Feeding our Animals

The Mangel Wurtzel crop this year grew well and has been fed out to pigs, goats, and chickens.  This is year number 2 of growing these fodder beets; they’re a high carbohydrate BIG beet, (like sugar beets, but NOT GMO!) and we’re trying to grow some more of our own animal food.  The goats and pigs eat the beets and the goats and chickens eat the tops…great nutrition for all the animals.  We can’t grow grain or hay, but we can grow beets and kale!  This year went well with keeping critters out, a better watering system and good soil prep.  We produced about twice as much as in 2012; the deer and nibbly rodents took a toll that year.  We would like to end the season in 2014 with double the 2013 harvest, and we may be onto the path for home-grown winter feed for our pregnant sows and milking goats.