What is a Hydroponic Fodder System?
Hydroponics is a growing method that uses a nutrient solution in a water instead of soil to deliver a balanced diet of nutrients directly to their roots in a controlled environment, eliminating the variability and inefficiency often associated with traditional soil-based agriculture.
In the context of fodder production, hydroponics provides a streamlined, predictable method for growing nutritious sprouts or shoots, crucial in healthy livestock feed. This system ensures a reliable supply of feed and offers higher nutritional quality, making it an optimal solution for vertical farming in areas that are challenged due to hurricanes, typhoons, severe weather & drought, and pastureland contaminated by sea salt.
Hydroponic fodder systems have grown in popularity in the past few years specifically in the areas of alternative farming methods for growing crops for animals and livestock. This is especially true in areas where weather disasters like hurricanes and drought can affect food supplies.
These systems efficiently help produce nutritious fodder using minimal water and space, which is important to many countries and areas in the world today. The efficiency of hydroponic fodder systems is because it produces higher yields of growing fodder in shorter cycles compared to traditional farming methods. It can also increase the nutritional value of the fodder providing improved dietary benefits to livestock, which can lead to better overall health and productivity.
FEEDPlexTM – A Hydroponic “Vertical Pasture” Solution
Alta-CEA introduces FEEDPlex, a turnkey hydroponic fodder system specifically designed to solve some of the most critical challenges in livestock feed production. FEEDPlex harnesses the power of vertical farming to create a self-contained system that is both resilient and efficient, ideal for regions affected by severe weather conditions and droughts.
FEEDPlex is engineered to produce high-quality, nutritious feed with minimal water usage, reducing dependence on water resources and offers a more efficient way to grow crops for animals and livestock compared to traditional methods. Its design also facilitates easy scaling, allowing operators from small-scale setups to large agricultural enterprises to integrate FEEDPlex into their operations seamlessly, ensuring a consistent, reliable supply of animal feed.
The Advanced Technologies of FEEDPlexTM
FEEDPlex incorporates several advanced technologies that set it apart as a leading solution in hydroponic fodder production. One of the key features is its automated control system, which manages lighting, water, and nutrient levels, ensuring optimal growth conditions with minimal human intervention. This automation not only enhances efficiency but also significantly reduces the potential for human error, leading to improved feed quality and yield. Additionally, FEEDPlex utilizes energy-efficient LED lighting that mimics natural light spectra, promoting faster growth cycles and improving the nutritional content of the fodder. The system also includes innovative water recycling technologies that minimize waste and increase water use efficiency, a critical factor in sustainable agricultural practices.
These technological advancements make the FEEDPlex “Vertical Pasture” not just a piece of equipment for vertical farming of fodder but a model for future developments in the field of controlled environment agriculture.
FEEDPlex is designed to be a quick response to support the local reintroduction of livestock using indoor hydroponic production of animal feed crops.
Use FEEDPlexTM With:
- Premanufactured turnkey modulars, ready to be assembled by professionals, at the end-user’s location
- Multi-level hydroponic grow beds to maximize feed production using Vertical Hydroponic Farming (CEA), LED light spectrum technology to mimic mother nature, advanced nutrient delivery system, and over bed air flow
- Rotational designed daily harvesting to maximize feed production.
- Daily fresh harvested, high yielding Industrial Hemp or Legume forage, with in-house chopped processing to ensure maximum crude protein levels that are comparable to that of dehydrated or sun-cured alfalfa pellets or cubes.
- Barley or fodder mats with 7 day harvesting cycles.
- Operation staff support using indoor change room, lunchroom, and admin office.
- HVAC controlled indoor environment.
FEEDPlexTM Systems
The Complete Turnkey Self Contained Complex
(1) 6, 12 ft x 60 ft Modulars, Engineered and Designed for CEA Production
(2) Freight Delivery, assembly, and setup
(3) Total Complex footprint, 5122 sq ft
(4) Operational Staff Change Room, lunchroom, and admin for 8 people
(5) Dedicated area for feed chopper and seed storage
(6) Shipping & Receiving
(7) 3000 sq ft growing area
The Complete Turnkey Self Contained Production
(1) 42 Grow Modules with 84 Grow Beds
(2) Individual HVAC & Dehumidification in each Modular
(3) Tunable LED’s specific to hemp, legume, and barley grass production
(4) Self Contained water storage
(5) Automatic nutrient delivery system
(6) Germination Room with LED’s & dedicated germination trays
(7) Dedicated Harvesting Areas
(8) Supplied hemp or legume seed, barley seed, & wheat seed
(9) Feed Chopper with Bag Filling Attachment
Birdsfoot Trefoil:
hydroponically grown legume, very palatable and “non-bloating” for ruminants. Feed value is similar to alfalfa. It is a legume that minimizes bloat, improves protein uptake, and has additional benefits that includes possible anti-parasitic effects. The increase nitrogen utilization efficiency within the ruminant digestive tract can help to reduce methane emissions into the environment from enteric fermentation.
Industrial Hemp:
for non-hemp regulated areas, hydroponically grown for use as a livestock feed, hemp plant is a very good source of high quality protein, energy, fiber, and other nutritional benefits, — and better than alfalfa and other legumes. Harvested pre-flower stage with high protein and fat contents, this low cannabinoid- containing plant may represent the most viable, best suited, livestock Feedstuff for ruminants.
Barley Fodder Supplement:
Ruminants are reliant on high fiber forage in their diets. Barley fodder supplement is a highly bio-available feed nutrient supplement for ruminants that require additional nutrient due to stressed or poor forage in their diet.
Getting Started with Hydroponic Fodder Vertical Farming
Vertical farming is quickly growing as a solution to food production challenges across the world with real benefits including improving efficiency and allowing crops to be grown in areas that are not conducive to traditional farming methods. We manufacture a wide range of solutions to grow specific crops and have options to tailor the solution to meet your needs.
Fortunately, Alta-CEA makes the evaluation and recommendation process easy for you. Because we are both the developer and manufacturer of all the solutions on this page, our experts are ready to meet with you to discuss which system would best meet your application requirements. We can also handle the entire process from sales to delivery, installation, and training of your staff. It all starts with contacting one of our CEA Experts to discuss your project.