Good Old Grow-It-Yourself

Sometimes, life can throw you lemons—a faulty spark plug, a light bulb that burns out in a week, or a new flashlight that continually falls apart. But when the agribusiness food system creates problems that sting your farm at a basic level, it’s time to get back to good old fashioned do-it-yourself practices (or, in this case, grow-it-yourself alternatives).

Through the years, our farm’s personal battle with the big guns of agribusiness has been in the arena of animal feeds. Commercially, you can readily find mash feeds, which are ground up so fine the wind will carry it away and neither the pigs nor the chickens find it especially palatable (imagine eating plain cornmeal and think about it sticking inside your mouth). Alternatively, there are crushed pelleted feeds known as “crumbles” which neither blow away nor cake in the feeder, but these feeds never smell fresh and have been heat treated and who knows what else. Both styles are difficult to guess their contents because all ingredients have been pulverized beyond recognition.

There was a time when we tried growing our own grains. We planted winter wheat in the fall—but this served better as a green manure than a feed crop. We found an heirloom corn that was selected for conditions in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Our patch grew well, but after counting the volume of harvest (minus what the Sandhill Cranes had snitched), we calculated that most of the hayfield would have to be converted to corn to keep everyone fed. We needed the hay and didn’t like the thought of plowing that much land under, so we gave up the idea of growing our own field corn.

It would seem (with all the research dollars and land-grant universities) that optimal livestock nutrition should be pretty well understood. Unfortunately, however, this research has often focused on what industrial waste products can be fed rather than finding the best mix of natural foods. For instance, in the late 19th Century, cows living in urban areas were fed “slues,” which is the waste from brewing beer. Piped in still boiling hot, the milk cows had nothing else to eat and seldom lived longer than a few years. Between the horrid conditions for the cows and the equally squalid conditions for the workers, slues milk was deemed unsafe without a new invention—pasteurization. The technique saved the lives of many urban babies and the “quick fix” became regulation in many states. Slues barns were eventually outlawed, but ironically “brewer’s grain” (a dried form of the same product) is once again being touted as a feed ingredient for cattle and other livestock!

Another atrocity, as reported by Joel Salatin in Folks This Ain’t Normal is the commercial practice of feeding chicken manure to cattle. If they don’t die from eating it, it’s ok…right? Remember Michael Pollan’s advice: you are what you eat eats. And who even wants to imagine what “animal protein byproducts” is. We were ready to say no to commercial feeds.

Instead, we embarked on the journey of creating our own custom feed mixes through area feed mills that sourced their grains through local growers. It seemed like a great keep-it-local principle. We were able to make mixes where you could still see the types of cracked grains, the feed smelled fresh, and there was no brewer’s grain, canola oil, chicken manure, or animal protein byproducts. Yet last year, disaster struck.

Within five days of feeding our news custom mixed feeds, hens stopped laying and little chickens and ducks started dying. We tried everything—even sending birds to a state laboratory for testing. The results came back as “renal necrotizing fasciitis,” which is a problem where the kidneys are being attacked by toxins.

Scientists have known since the 1950’s that humans are changing the environment through the emission of greenhouse gasses. Global Climate Change is drastically impacting farmer’s everywhere. Last summer, the Midwest was gripped in a terrible drought reminiscent of the beginning of the Dust Bowl. Drought not only stunts crops like corn but it can be the perfect storm for other types of problems. Drought stressed corn (or ears that have been damaged by hale) can harbor certain types of mold that, as they grow, produce substances called mycotoxins. Poor storage can exacerbate the problem, but it usually begins in the field.

Mycotoxins and the funguses that produce them come in many forms—roughly 30,000 of them. Some of the toxins are carcinogenic, others attack the lungs, and still others can attack the kidneys. Tiny trace amounts can be lethal to birds, especially waterfowl, and harmful for all types of livestock. Tests for mycotoxins are expensive and often yield false negatives because these trace substances might not be evenly mixed throughout the feed. But their affects can be horribly devastating, as we witnessed last year.

This winter, we were determined to make a difference towards shaking the grip of genetically modified corn and soy in our livestock’s diets. Heavens, medieval Europe somehow got by without either of these crops! But instead of going backwards in technology to solve the problem, we’re looking forwards towards new systems designed in New Zealand for feed sourcing.

Many people have heard about the benefits of eating or baking with sprouted grains. The process releases the inner proteins and makes the grain more easily digestible. For livestock feed, sprouted grains like wheat, barley, or oats grown to the height of about four inches makes them wonderfully digestible for both ruminants and single-stomached animals as well as packs ten-times the amount of nutrition as the original amount of dry grain. The animals eat the roots, hulls, sprouts, and all, and it only takes fresh water to sprout the grain.

Sourcing our supplies through FarmTek, we designed a custom “pilot” system that fit in our aquaponics greenhouse that could raise enough fodder to meet the needs of approximately 24 milking ewes. No other grains! With a special pressure reducer, timer, and gauge, the system delivers just the right amount of water at the right time to the sprouting grain for optimal growth without inviting molds.

As we soak the grains and fill two trays each day, it is thrilling to watch the little seedlings send up their eager, strong shoots. If this project proves successful, we can expand with a larger system to become even more feed independent. While fodder can’t totally replace grains for chickens and pigs, it can be an important supplement—packed with vitamins and full of life. I know I will be excited to break up the first chunks for my hens or chicks and watch them peck and scratch with glee. Green fodder all winter—it sounds great!

No plowing, no pesticides, no GMO—we’re moving forward on our mission towards grow-it-yourself feed sourcing for our livestock, right here on our own farm. Local food really is its own form of revolution and resistance against the pressures and power of conglomerate corporations. Do you know what you eat eats? See you down on the farm sometime.