Jump then Howl for Sprouts

“I jumped over it and you ate it,”probably wasn’t the right choice of words, but it’s all that came to mind that predawn morning as we fed our first harvest of fodder (grass sprouts) to the lambs……..

**Side note … “I jumped over it” goes back to a childhood game that went something like this….. I’d start the game by saying, “I saw a dead skunk (or anything gross) in the middle of the road…and I’d say, “I one it,” my friend would follow with, “I two it” and we’d volley the responses back and forth until the count reached 8 at which time the person with the misfortune of that turn would say “I eight (ate) it,” and everyone laughed. However, there was a way around being on the wrong side of the sequence, by simply saying “I jumped over it and YOU eight (ate) it.”

Now a little background and to set the scene……It was 2013, and our primary farming endeavor in Scio, Oregon was running sheep - specifically growing grass fed natural lamb. Scio sits at the heart of the Willamette Valley which is known as the “Grass Seed Capitol of the World.” As the name might indicate, it’s the land of plentiful grass which is particularly true from September thru June which also lcoincides with the rains. Lambs flourish on the lush pastures and in these days where photosynthesis happens so rapidly you can almost hear it. Then in a cruel twist of fate Mother Nature turns off the spigot, the pastures turn from emerald to burnt umber and you might as well put the lambs on a shelf until the rains return. They neither grow nor flourish and in fact often lose weight and often weaken.

As part of a grass fed lamb cooperative it’s always hardest to provide lambs during the summer months. Oh they were grass-fed alright, but the grass wasn’t green and it was dry and over burden from last season. So in predictable Joe fashion, my husband thought there must be a better way, and after months of research we embarked on a process of growing our own grass sprouts so that we could feed lambs green feed in the summer and supplement our ewes while lambing in the barn in winter. The system is best know as a fodder system. At that time fodder systems had mostly been tested/used in confinement dairy operations — but that was no deterrent for Joe.

Implementing a fodder system was a huge commitment of time, resources, and energy, but we jumped in anyway. We were the “scuttle” at the local feed store and coffee shop as the area sheep guys thought those folks from Colorado had lost their minds, but we marched on. We converted an old shop/barn to a grow-room with controlled light, humidity and water, 196 grow trays each 24’ long. There were ladders, germination buckets and bubblers and in the end we were harvesting about 1,200 pounds of fodder (sprouts) a day. We were able to go from seed to feed in 7 days — fantastic. Each day we harvested the carpets of sprouts, we’d clean the trays and spread the seed (germinated and bubbled the night before) and start the process all over again.

In the beginning there was plenty of trial and error to find a balance between growing the highest yield and determining the texture and palatability best for the lambs. Turns out there is a huge “grip and rip coefficient” that we’d overlooked, so that first faitful harvest morning we were headed for failure that we didn’t anticipate. We proudly harvested heavy thick mats of fodder and loaded them in 4-5 foot sections into the feed wagon, fired up the ATV, turned on the headlights, and entered the pasture. I sent Pete (my trusty Border Collie) out to gather the lambs in the dim pre-dawn light and in a matter of minutes Pete had 400 lambs milling around the wagon; it was show time, so off we went….

I drove while Joe scattered the mats out across the pasture. There was plenty of curiosity from lambs and the guard dogs even came in to check out the activity in our first fodder feeding. We were full of anticipation abe circled back around the herd to watch them munch on their fresh salad breakfast. What we saw wasn’t what we expected, and instead of lambs munching on fodder, we saw them sniffing, taking a nibble and then jumping over the mats— yes jumping over the mats. What???? This was no nursery rhyme like the “cow jumping over the moon.” It was more like aerobics class than breakfast.

After my misdirected attempt at humor, and saying, “I jumped over it and you ate it,“ we decided to give it some time and return at daylight to see if there would be a change of heart. Much to our dismay, there was hardly a change. We found largely untouched mats of fodder as we had left them hours earlier. Untouched except the thinner ends of the mats which in fact the lambs had eaten.

We pulled out the white board and drew up plan B which was to shred the mats, and our plan was to do that with a wood chipper. The thought was that if we ripped the thick mats up into smaller pieces maybe just maybe they could tear it apart into bite sized pieces. Our observations of the lambs eating the thinner and less dense ends of the mats told us that we should start growing a less dense mat, one they could get their tongues around it and rip to more naturally simulate grazing. However there were 7 days of this seed density/thickness, (since you plant 7 days out), so we needed to adjust for 6 more days even if we made our mats thinner from here on out. We gathered up the mats from the pasture, rented a wood chipper and held our breath as we fed the first carpet of fodder into the chipper.

Dear Lord, what we saw next wasn’t at all involved in the drafting of Plan B. Out the other side of the chipper came a surge of green goo. I hesitate to say a a green smoothie as there were root chunks, green bubbles of fermentation and slime dripping and gurgling into the wagon we’d so carefully placed to catch the shredded fodder. Joe and I looked up at each other with a horrified stare. This was a familiar move practiced so many times in the face of adversity, instead of crying (which seemed a great option given our fatigue) we burst into uncontrollable laugh which escalated into more of a howl, bringing us both to a green gooey hug and tears.

So plan C was now in the works which was to make the mats less sense so the lambs could grip and rip, but that was 6 days away, so plan D for the next 6 days was to get up an extra hour early and physically score the back of each mat so the lambs could rip them apart. Turns out plans C and D worked with yet a few more adjustments in that we eventually fed them in bunks so they could pull the fodder and then there was also less waste because they didn’t walk on it. The lambs came to love the green cool mats of grass sprouts when lush pastures weren’t available. They did amazingly well on this substitute for pasture during the summer, but in the end there is NO substitute, just something to get you through.

So sometimes it’s not bad luck to draw up the number 8 slot in the childrens game we played, and to have to “jump over it” as plans B, C, and D will eventually make it okay for you to EAT IT and you get a good howl along the way.

I’m so grateful for my patient hardworking partner with a great sense of humor. My how we’ve laughed over the years.