Hydroponic fodder production offers a climate-resilient solution to chronic green fodder shortages in water-scarce semi-arid regions. This study evaluated an automated automated irrigation–based hydroponic maize fodder system within a low-cost polyhouse (180 m²) at Ananthapuramu, India during Kharif 2020. Three bedding materials control (no bedding), paddy straw, and sorghum stover were compared under manual and automated irrigation. One kilogram of maize grain (₹16 kg⁻¹) produced 2.65–4.40 kg green fodder within seven days, with sorghum stover achieving the highest yield (4.40 kg tray⁻¹) and a 66.04% increase over control. The water requirement was 2 L tray⁻¹ day⁻¹ (14 L per cycle). Automation reduced irrigation labour by 12 man-days monthly (₹6,000 saving month⁻¹) compared to the manual system requiring 12 man-days month⁻¹ Water productivity ranged from 0.19–0.31 kg L⁻¹ across treatments, with sorghum stover achieving the highest efficiency. Economic analysis revealed benefit–cost ratios of 0.37–0.87 per tray at market prices; however, system-level economics incorporating labour savings demonstrated a net annual return of ₹1,09,592, a payback period of 2.28 years, and a return on investment of 43.8%, indicating improved feasibility at the integrated system level. This research establishes that integrating automated irrigation with appropriate bedding materials improves viability under integrated system-level conditions and enhances resource-use efficiency for smallholder dairy systems.