy on the fodder... at times beyond the 66%, My horses flourished. Laminitis from nutritional uptake, in my opinion, is going to be horse or breed specific. Could your horse experience issues? yes...just like all those disclaimers in human medications.... I certainly did not experience an issue. I was feeding old bloodline Arabians (CMK/Foundation).


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