Hydroponics is an alternative to lingering drought or year round problems. With limited hay and none on the horizon, the Vantassel family in Cabool, Mo., turned to hydroponics for their dairy. Rich Bollinger of Oh-Wi-Mo Dairy in Humansville, Mo., began experimenting recently when he heard of results for the dairy industry.
Hydroponics is unique as it uses no soil. That means for the producer it doesn’t take up any of your most valuable resource, land. It does require an open mind and the ability to restructure your way of thinking about the way you feed, procure and store your feed.
Relative Feed Value (RFV) is a way to look at your hay quality and determine the actual feed value of what you are feeding. Most agree that values higher than 150 is considered prime. Feeding live greens means that you are actually feeding a living plant. There is no loss of quality from the plant dying, being cut, drying and all of the other things that decrease the nutrient value of hay regardless of the kind of plant used. Because they are alive, you are feeding a type of super nutritious food. Having had their fodder tested and receiving RFV ratings of 336 and 396 which are pretty high numbers for Bollinger and Vantassel respectively is impressive.
Comparing living greens to hay for Relative Feed Value is a bit unfair because of the live fodder. It is a fully hydrated food that is enzyme rich and more easily digestible. It means that all those nutrients that are in the fodder can be made immediately available to the animal for use. Thus the high scores on the RFV tests.
Is it expensive? It depends on which route you choose. You can make a full commitment to transferring over to the fodder system and invest in fully automated system. One that is climate controlled with pH sensors that are computer monitored. The pod systems are completely mobile. They can be brought to your farm and set up wherever you would like. The Vantassel’s choose this and set the pod where their dairy cows come to feed and milk. They can then empty the trays and refill them right on location where the fodder is used. Each tray can easily be lifted by one person out of the pod and dumped where the cows will eat. The system is remotely monitored. They have a service contract so that if anything is amiss, they will be out to take care of it right away. It is state-of-the-art technology at its best and impressive to watch in action.
The trays in their pod start at one end where the seed is loaded. Each day new trays are added to the back of the pod. The watering happens on an automated 30 minute timer. It is trickled down through the trays and recycled throughout being flushed completely out of the system as clean reusable nutrient rich livestock water once the system is finished with it. Nutrients are automatically added via computer. At the end of the six days the trays are at the end of the line. That end of the pod has grow lights in the doors and the plants get the light that they need from them on the sixth day.
The trays are used on the sixth day as that has been found to be the nutritional peak for the growing cycle. They can continue to grow after that, but the nutritional value will wane.
You can also use simple aluminum roofing on shelving in a shed and grow the fodder there. The “trays” don’t move you just move the fodder out on the sixth day. It works for Rich Bollinger and he’s producing 300 to 350 pounds of fodder a day at this early stage of his experiment. He’s pleased with that outcome and thinks he will work more on his project based on his test results and the palatability of the fodder. The cows eat it right up, which was one of the most important factors for him.
You can use the grain you wish. The Bollinger dairy is using wheat. The Vantassel dairy is using barley based on a recommendation of the company who sold them their unit. They are purchasing their barley out of Canada as a non-GMO strain of grain. Their benefit with the barley is additional fiber that is built into the grain as well as amazingly lower cost even when shipping considerations were taken into account.
