Sprouting grains for my herd and flocks

I'm often asked what I feed my critters.  I don't buy bagged feed mixes.  I don't have to worry about recalls.  I don't feed soy, which is in most mixes.  So just what DO I feed the goats and the poultry?

The goats get hay all winter and any appropriate fruit and veggie trim from our kitchen.  In season, when they look sadly at their empty hay racks and hay bags, I simply point to the pasture, hand on hip, and tell them to "Get out there and free-range because it is FREE!"

But chickens and ducks need grain and dairy goats in milk need something extra, too, so I supplement with a small amount of sprouted grains.  Sprouting increases the bio-availability of many of the nutrients in the grains, including the proteins.  It also neutralizes the phytates, sprouting inhibitors present in all grains and seeds which also interfere with nutrient absorption, especially minerals.  Phytates can also be very irritating to the digestive tract.  Soaking and sprouting neutralizes these natural yet harmful substances.

First soak, 24 hours.

 

I use whatever small grains I can get my hands on.  I've sprouted oats, barley, and wheat, along with sunflower seeds at times.  Corn takes too long, but will benefit from a good soaking if you are so inclined.  In these pictures, I am soaking oats and a little wheat.

 

I soak in plain water, but you can speed up the process by adding a glug of live-culture whey or raw apple cider vinegar.  This is not really necessary, however, as the seeds naturally have lacto-bacilli on them and the soaking will increase their numbers dramatically.  These friendly beasties are very useful in improving digestion, another plus with this process.  If you improve nutrient bio-availability AND improve digestion, you will be getting a much bigger bang for your feed buck.

Tiny holes drilled in the bottom for drainage.

After soaking for 24 hours, (I've soaked for as little as 12 hours if I've gotten behind), the grains must be drained and rinsed.  For this, I made a rinsing bucket (I have two, actually) by drilling small holes along the bottom of a standard pail, and a few extra holes on one side.  Don't drill all around the sides of the pail or you won't be able to control where the water goes when it is draining.

Dump and rinse with fresh water.

I have a sump hole in my cellar with a pump in it for when the rain is heavy and a small stream forms in my basement.  This is a handy place to drain my grains.  I simply dump the soaking grains into the draining bucket, then rinse by filling the draining pail with fresh water about an inch over the grains.

Left to drain thoroughly.

I will feed from this pail for 2-3 days, and start a new pail before it is empty....ideally, at least two days before I need more soaked/sprouted grains.   I will feed them at the various stages in the sprouting process...no sprouts showing, tiny sprouts showing, and as in the picture below, with rootlets coming along...sometimes at the stage when I have to tear hunks of grain with tangled roots off to feed in big chunks.  This is not ideal, but it happens sometimes.

Setting up feed pans in preparation for milking the goats.

But I don't obsess about it anymore.  I just sniff the grain before measuring it out into the feed pans every morning and evening to be sure it is ok.  I look closely for mold.  Occasionally, especially with the oats it seems, there will be dormant mold spores on the grains that the water and soaking will encourage to grow.  If I catch this early, I can rinse it with water in which I've mixed a glug of white vinegar, which effectively kills the mold (only if caught early, before you see it but maybe it doesn't smell as fresh as it should).  Then I feed this as quickly as possible, being a bit more generous than usual, especially with the poultry.

Mostly, though, I marvel at the transformation over the days.  The grains will smell very fresh and....well, grainy....at first.  Then as the good bacteria proliferate, they will start to smell like yogurt.  This smell will intensify over time and get very sweet.  Then it will gradually fade, and this is when the grain becomes vulnerable to mold.  I've only thrown grain out once, however, and learned a lesson about doing too much too far in advance.

This is about the third day.

The goats love their grain this way.  The chickens and ducks have a definite preference for it as well.  I started doing this when I had a senior horse who struggled to keep weight on.  She'd be very thin by the end of winter.  After reading Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon Morrell and studying Harvey Ussery's methods, I decided to start soaking the cup of grain this mare got once a day.  Over that winter, she not only maintained her weight, she actually gained some much needed pounds.  I attribute this not only to the sprouting of the grains, but to the probiotic rich meal (snack, really....my little does get about 6-8 times the volume of grain that the horse was getting daily) she got every day that helped her digestion work more efficiently all around.

To feed my chickens, I scatter some of this grain for them in the morning, continuing to throw handfuls until they start to lose interest and wander away.  The amount varies day to day with this method, and I've cut my feed bill dramatically by doing this.  Leaving grain in free-choice feeders simply feeds the rodents and squirrels in the neighborhood.  Not my job nor my desire.  Let them eat acorns.

In the evening, I scatter whole corn in the same way, a handful at a time, until they slow down.

I don't need to worry about balancing their ration because they have a two acre fenced pasture to roam in and catch bugs and eat greens.  In the pasture season, I stop tossing soaked grains, reserving those for the goats only, and just scatter corn for the hens.  Typically, I'll give them about 2-3 pounds per day for about 50 birds.  Right now I have about 15 laying hens, a rooster, and 35 or so half grown pullets and cockerels.  That is a pretty easy feed bill, for sure.

In winter, I find some sources of protein and fat for them to supplement the grains, but not daily.  I save all bones and scraps that are left from making broth and mash it well, and also get some salmon from a nearby restaurant along with prep scraps and leftovers from the salad bar.  The hens will also eat hay that the goats drop when the snow completely covers the pasture grasses.

Production egg layers would not likely do well on this type of diet, but my heritage breed birds do quite well and produce many fine eggs for our table....and roosters for our freezer.

A word of caution:  If you have a confined flock, you do need to balance their feed with more care than I've outlined here.  Variety is the key...you still needn't be tied to manufactured feeds.  Be creative and see what you can get locally....there was a time when people kept a few chickens and fed them only what they could forage for themselves and a few table scraps to get them through the winter.  This produced hardy, thrifty birds, only the strong surviving to reproduce.  There is a lot to be said in praise of that philosophy. 

Meanwhile, consider offering your flock at least some of their grains sprouted, and see them thrive on a more natural diet.  Be aware, however, that they will need grit (small stones) if they've been fed only pellets or mash, and you'll want to take about three weeks to switch them over to a whole grain regimen.  Their gizzards are muscular organs that need to be strengthened gradually to handle the whole grains.