A corny question

I ferment my dried corn because I don't have a cheap way to crack it, food grade drum for large amounts, five gallon bucket for smaller amounts, corn, water and vinager of any kind with mother, always save some back for next batch, works for me..

Oh Ya. here is an after thought and major food waist alert, recycling option soon approaching you. The week after haloween, hit all of those green boxes in Martha Stuart land. They will be filled with decorative pumpkins, most not cut. They will store awhile. That's soup, pie, dog food, free seeds, animal feed, compost, dehydrated stores, etc. Happy hunting.

I ferment my dried corn because I don't have a cheap way to crack it, food grade drum for large amounts, five gallon bucket for smaller amounts, corn, water and vinager of any kind with mother, always save some back for next batch, works for me..

Thanks FG. How long do I let it sit?

Its hard to answer that as the time of year, the strength of the mother, the size of the bin all effect things, but this is what I can say, at the 12 hours mark, you should see good swelling, by the 24 to 48 hour mark, you should start to get a slightly sweet/fruity smell, and when you push on your corn, the outer will start to slip, NO mold, etc.

http://naturalchickenkeeping.blogspot.ca/p/fermented-feed.html

If you have steel plates anywhere, after it's off the cob, lay it between the plates and drive over it a couple of times in a heavy vehicle.
(Doesn't everybody's dad work at a machine shop and have 1/4" and 1/2" steel laying around? What do you shoot at if not?)
🙂
I'll just throw it out there, though: Unless it was for storage space, we have never cracked corn for anything but ducks. We soak the dried ears or kernels to soften them, then the chickens made them disappear - even fair chunks of the cob. Never noticed anything different about the manure or birds or laying when they were eating refuse corn or Halloween and Thanksgiving decorations gathered up from around the community.

The donkey and steer used to munch the softened cobs, too, although it's almost useless as a feed for those two and they're better off on grasses and hay.

I ferment my dried corn because I don't have a cheap way to crack it, food grade drum for large amounts, five gallon bucket for smaller amounts, corn, water and vinager of any kind with mother, always save some back for next batch, works for me..

Hey farmgal. Im hitting a similar dilemma, my guru diva. Sun flower seeds. Not a big harvest this year. Same as many in my area. I recovered enough seeds for a mass planting next year...but here we are again. My thoughts are, sprouting to crack them as chicken food. What is your sagely advice.
Dug carrots today and got a few doozy foot and a half long ones