Fodder.NZ - Fodder Feed Systems
Fodder rooms are transportable rooms in which grain is sprouted to feed livestock. We presently produce three sizes of transportable growing rooms. The rooms constitute a steel box frame encased in EPS panel (often referred to as freezer panel).
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he rooms are made in bays. Our smallest room currently has one bay. This is about the size of a 10’ shipping container. Our two bay room is about the size of a 20’ shipping container and our three bay room is the length of a 10’ & 20’ shipping container combined.
Each bay is fitted out with six rows of shelving capable of holding eight trays for growing fodder. A total of 48 trays fit in each bay, so while our smallest room has 48 trays, our 3 bay room holds 144 trays.
We offer two tray sizes at present, with each tray being approximately 50mm deep; the shorter tray is 1200mm long x 300mm wide while or longer tray is 1500mm long x 300mm wide. The trays will produce green feed at 5 to 7 times the weight of the dry grain. (So, 3kg dry grain in and 15kg to 21kg of green feed out).
Each room has a sophisticated, state-of-the-art control system. This controls every aspect of the room environment, not generically but specifically tuned for regional conditions. Water, light, heat, humidity, air circulation, mould control and system sanitation are all built into the encrypted computer systems control. Smart technology restarts rooms after power cuts; monitors and reports on power and water use and gives the farmer the option of producing fodder for feeding at optimum nutritional value or increased dry matter depending on the targeted needs of the farm.
Operated from an intuitive main screen, short menu options report on production progress, alert the user to potential operation abnormalities (for example water levels being low) and provide ease of use to monitor and maintain production. Importantly, the system alerts the user to maintain the sanitation cycle.
Realising that once familiar with the operation of fodder rooms on a small scale there will be users who wish to upscale their production to maximise farm returns, we are currently testing our new modular “pod” system for installation in purpose built, permanently sited fodder sheds. These sheds will be capable of producing upward from 1 tonne of green feed per day. Alternatively for farmers wanting 1 tonne a day in a modular system, two of our 3 bay rooms together will produce this level of green feed.
Fodder Production Costs
It’s cheaper than you might think.
The direct inputs are:
- Barley: estimated at between $380 and $400 a tonne
- Electricity: estimated at 23c per kwh
- Labour: estimated at $20 per hour
- Water: no notional cost applied (see below)*1
The cost per kilo of green feed produced is determined by a combination of the above factors and is weighted (affected) by:
- The amount of green feed produced (in kgs) [a factor of both the quality of the seed used and the amount of seed placed in the tray]. We refer to this as the conversion factor. On a conservative basis this is 5 times the amount of grain put in the tray although we regularly get well over 6 times and as high as 7 times. In our test room if we get less than 6.5 times we are asking why.
- It is possible to overload the tray with dry grain. More grain does not make more grass. If the grain is “choked” in the tray then it will not sprout. It will go soft, but that does not release the nutritional value of the grain. Only the complete enzyme cycle does that. The completion of that cycle is identified by sprouting. Further value is then added through the grass turning green (photosynthesis) completing the value changes from grain to grass.
- A farm management decision as to whether the objective is to deliver higher nutrition to livestock or more mass (dry matter). As with all dry matter decisions, the supply of “bulk” is usually at the expense of nutrition, albeit that the level of that may be relatively small.
- A further farm management decision as to whether to buy or lease a room. Outright purchase has a higher initial capital cost (whether that’s interest on a loan or a return on investment measure for personal capital input) but an overall lower cost per kilo of green feed produced. Conversely a lease has no capital cost but does have a monthly revenue cost (tax deductible though).
- For the purpose of this exercise we have assumed an average between lease and capital costs to include a notional capital cost in the production cost. If you were to compare the cost of the annual production from a fodder room against other on or off farm alternatives you would need to include cropping costs, fertiliser, machinery (tractors, ploughs, discs, drills, power harrows, rollers etc) and a cost for land in which the production took place. In short either system (open pasture or the fodder system) has a capital cost; although the fodder room cost maybe less based upon its annualised production capability.
Taking all of the foregoing into account we have assessed that a kilo of green feed costs between $0.16 (direct costs) and $0.29 ( when lease cost is included) to produce.*2
*1A portion of the water that passes through the fodder room is not retained by the plants. The plants have different needs at different times of their short growing cycle. We have methods of reducing the amount of water the room requires but the trade off is a higher labour input. Currently we do not recycle our pass-through water and see no economic value in doing so as the labour costs and additional capital costs associated with it do not at present warrant that investment. That said we are looking at water reduction processes at present as part of our ongoing research and development.
From our own test rooms and all fodder production we undertake (we are usually running a double bay rooms at any one time) we put our water onto our gardens or back onto pasture. There is considerable nutrient value in the used barley water, evidenced by the response from plants and vegetables in the garden and pasture in the paddocks. Given the chance, our dogs drink the barley water [mind you they will also eat stray shoots of fodder when we are taking it out of the rooms].
On-site Requirements
The room needs to be placed on a level site. We find that concrete pavers are best to be placed under the feet for this purpose. We will provide you with a layout of the feet depending on the room size selected.
A clean water supply, provided under pressure, is essential. The water can be tank, bore or creek water. If you have any doubts about the quality of your proposed water supply then we recommend that the water be tested for both coliform and ph levels. If in doubt an external (to the room) filter should be fitted to remove any sediment present, from the water supply. A standard 25mm Hansen connector is placed on the outside of the room to enable connection to a supply. The room’s 60 litre stainless steel water tank is heated to 21 degrees as the barley plants do not like getting a cold shower. For most of our test rooms we simply connect an 18mm hose to the Hansen connector to feed the water into the room, but a 12mm hose will do just as well.
Power to the room is recommended to be by way of a dedicated 15amp supply ((No welders, generators, electric drills, smoko jugs, dagging plants or other “surge and blow up the electronics” devices can be plugged into this line), which should come directly from the board. We have operated a single bay test room consistently on a 10amp supply with no problems-again a dedicated line. When we test our double bay rooms we also run these on a 10amp supply. However as we don’t know what the supply conditions are in your area, we do recommend a 15amp supply with an automatically resettable RCD installed at the board..
You will need somewhere to store barley for the room. If you do not have a silo, then “1 tonne” bags [they actually hold about 850kg of barley] are an option, stored in a shed: the more vermin proof the better.
The room will need to be positioned onto a flat site and to this end is best unloaded off a truck equipped with a hiab. The front forks of the tractor, [no matter how long the pieces of pipe you usually put on them when you want to move over width loads] won’t do it. We will talk to you about positioning of the room to maximum advantage before delivery takes place. The room can be placed in the open, beside another shed or under a sheltered area such as a lean-to. [Our test room is outside next to our implement shed but it is sheltered by a arch type cover positioned between two shipping containers. It makes for working in a better environment when its blowing a gale or pouring with rain. On hot days it also creates an artificial cooling effect around the room and in the shed. We didn’t get the cover for the room, it was and still is mainly to keep the tractor under and to extend the working area of the implement shed.]
You will need to install a small drain to remove surplus water from the site. We recommend that you discuss this with us first before undertaking any drainage works and consider what you want to do with the pass-through water.
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