Mike Thayer

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Has anyone had any experience with feeding biochar to livestock? Does it need to be fed on a continuous basis, intermittently, or once and done?
 
Mike...... there are folks feeding biochar to their own livestock. the approach depends on such issues as,, biomass type, livestock type, what is the goal.
 
Has anyone had any experience with feeding biochar to livestock? Does it need to be fed on a continuous basis, intermittently, or once and done?
I've no firsthand experience with feeding biochar, Mike, but where I've seen it most discussed is in reducing digestive methane production by feedlot cattle. I went googling to find answers to your questions and didn't come up with anything definitive -- plenty of intriguing titles for research which exists behind paywalls. For instance, the abstract of this paper by Joseph et al (2015) tantalized me:

Feeding Biochar to Cows: An Innovative Solution for Improving Soil Fertility and Farm Productivity

While it was disappointing not to dive into this and other papers, I was glad for the hunt because I found The Biochar Journal and this paper by Gerlach and Schmidt (2014) on feeding biochar to cattle, which states:
90% of the biochar produced in Europe is used in livestock farming. Whether mixed with feed, added to litter or used in the treatment of slurry, the positive effect of biochar very quickly becomes apparent. The health – and consequently the well-being – of the livestock improve within just a short space of time. As regards nasty smells and nutrient losses, the use of biochar could even herald a new age of livestock farming, closing agricultural cycles of organic matter.
The info I found in my brief buzz around the internet didn't give me confidence about dosage amount, feeding intervals or potential side effects. Like Mikethewormguy said above, the answer seems to be "it depends". The Gerlach and Schmidt paper noted this much:
Biochar was administered at a dosage of 200-400g per cow and day in the farms I myself am responsible for, on the basis of studies by Feldmann (1992), who conducted in vitro experiments with activated carbon. But the adsorption capabilities of chars gained by pyrolysis show major variations.
Seems like this might be a question to ask a top-notch beef extension specialist. I'm sorry I can't make a better recommendation! But if I wanted to try using biochar as a feed supplement, I'd ease into it as a small, safe experiment, making careful observations along the way that could help me make the best possible decisions while learning on the fly.

If you give this a try, I'm sure there are many who would be interested in hearing how it goes. It's a fascinating idea for improving both soil and livestock health! Let us know how it goes, please!
 
I've no firsthand experience with feeding biochar, Mike, but where I've seen it most discussed is in reducing digestive methane production by feedlot cattle. I went googling to find answers to your questions and didn't come up with anything definitive -- plenty of intriguing titles for research which exists behind paywalls. For instance, the abstract of this paper by Joseph et al (2015) tantalized me:

Feeding Biochar to Cows: An Innovative Solution for Improving Soil Fertility and Farm Productivity

While it was disappointing not to dive into this and other papers, I was glad for the hunt because I found The Biochar Journal and this paper by Gerlach and Schmidt (2014) on feeding biochar to cattle, which states:

The info I found in my brief buzz around the internet didn't give me confidence about dosage amount, feeding intervals or potential side effects. Like Mikethewormguy said above, the answer seems to be "it depends". The Gerlach and Schmidt paper noted this much:

Seems like this might be a question to ask a top-notch beef extension specialist. I'm sorry I can't make a better recommendation! But if I wanted to try using biochar as a feed supplement, I'd ease into it as a small, safe experiment, making careful observations along the way that could help me make the best possible decisions while learning on the fly.

If you give this a try, I'm sure there are many who would be interested in hearing how it goes. It's a fascinating idea for improving both soil and livestock health! Let us know how it goes, please!
Here is an idea to noodle on....... use wood biochar, as a carrier for a prebiotic, like garlic extract, and then blend with a DFM probiotic, as a feed supplement.

Biomass char only does 2 functions. It delivers stuff and/or takes up space.

my 2 cents,

Mike
 
Here is an idea to noodle on....... use wood biochar, as a carrier for a prebiotic, like garlic extract, and then blend with a DFM probiotic, as a feed supplement.

Biomass char only does 2 functions. It delivers stuff and/or takes up space.

my 2 cents,

Mike
Am curious how many folks on this forum grow garlic...? How many grow garlic for sale ?
 
I obtained a small of amount of activated bio-char to feed to my sheep. The supplier recommended feeding it at 1/8 cup per day per sheep. I mixed 12 cups of bio-char with 50 pounds of a grain ration in a cement mixer. The result looked pretty black, but it wasn't very dusty as I would expect. I fed 1/2 pound of the mix per head yesterday for the first time. The ewes did not hesitate to eat it. Of course, it is too early to tell if there are any effects from feeding it.
 

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