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Photo series: Homegrown concentrates
In the second half of July, the first plots of TUNDRA winter field beans in the Netherlands were already ripe enough to thresh. The winter field bean is sown in the autumn, from October to December, and sprouts immediately after the winter. The harvest is therefore much earlier than with summer beans.
More and more dairy and goat farmers are growing field beans as concentrate for their livestock. The feeding experiences are very good, the ground or crushed beans contain 270 to 320 grams RE and 350 to 400 grams starch. The yield potential of TUNDRA winter field beans is higher than that of summer beans. Knowing more? Download the white paper field beans with all the info >>
'Nice replacement for soy and corn flour'
Ruben Marijnissen milks 140 head of cattle in Nieuwerkerk in Zeeland. One of his motivations is to milk as much as possible from his own feed. In addition to grass and maize, he has therefore also been growing Tarine fodder beets and TUNDRA winter field beans for 2 years now. "The ground beans perform great, it is a great replacement for soy and corn flour. With the help of Antoon Verhoeven, we are getting better and better at handling the cultivation, so that the yield goes up."
This second year of cultivation, Ruben had the beans threshed on July 23. Agricultural trading company Cevaal collects the crates of beans and returns them ground. Reuben feeds 180 kg of bean flour per day from Septemberalong with fresh fodder beets. "That combination went really well last year."
'Up to 10 tons per hectare with mixed cultivation'
You can safely call dairy farmer Joris Buijs the field bean pioneer of the Netherlands, although he prefers to remain modest himself. As early as 2000, he started working with protein crops in order to become as self-sufficient as possible. Many crops were used and fell off again, but field beans remained. First summer field beans, since the introduction in 2016 by LG also TUNDRA winter field beans.
On July 20, Joris had the mixed crop winter field bean – winter wheat threshed. The mix is very good. "On the fields with field beans and wheat, the weed pressure is lower because the crop is denser. The beans bind the nitrogen. The wheat absorbs the nitrogen from the animal manure and grows better."
Joris grows his wheat beans on varying soil types, from clay to sand, on his own farm and with local horticulturists. This makes it virtually self-sufficient in protein.
This year, mixed cultivation yielded an average of 23 tons per hectare at 7,5% moisture, with peaks of up to 10 tons on the task card.
Dairy farmers start growing field bean
In recent years, a growing number of dairy farmers, often in collaboration with arable farmers, have started growing field beans to reduce concentrate costs.
Henry van Steenbergen from Kamperland (Z) was breeding this year for the 2e year of TUNDRA winter field beans for his dairy cows. The crop looked beautiful in the spring.
This spring, Zeeland was unfortunately ravaged by an enormous drought, resulting in a loss of yield. July 17 was already harvested.
The field beans are crushed immediately after harvest. This is a more rumen resistant food than ground beans.
The crushed beans are ensiled with a layer of beer grains on top.
Jan Claassen from Evertsoord (L) grew TUNDRA winter field beans for the first time this year. They were already harvested on 17 July, with a nice yield of 7 tons of beans per hectare. 
A day later, the field beans were crushed and grafted.
Dairy farmer Joost van Eert sowed TUNDRA winter field beans for the first time in the autumn of 2019. There was room in the building plan where the leguminous field bean would fit nicely. In this video he tells his reasons >>
In addition to 2 hectares of winter field beans, the 13 hectare plot was sown in the spring with Cartouche summer field beans.
The winter field beans were harvested on 22 July. On the best plots the yield was more than 9 tons/ha, on average the plot yielded about 7 tons/ha.
