Brian Trevena has doubled his barley stock feed production using ExcelCrop in his hydroponic shed.

We have been using ExcelCrop in the shed for about a year now and are very happy with the results.

It has been a steep learning curve as to application rates. I use an all purpose 6 litre garden sprayer to apply ExcelCrop onto the barley at least two times over an eight day cycle. Before we used ExcelCrop the trays would weigh about two kilos now after using ExcelCrop our trays weigh around about four kilos.

At the rate I am applying it, 50 mls per day, 20 litres will last 400 days. Each tray receives about 20 mls mix every time the mix is applied.

From our 6 x 12 meter shed we are producing one tonne of quality green barley fodder and feeding it out every day.

How It's Done                                              

We use ExcelCrop to grow Barley Grass in a Hydroponic Green House, for cattle. The Barley is soaked in water with ExcelCrop added to the water. After a few hours of soaking ,the water is drained off and the seed is placed in trays ,where it is left to grow for 7 to 8 days.

ExcelCrop is added about every 3 to 4 days, to feed the Barley as it grows .Although it has not been proven scientifically, ExcelCrop also offers the bonus of stopping most mould which is a problem for hydroponic grown fodder. I think that the natural fish oil in ExcelCrop is controlling most of the mould. We have used other products and all are not as good, unless you treat the water with some sort of Chemicals. With ExcelCrop we do not treat our water at all. For us the change to ExcelCrop has been very good. In the past we had to keep the water heated to ensure the chemical plant food stayed in solution so we are now saving money on heating and on the nutrient. The cost of ExcelCrop compared to other products is far cheaper.

How Much Green Feed Can you Produce A Day

Barley Grass is a high quality feed for our Cattle, which we can grow all year round. We mainly grow our feed from April to September and if needed during the summer. It means we can buy new cattle stock at a moments notice with out thinking about being short of feed, as a result our beef operation is very flexible.

We use about 1200 litres of water per day and about 110 kilos of grain a day to produce one tonne of green feed daily. The work load is about 3 to 4 hours a day for one person, including feeding stock daily. Over all it's not a bad system and we recycle the water with a saving of around 50%.

With a hay supplement 100 cattle can be fed with 1 tonne a day hydroponic production from a single small shed.