Reduce Cost of Feeding in Livestock farming by Using Hydroponic Systems

Hydroponic system in agriculture is a type of horticulture and a subset of hydroculture which involves growing plants (usually crops) without soil, by using mineral nutrient solutions in an aqueous solvent in tray-like structures to hold the solvent and give room for plant to grow. Terrestrial plants may grow with their roots exposed to the nutritious liquid, or, in addition, the roots may be physically supported by an inert medium such as perlite, gravel, or other substrates.

In this system, different fast growing plants such as grasses, cereals and legumes can be grown within few days and feed to livestock animal such as Goat, Sheep, Rabbit, Cattle, Pig, Poultry, Snail and grasscutter etc. The system is highly advisable to ranchers, once the initial capital constraint to start and to provide the required materials for the hydroponic system has been overcome. In the same vein, it requires some know-how, management and control.

If properly managed, it can supplement, augment or complement the feed given to animals. and in fact reduce the cost of feeding farm animals to 50%. Good right? so, Hydroponic system feeding of livestock is a good way to go. Why? because it has the fore-mentioned merit of reducing feeding cost to a reasonable amount among others like;

• It requires little space 
• It is cheap and affordable
• It is water and nutrient efficient
• It is rich in nutrients
• It produces high yield and fast growth
• It is easy to manage and control.

The Basic requirements for your Hydroponic system for Livestock feeding are: Tray-like structures(Plastic containers or Glass),  Hydroponic nutrient solution comprising of water and essential elements and minerals. Most of these elements can be obtained from fertilizer salts. You can either obtain them in a readymade solution or you can make your own homemade nutrient solution yourself using fertilizer salts and trace elements to give macronutrients as those that plants need in large amounts, including carbon, phosphorous, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, sulfur, potassium, magnesium, and calcium, it has to be checked and replaced weekly. Root support, Air pump for Oxygen supply, Light supply and Plants like sorghum. Other equipment such as Knives and ladder can also be provided to enhance management.

The next question would be, How do I build or develop Hydroponic systems???

It's quite plain and simple using the materials listed above, the steps are as follows:

• Find a suitable container for the system, tray-like with lid
• Drill holes into the lid of the container to provide support for the roots
• Assemble air pump, if available
• Fill the container with water to the lid level, add nutrients
• Introduce the plant seeds in wool cubes.

After this, watch the plants grow for few days, then cut as feed for farm animal. The most important part is that the nutrient solution has to be checked and replaced weekly for continous practice.

It would be of great benefit if farmers, especially the livestock farmers can follow these steps and try it out with the mindset of growing crops to be used as feeds for their animals in order to reduce the cost of feeding as planned and I'd like to have your feed backs after trying. Thanks!