# success/failure feed for animals



## Ziptie (May 16, 2013)

Saw people talking about buy extra feed for their animals. I would be interested to know what people have grown and success or failures they have had.

Stuff I have tried so far...

Sunflowers- failure so far as the <wild> birds ate everything--not given up yet

Burgundy Amaranth-cow would eat it some but didn't really like it, tried to feed the seed to the chickens-they didn't like it, goats seem to love all parts of it. The stuff grows like weeds and won't stop popping up everywhere! Tried laying out the seed heads and drying for seeds but they just got mouldy

pumpkins- cow likes, but bad crop this year, they store well but usually need to be chopped up

add more later...


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## myheaven (Apr 14, 2006)

I have had great success with Goliath silo corn. It grows up to 15 foot tall. Cobs of corn are up to 2 foot long. It needs a warm long growing season to harvest for grain. But it produces a lot for such a small area. It has deep roots and is an open pollinating kind. I planted mine in the second or third week of June as I just had a baby may 31. It grew well. We didnt get too warm and it still did fine.i have been saving the best looking cobs of corn to dry. I will check germination rate this winter. I have done well with sun flowers. I mound the manure let I sit for at least 6 weeks then plant in the mounds as sunflowers are super hungry feeders. Oats: oats when they boot make fantastic silage. Cut them and they will grow again. You can get up to 4 cuttings a season. Fantastic return. The last run of the year you just let it dry harvest thrash and save some for the seed next year. 
This next year I'm going to try a sorghum. I have an area that is a pain to mow looks like crap and would do very well to grow animal feed and look good. Not to mention sorghum is good people food too.


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## mzgarden (Mar 16, 2012)

I'm wondering if folks that say something did well for animal feed can include the things they did to harvest, prepare (chop/silage/dry, etc) and store successfully. I'm pretty good at growing stuff, but often struggle with finding the right way to harvest/store over the winter. Thanks.


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## terri9630 (Mar 12, 2012)

mzgarden said:


> I'm wondering if folks that say something did well for animal feed can include the things they did to harvest, prepare (chop/silage/dry, etc) and store successfully. I'm pretty good at growing stuff, but often struggle with finding the right way to harvest/store over the winter. Thanks.


Me too. I grew a great stand of milo but the mice beat me to it. The birds really wanted it but we put up netting.


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## myheaven (Apr 14, 2006)

I'm in the process of doing a YouTube video. The editing software is driving me absolutely crazy! I had to step away from it before I use my tablet an computer for a target.


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## Ernie (Jul 22, 2007)

I have had ENORMOUS success with letting plants grow where they wants to grow and then taking my animals to the food.


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## arcticow (Oct 8, 2006)

myheaven said:


> I have had great success with Goliath silo corn. It grows up to 15 foot tall. Cobs of corn are up to 2 foot long. It needs a warm long growing season to harvest for grain. But it produces a lot for such a small area. It has deep roots and is an open pollinating kind. I planted mine in the second or third week of June as I just had a baby may 31. It grew well. We didnt get too warm and it still did fine.i have been saving the best looking cobs of corn to dry. I will check germination rate this winter. I have done well with sun flowers. I mound the manure let I sit for at least 6 weeks then plant in the mounds as sunflowers are super hungry feeders. Oats: oats when they boot make fantastic silage. Cut them and they will grow again. You can get up to 4 cuttings a season. Fantastic return. The last run of the year you just let it dry harvest thrash and save some for the seed next year.
> This next year I'm going to try a sorghum. I have an area that is a pain to mow looks like crap and would do very well to grow animal feed and look good. Not to mention sorghum is good people food too.


Try a variety that makes a light colored seed, less bitter... Use a sweet sorghum, triple the uses...


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## Ziptie (May 16, 2013)

grain white sorghum/milo- haven't tried storing it chickens like the seed heads ok(bieds beat me to most of it this year), cows like the leaves, stocks need to be cut up for the cows (used bypass loppers) Goats also like the leaves-have not tried cutting up the stocks yet

sweet sorgum- birds once again got all the seed heads, from what I have read the seed heads can be cut off first then harvest the rest later. I stripped all the leaves off and feed them to the cows. Then stack the slaks in the barn and feed them out all winter (cutting them up with the loppers again).

Though next year I think I am going to just stick with growing the sweet sorghum. I have a feeling with losing most of the grain Milo to the birds the sweet sorghum might be a better option calorie wise.

Sugar beets-goats/rabbits/cow seem to like the tops. Any beets bigger then a fist has to be cut up (use bypass loppers) for the cow. So far goats are turning up their noses at the beet itself.


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## mpillow (Jan 24, 2003)

mangels ----beef critter and goats loved
comfrey----goats and rabbits love
pumpkins----goats and cows 
the manure pile is full of bugs and worms---chickens

sweet corn stalks to the goats and moo, as well as bean plants
brush----as we cut wood the goats like bark and leaves...rabbits also like maple

surplus Christmas trees after Christmas for the goats to denude.


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## elkhound (May 30, 2006)

turnips....feeding both tops and bottoms to my chickens..saved me alot of money.i just pull a half bushel and toss in pen...when its gone do it again.


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## Ernie (Jul 22, 2007)

Ok, here's sort of my line of thought on this ...

You feed your livestock because either:

A) You have too many for your land base to support

or 

B) Your land base won't support any at all and you want them

So thus you are concerned about what you will feed them when SHTF occurs ...

But the artificial constraints of property margins, rights of way, fencelines, etc. are going to largely evaporate in a long term SHTF. My neighbors are almost exclusively very elderly and not in good health. So in a long term SHTF, one of two things happens: I help feed them, or they die.

So if I'm helping to feed them, I had best not hear any complaints about grazing my milk cow on their pasture. And if they're dead, then I won't be hearing any complaints at all.

So realistically, this is a non-problem post-SHTF.


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## secuono (Sep 28, 2011)

Feeding tomatoes to hogs and in spring moving the pen/pigs, you'll get a tomato forest. 
Feeding pumpkins, gourds, etc to dogs, move or don't, you'll get crazy vines growing better than in the garden. 

Use nets over plants you don't want birds or larger bugs to eat. 

Corn from feed store grows, sprinkle lines of it, cover with dirt, cover with netting so the darned black birds don't eat it all, water, tons of corn on cob for birds, rabbits, cuy, etc. Then the stalks, still green, all plant eaters can have at it.
Plant willow, feed green branches w/leaves. Keep trimmed back to center stump.
Plant tall growing grasses. Cut in strips and feed as needed, alternating strips to none go to seed.
Make your own hay. Feed garden weeds. Sprout grains and feed them. 
Cattails can be grown and fed. 
Tons of things can be grown and fed actually...


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## mpillow (Jan 24, 2003)

and acorns for the goats....we pick them up by the bucketfuls


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## myheaven (Apr 14, 2006)

Ernie said:


> I have had ENORMOUS success with letting plants grow where they wants to grow and then taking my animals to the food.


This is a fantastic theory but us in the north have to put feeds up. I for one only have about a 120 day growing season. For the other 245 days I must store feed. The whole 3-9 feet of snow hinders an animal from finding feed. It's all apart of animal husbandry.


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## myheaven (Apr 14, 2006)

Oh as I grow my corn I only till once when my corn is 1 foot tall then string trim mow between the rows when it's about 2 foot tall. The corn is then strong enough to surpass the grasses and weeds. As of this moment my chickens have millet and lambsquartes seeds to eat. Saving me lots of feed at this moment. When I get all the corn off the land. I can set the cattle and goats to it and then they have several weeks of feed sitting there. Double the crop.


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## Ernie (Jul 22, 2007)

myheaven said:


> This is a fantastic theory but us in the north have to put feeds up. I for one only have about a 120 day growing season. For the other 245 days I must store feed. The whole 3-9 feet of snow hinders an animal from finding feed. It's all apart of animal husbandry.


Yeah. No idea how those deer and buffalo survived up there without y'all.


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## myheaven (Apr 14, 2006)

Poplar leaves contain about 20% protine. Very good feed stuff for animals. My goats love them. So do my cows. Also sugar maple leaves. This is the time when so many people want leaves removed.


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## elkhound (May 30, 2006)

Ernie said:


> Yeah. No idea how those deer and buffalo survived up there without y'all.



yea but chickens under secure fenceing need goods be it grown or bought.....i am doing turnips planting for everything...from chickens to wildlife....along with my other permaculture doings.

last year i had acorn failure and i didnt do any food plots....the deer migrated to other areas with more food sources.not this year....i put a $6 food plot out and the deer are beding in it at night....lol...its only a matter of time before i am wrapping organice meat...yummy.

the shtf has already happened as far as i am concerned.so its part of my survival to gather red meat.


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## elkhound (May 30, 2006)

myheaven said:


> Poplar leaves contain about 20% protine. Very good feed stuff for animals. My goats love them. So do my cows. Also sugar maple leaves. This is the time when so many people want leaves removed.



i have sat with binoculars in my woods and watched deer eating leaves falling from trees....i zoomed in and watched them time and time again picking out poplar leaves when they could get any species.


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## Terri (May 10, 2002)

I succeeded with alfalfa, though I failed the first time I tried it. When it is newly sprouted it is tiny and one slug could do horrendous damage in one night! And I had more than one slug. 

After the alfalfa got 2 inches tall it became strong and healthy, and I now can cut it by the armful. 

Corn was so-so. I need to study soil fertilization this winter, as the ears were much smaller than they should be. I do not think that I fertilized enough.


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## Terri (May 10, 2002)

Ernie said:


> Yeah. No idea how those deer and buffalo survived up there without y'all.


Deer prefer leaves and young twigs, and that is not covered by snow.

I assume that buffalo paw through the snow like horses do? I do not know. But, grass stops growing while it is under the snow, so when the grass is gone the wild grazing animals move on. 

Few people today have enough land to graze livestock in the winter time.


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## MDKatie (Dec 13, 2010)

Ernie said:


> Yeah. No idea how those deer and buffalo survived up there without y'all.


Probably because they're wild animals that can roam acres and acres of ground. Oh, and there are also plenty that die in harsh winters. Sooo, unless people have hundreds of acres to let their animals roam, most have to feed in winter. Most people don't want their livestock to have to just "survive", most want their livestock to thrive.


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## Ernie (Jul 22, 2007)

MDKatie said:


> Probably because they're wild animals that can roam acres and acres of ground. Oh, and there are also plenty that die in harsh winters. Sooo, unless people have hundreds of acres to let their animals roam, most have to feed in winter. Most people don't want their livestock to have to just "survive", most want their livestock to thrive.


Well, then while you live in the white man's property scheme on limited land ... you've got to feed your animals!

It's amusing to think what the Indians must have thought when they saw the white man carrying GRASS to his animals.


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## elkhound (May 30, 2006)

heres a book i have on my shelf.....

*The Essentials of Agriculture*



read for free here


http://books.google.com/books/about/The_essentials_of_agriculture.html?id=xdIXAAAAIAAJ


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## elkhound (May 30, 2006)

whoa....to big of a post...lol...tried putting contents up..lolhttp://books.google.com/books?id=xdIXAAAAIAAJ&printsec=copyright


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## myheaven (Apr 14, 2006)

Ernie said:


> Well, then while you live in the white man's property scheme on limited land ... you've got to feed your animals!
> 
> It's amusing to think what the Indians must have thought when they saw the white man carrying GRASS to his animals.


We are no longer allowed to live a nomadic life as our native ancestors did. I for one have a Cherokee heritage. If we go back to that type of life then our tracking skills will be very useful.


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## Ernie (Jul 22, 2007)

myheaven said:


> We are no longer allowed to live a nomadic life as our native ancestors did. I for one have a Cherokee heritage. If we go back to that type of life then our tracking skills will be very useful.


Correct. 

Even the Saudis still allow their indigenous nomads to live their ancestral way.

However when SHTF comes, perhaps those things will change.


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## kycountry (Jan 26, 2012)

Ernie said:


> Well, then while you live in the white man's property scheme on limited land ... you've got to feed your animals!
> 
> It's amusing to think what the Indians must have thought when they saw the white man carrying GRASS to his animals.


What I am wondering is what they thought when they seen steel wheels carrying grass sacks full of food to the white men... which still happens today, just rubber tires and paper sack on a larger scale...

If we're going back to the indians, I want my land back!!

I feed a lot of things.. Cows, horses, chickens, dogs, quail, and 3 kids...

Corn, can be hand picked, stored on the cob in corn cribs, I shell with a hand sheller, crack it using an old meat grinder..

Sugar Cane: plant just like corn, cut and strip the leaves off.. leaves go to the cows, stalks get ground and pressed for molasses, put in jars, sealable buckets... pulp goes to the cows.. Molasses can be mixed with other feed for added energy..

Field peas, beans, Soybeans: ;mostly shelled as I leave the stalks on the ground... can be handled and stored in a number of ways..

and a big winter time favorite here is Mustard Greens... everything loves them, including me!

Milo, millet, grain sorghum.. I throw a few handfulls here and there for the chickens to free range through..

I also hunt, fish, and trap, so that's an added bonus for the dogs to get the scraps and carcuses.. Dogs also get commercial feed, but I could do without if needed..


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## calliemoonbeam (Aug 7, 2007)

elkhound said:


> heres a book i have on my shelf.....
> 
> *The Essentials of Agriculture*
> 
> ...


I don't have anything to add, but I'm reading with great interest.  I'm trying to figure out how to feed all my animals without having to buy any feed or supplements if possible.

You can also download that book Elk mentioned as a PDF file, but it's big at 8.61 MB, 519 pages. I've had it for a couple of years, lots of good info in there, even if it was printed in 1915, lol.

https://archive.org/details/essentialsagric00wategoog


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## myheaven (Apr 14, 2006)

Callie you may need to thin down to just the essential animals. I know that sucks but that is what I'm faced with. Who will I eat. It's harder as everyone is pregnant. How do I slaughter them. It's a hard choice but it must be made.


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## Ziptie (May 16, 2013)

Interesting book. Looked under the oats section. Talked about Iowa being the top place for growing the the world. Now almost no grows them here and they are shipped in from Canada.


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## Ziptie (May 16, 2013)

myheaven said:


> Callie you may need to thin down to just the essential animals. I know that sucks but that is what I'm faced with. Who will I eat. It's harder as everyone is pregnant. How do I slaughter them. It's a hard choice but it must be made.



But what if you can grow enough to keep what you have and even have enough to sell extra?


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## Ernie (Jul 22, 2007)

Ziptie said:


> But what if you can grow enough to keep what you have and even have enough to sell extra?


That's a business decision, not an emotional one.

I know plenty of farmers and ranchers who sell calves and make enough money to pay for that year's hay (and usually property taxes too).

Looking out my window right now at Old Man Hampton's place, I see that in the night one of his cows dropped a potential $3,000 payday. That's six so far this season.


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## myheaven (Apr 14, 2006)

Do what profitable farmers do. Put up as much as possible. Sell what you think you can't comfortably feed without out possibility of killing them. What you have extra in feed by spring, sell off. If you have a bunch extra by some hungry animals to turn a fast profit. If all goes well for me. Next year I'm looking at a good profit. But I ain't banking it yet.


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## myheaven (Apr 14, 2006)

Here is my corn cobs. This is typical for these corn stalks. There is two cobs per stalk. Some will ripen for seed others go into feed.


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## terri9630 (Mar 12, 2012)

We've tried corn twice now. Worms got it both times.


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## myheaven (Apr 14, 2006)

We have some worms on ours but when it's going to silage it's not too big of a deal. I do have an organic pesticide if its important.


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## woodsy_gardener (May 27, 2007)

How about pets? I have 3 outdoor cats; I supplement their hunting with Purina Cat food as they don't catch enough for all their food. When I've been out of cat food they eat lentils and rice with a little oil, soy sauce, and powdered milk added after cooking. Anybody got another recipe for cats or dogs?


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## ldc (Oct 11, 2006)

I found out by accident that my cats like lentils too! Hope it won't hurt them! They hunted and fished at the old place, still won't eat supermarket meat (not even chicken livers), eat Miouw Mix, will eat some farmers mkt meat, but they have to get it away from me!


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## mpillow (Jan 24, 2003)

woodsy_gardener said:


> How about pets? I have 3 outdoor cats; I supplement their hunting with Purina Cat food as they don't catch enough for all their food. When I've been out of cat food they eat lentils and rice with a little oil, soy sauce, and powdered milk added after cooking. Anybody got another recipe for cats or dogs?


Don't laugh or think bad of me but...about 3 yrs ago 2 rabbits of opposite sex got loose....and have been reproducing and feeding our cats ever since...they also get goat milk and chicken "parts" 
The "mother" bun just died about a month ago but the "dad" and 3 babies from the last litter (half grown now) are loose....this means we use chicken wire at the bottom of garden fencing to keep hoppers out....

I'm in Maine so yes we "put up" for winter....lots of hay farmers near me.

Read _Farmer Boy_ in the little house series....farming in NY in the early 1800's


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## myheaven (Apr 14, 2006)

My equipment for processing feeds. Just a plain old lawn and leaf chipper shredder. I grind grain, make silage, and make bedding with it. I have done tons and tons of feed, silage, and bedding on one gallon of gas.


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## elkhound (May 30, 2006)

atta woman myheaven !!!!


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## myheaven (Apr 14, 2006)

Corn ground by the lawn and leaf shredder


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## myheaven (Apr 14, 2006)

Oats.....


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## myheaven (Apr 14, 2006)

Silage ready to feed


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## Ziptie (May 16, 2013)

For those of you feeding turnips...Are you letting the turnip get big? If so are you cutting it up? I have some turnips growing in the front lawn but the critters don't seem interested.


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## cnichols (Jan 5, 2010)

With regards to silage ...

... What is the best way to "store" it? 

From what I understand it has to have almost all of the air removed (i.e. densely compacted) and once it is "opened" it has to be fed within a certain number of days before it starts to mold.

Can anyone expand/clarify this?


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## myheaven (Apr 14, 2006)

I put mine in 55 gallon blue plastic barrel. I cut out the top. Fill and I stomp it down. I use my clean bare feet. I normally have to stomp it down 3_4 times before it is full. I get about 250 lbs of silage per barrel. I recover my silage after each feed out. A couple reasons for that. 1 keeps it fresh 2 the cats will eat it if I dont. 3 the fruit flies with infest it. My barrels will last at least 7 days.


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## Cygnet (Sep 13, 2004)

We planted forage radishes (daikon radishes) this year in our little pasture to improve the soil. They get as long as your arm and they punch holes through the hardpan here, improving drainage. The goats love the tops. We discovered by accident that the chickens LOVE the radish roots. As the pasture has been dying down for the winter, the chickens have been finding and consuming the tops as far down as they can get. The goats will eat radishes too if nothing else is available and they love the seed, but they prefer the clover and fescue and bindweed in the pasture. I imagine after the first hard frost, the radishes will be gone in a hurry.

We'll plant them again next year -- they were a big success in all areas. 

FWIW, I've always run chickens in my veggie garden after everything's harvested. They cut down the bug and weed population for the next year, and clean up anything green/rotten/inedible that's left. 

Chickens can also be fed windfall apples or other fruit. Ours have been getting a ton of rotten apples lately. 

Goats can be fed pretty much any leafy plant that's not toxic if you're just trying to keep them alive until spring in a SHTF scenario. Most pine trees and many other evergreens are fine. Ours consider manzanita and ponderosa a treat, and there's no shortage of that around here. I am really NOT worried about feeding the goats in a SHTF scenario. 

Dogs would get leftovers, same as the chickens. Quite honestly, I'd be likely to eat the dog chow myself and feed the dogs roadkill and scraps if TSHTF! 

Cats would get meat scraps if I ran out of cat food. If I had to, I'd trap rodents for them. Only one of ours is any good at taking out bigger rodents (and he's getting a bit too old and arthritic to be expected to hunt for himself), but there's no shortage of gophers and chipmunks and the like around here, and they're easy enough to trap. 

However ... If it got to a point where I couldn't feed the animals, I'd likely be in dire straights myself. At a certain point, I wouldn't be struggling to feed the critters, the critters would be feeding me ...


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## myheaven (Apr 14, 2006)

I need to try some of the radishes. Would make it simple to plant seed without equipment. Great idea.


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## Ziptie (May 16, 2013)

Great ideas everyone..keep them coming. 

Remember even if you tried growing something and it didn't work out I would enjoy hearing about it.

Might try the radishes myself.

myheaven- that is a good idea I might try that next year with the sweet sorghum. How much silage are you feeding to animals and what kind of animals?


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## Cygnet (Sep 13, 2004)

Our pasture is actually a mix of tall fescue, daikon radish, and crimson clover -- it was actually a mix meant for deer, but it's worked well for our goats. The radishes improve the soil with their long tap roots, the clover adds nitrogen, and the fescue stops erosion. We have a VERY heavy clay soil ("make pots from it" heavy clay, and I mean that literally) and it's done really well. 

We'll probably overseed with more clover, sunflowers, and radishes in the spring, and we may add carrots because we can then harvest the carrots that the critters don't eat in the fall. There are only so many radishes a person can eat before you get thoroughly sick of them, but carrots should work the same way radishes do to ventilate the hardpan a bit, and they're more useful overall. 

There are also some fairly large turnips growing out there that I think were a contaminant in the seed -- the goats eat them, but they don't like them as much as the radishes.

If you do plant daikon radishes, you need to know the plants get quite large -- several times the size of salad radishes.


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## myheaven (Apr 14, 2006)

One thing I have failed greatly at us mangle beets. For 6 years I have failed! I can grow regular beets, oh yes they are good. Beets for my animals..... Nope. Sigh oh well one person can't so everything.


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## myheaven (Apr 14, 2006)

I have goats and cows. The one milking cow in heavy milk get 15 lbs of corn silage a day 15 lbs of grain and 25 lbs of high quality dairy hay. Only because this cow came to me so unbelievably thin. So I have 300+ lbs to put on her. She keeps getting sick too. One of my normal cows would get much less quality hay or amount of feed.


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## moonwolf (Sep 20, 2004)

Clover #1 for feeding all poultry, especially turkey and 
penned geese. I just bag it with mower and dump into feed
pan. They do good on it with grain mix. 
I have also chopped up surplus summer squash , zucchini,
broccoli stalks. Ducks and turkeys love it. Probably not
that nutritious for weight gain. I also chopped up rutabaga
and beets . Chickens eat it, though if layers the eggs have
an 'off' taste. 
Haven't stored garden grown stuff long. Wish there was a 
better way to keep cut clover and have the nutrients stay 
potent enough .


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## moonwolf (Sep 20, 2004)

myheaven said:


> My equipment for processing feeds. Just a plain old lawn and leaf chipper shredder. I grind grain, make silage, and make bedding with it. I have done tons and tons of feed, silage, and bedding on one gallon of gas.


Perfect. This is just the sort of thing I want for the exact purposes
you mention . How did you make it?


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## Spinner (Jul 19, 2003)

I haven't grown it yet, but I did some research and bought seeds to plant that are recommended for goats, chickens, rabbits, and horses. The choices I made include but are not limited to: giant blue squash, sunflower seeds, mangles, amaranth, several types of grains, and others I don't remember now. My thought is that if one crop fails, there will be others to fill in the gap/gaps. 

I've planted what is called a fall animal mix that I hope will do a lot of feeding. Time will tell if it's going to work out. 

I have started raising rabbits. I picked a breed that has extremely soft fur to make blankets, mittens, hats, etc. plus they are a good meat rabbit. Rabbits can be fed from the pasture with no bought feed. They will feed not only people, but the guard dogs too, so no worry about storing dog food once the rabbit program gets firmly established. Dogs need more than only rabbit so goat, chicken, duck, etc will be incorporated into their diets.


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## Spinner (Jul 19, 2003)

terri9630 said:


> We've tried corn twice now. Worms got it both times.


Plant peas, beans, potatoes, even parsley around your corn to keep the worms away. Try the 3 sisters. Corn, beans, and squash. It works.


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## farmerDale (Jan 8, 2011)

Ernie said:


> Ok, here's sort of my line of thought on this ...
> 
> You feed your livestock because either:
> 
> ...


 C) winter


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## farmerDale (Jan 8, 2011)

Ernie said:


> Yeah. No idea how those deer and buffalo survived up there without y'all.



Bison are one thing, but there were hardly any deer up here before farmers came on the scene.


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## myheaven (Apr 14, 2006)

Just got done doing about 1500 lbs of silage. Not too bad for one pound of seed corn.


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## Ziptie (May 16, 2013)

update

Cow does not like to eat frozen sugar beets. Even if they are cut up small.:facepalm:


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## myheaven (Apr 14, 2006)

can you put them in a 5 gallon bucket with lid and keep it in the house to thaw before feeding?


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## Ziptie (May 16, 2013)

Yah, been doing that but pain in the tush. Maybe I'll focus on silage next year.


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## myheaven (Apr 14, 2006)

you could try to store it where the beets won't freeze next year. how many tons are you storing?


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## Ziptie (May 16, 2013)

Not a whole lot as I am doing everything by hand. Probably about three large wheelbarrows full.


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## myheaven (Apr 14, 2006)

if you can get ahold of an old no good chest freezer dig a large hole burrying the freezer and you have an instant root celler. If you can put old hay bales on top and cover it with a tarp it should be fine to about -50


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## Danaus29 (Sep 12, 2005)

I have had success with blackberry vines growing over the rabbit pen. The rabbits nibble on the plants when they are in the pen and they are close access and can be cut and fed easily. A plus is the big blackberries for us!


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## Ziptie (May 16, 2013)

Really like that idea. Going to be building some outdoor hutches for the rabbits I just might plant some around the back. Might also help keep other critters out of the hutches.


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## spud (Feb 3, 2007)

I have chickens and this is what works for me. Well in the summer I let my girls free range and I'm also planning a rotating paddock system with mullberries, kale, clovers, skirret, pernnial greens like good king henry and sorrel. I have all those now except mullberries. 

For winter storage, I plant sunflowers, butternut squash and blue hopi corn with good results. Sunflowers need to be harvested before birds get to em and hung to dry. Blue hopi corn grows well with cowpeas and don't need a lot of inputs. 
Butternut squash grows very easy where I live and don't require much work. 

My future plans are Jeruselem Artichokes and mangels. I think grains for the most part are way to much work to be harvested without machines for livestock.


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## Mutti (Sep 7, 2002)

chickens love mangels,turnips,daikons,rutabagas...I do cook them. We have 17 hens and they all lay thru the winter with addition of warm food. Selling 6 dozen eggs a week which pays for supplemental feed. Also sprout feed wheat for them.

This year we plan an acre of field corn if we can keep the deer out.


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## myheaven (Apr 14, 2006)

Mutti said:


> chickens love mangels,turnips,daikons,rutabagas...I do cook them. We have 17 hens and they all lay thru the winter with addition of warm food. Selling 6 dozen eggs a week which pays for supplemental feed. Also sprout feed wheat for them.
> 
> This year we plan an acre of field corn if we can keep the deer out.


put a two strand poly wire electric fence around the corn you should be okay. they do make solar and battery powered fencer if you don't have power to the area.


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## arcticow (Oct 8, 2006)

myheaven said:


> put a two strand poly wire electric fence around the corn you should be okay. they do make solar and battery powered fencer if you don't have power to the area.


Don't count on 2 strands of poly actually keeping hungry deer out of a corn patch!!! Even worse may be what the ***** will do with an acre, along with squirrels...


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## myheaven (Apr 14, 2006)

the ***** are the worst here. my lgd keeps the deer away. So far the silage is doing great. animals love it.


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## sisterpine (May 9, 2004)

This is of great interest to me as I plan out my plantings for spring. Would love to reduce the need for goat grains and alfalfa hay. So anything that goats like will move to a list at my house
!


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## Ziptie (May 16, 2013)

Another thread reminded me of this one. I was wondering how everyone did over the winter that grew their own feed? Any changes that you are planning for this year?

For myself I am def just planting the sweet sorghum instead of the grain and going to make silage with it. Plus I am going to try doing sugar beets, parsnips, turnips but I am going to try packing them in plastic containers with hay to keep them from freezing (digging a hole by the house is not an option with the rocks we have)in the barn. I will say that the butternut squash has stored really well, better than the pumpkins. I have been cooking them and sharing half with the chickens. Next winter I will make pot of the squash and pinto beans during the winter for them on a regular basis. The squash helps the yolks stay nice and bright and the beans for the protein.


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## Astrid (Nov 13, 2010)

black soldier fly and maggot systems for chickens.
Comfrey, nettle and seaweed - we dry it for goats and pigs
mangel beets for goats and pigs
fodder system for goats


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## Cyngbaeld (May 20, 2004)

Tall fescue can kill pregnant goats. Something you want to avoid if planting a new pasture.


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## Ziptie (May 16, 2013)

Astrid said:


> black soldier fly and maggot systems for chickens.
> Comfrey, nettle and seaweed - we dry it for goats and pigs
> mangel beets for goats and pigs
> fodder system for goats


I have heard comfrey for animal feed here and there. Curious why you chose that plant?


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## Astrid (Nov 13, 2010)

Ziptie said:


> I have heard comfrey for animal feed here and there. Curious why you chose that plant?


Comfrey has a high protein content and as a plant, is a mineral accumulator. I don't give them much because there is a concern of cancer, but I figure a little bit will not harm them. I've been doing it for years with no adverse effects.


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## myheaven (Apr 14, 2006)

I'm going to do more silage this year. One big change I'm going to make is I'm going to package it in individual bags. This winter it froze so hard I broke my potato fork attempting to get it out. It's just now thawing enough to feed out. I may try a pallet silo if I get enough planted. I also found a few extra large packages of rutabaga seeds. Might as well plant them. 
Plan on putting the back acre into oats. We are renting a plot of 5 acres down the road. Hoping to get some hay from that. Hope like crazy that the 300 investment results in a good product. Fingers crossed we can produce 99% of our own feed.


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## Ziptie (May 16, 2013)

Hmm..never thought about the silage freezing. Might have to do some rethinking there. Thanks for the info.


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## myheaven (Apr 14, 2006)

It was great when I did silage in 5 gallon buckets. It was never a problem getting it out. Frozen I just brought the bucket in to thaw. Can't do that too easily with a 55 gallon barrel. Kinda why I'm going to try this year with 13 gallon trash bags inside the barrel. Half fill the bag and I should be able to put many in a barrel. When I need the silage I hope to be able to remove the bag per feeding.


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## myheaven (Apr 14, 2006)

Oh and grass silage freezes less the corn silage.


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## FCLady (Jan 23, 2011)

I have an acre fenced in. Ducks, chickens and LGD stay in there full time. Three paddocks rotate our four sheep/lambs. Three does and one buck rabbit plus however many babies I can raise in the summer.

I planted about a dozen jeruselum artichokes. Ended up with three 5 gallon buckets full. Will be planting more this year. Fed the leaves all summer long.

Sunflowers grow along a fence line, just out of reach. I plant them late and the birds pretty much leave them alone. I store them in a tote without a lid on the front porch and feed thru the winter.

Grew Amaranth the first time last year. when the sparrows started eating the seeds we harvested the seed heads and put about one head in a 50 lb feed sack and tied it shut. We hung those on a rope in the garage. Feed the leaves all summer long, when the snow gets deep we grab a couple of bags and put with the animals.

Planted 3 rows of field turnips, we fed the leaves until December.

Comfrey grows back every year. We have poplar trees and maple trees that get trimmed and fed to everyone in the early spring.

Planted two rows of mangel beets. Pull them in the late fall and feed thru the winter from an uncovered box.

Planted a mulberry tree in the pasture last year. 

Plant butternut squash and pumpkins. They get all the pumpkins after Halloween, and squash whenever I feel like carrying one out to them.

Will be adding Rutabagas this year too.


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## Jlynnp (Sep 9, 2014)

My goats love young Bamboo and it grows like crazy!!!


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