Roughage tour Week 17
Fresh grass sampling sheds light on first cut
Dairy farmers are getting the first cut of grass from the country this week. Some participants in the Boerenbusiness Roughage tour have already mowed grass and others are about to start. The big question is of course: what is the quality of the grass and what are the contents?
Boerenbusiness is going out today (April 24) to collect the samples of fresh grass from the 10 livestock farmers participating in the Roughage Tour. Representative samples are taken from multiple random spots on the plot to get a good and average image. This is done according to a standard protocol, drawn up by Limagrain.
Due to the corona measures, the collection requires an extra tight schedule. The participants prepare the fresh sample as soon as the employee of Boerenbusiness is nearby. Those samples are then taken and taken directly to one of Limagrain's three labs. Here the nutritional values of the samples are determined.
Slow grass growth
It is too early to say anything about the results in advance. The fact is that it is a very dry start to the season. All 10 participants indicate that the plots could use some water.
Fred Lugthart is a roughage specialist at Limagrain in Friesland, Flevoland, Utrecht and North Holland. In his territory falls the 1e cut similar to last year. “Then the first farmers also mowed around 20 April and the majority a week after that. This year grass growth has been quite slow, there has not been a growth spurt as usual due to limited moisture and lack of rain after fertilization. In combination with the sunny weather, this will translate into sugar-rich grass, with some average protein, but a good quality protein, given the stable dry weather, which provides more resistance."
Limagrain also notices that the plots are not nicely even this year. "The grass condition in the plots is very uneven. There are few plots with a nice tight green mat, you also see many open spots in the polder due to the after-effect of wetness or mouse damage. that on plots after mid-March, relatively many manure residues grow with the grass, because they have not been rained off. That is an extra reason to mow a little higher and possibly use an silage agent to minimize butyric acid formation," says Lugthart.
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