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There is much more protein to be obtained from grass
As early as 2018, the land-relatedness committee, set up by LTO Dairy Farming and the NZO (Dutch Dairy Organization), argued that by 2025 at least 65% of a dairy farm's protein requirement must come from the land on its own farm or from the immediate vicinity.
But it has actually been crystal clear for years that as a dairy farmer you should want to get more protein from your own land. "And then there's a lot of talk about all kinds of things." protein crops, but first look how much more you out gras can achieve." These are the words of 'grass guru' Bert Philipsen, project leader at Wageningen UR Livestock Research. "There is still a lot to be achieved", is his firm conviction.
From October 2016 to September 2019, Philipsen led the 'Protein from our own country' project, followed by the current ongoing project 'Home Made Protein'. The WUR project leader says that grass has enormous potential in terms of protein. "Other protein crops don't just get 10 tons of dry matter per hectare with 160 or 170 grams of crude protein (RE). Grass does and that's going on."
three-step plan
The question now is how can you make better use of that protein potential? Philipsen: "We developed a practical step-by-step plan from the first project. The first step is to determine your percentage of home-grown protein (EEL)." That is the self-grown and fed protein from the own country divided by the total fed protein. This prefix can be found in your Recycling Guide. Step 2 is an analysis based on six factors; where is the difference compared to the average and where can you steer. That average comes from an analysis of almost 3.000 Recycling Points in the period 2016 – 2018".
The radar diagram below shows these six factors:
A number from 1 to 5 is given for each factor. A 1 means a low score (much improvement possible), a 5 means the company scores well on this. The scan immediately provides insight into which concrete measures a dairy farmer can take (step 3) to increase the proportion of protein from his own land and make better use of it in the ration.
Grass genetics certainly play a role
Bert Philipsen points out the great importance of business operations aimed at more protein from the own country. "Take a good look at what you have on land and your own roughage and try to get the most out of it. More protein from your own land leads to less - now very expensive - use of concentrates. It reduces nitrate leaching, it promotes biodiversity. You can do all that. realize with your own grass." The livestock farmer's management is decisive, but grass genetics do play a role. "If you have to sow grass or overseeding, then choose the best varieties."
In general, in his view, disease resistance and (protein) yield through breeding have improved greatly in recent years. "But there is a difference, so make your own choice as a livestock farmer and don't leave it to the contractor." That choice depends on many factors, such as soil type, is it a meadow or a mowing plot, do you use legumes, etc. "With a meadow plot you want the highest possible fresh grass utilization and then you look more at disease resistance than with a mowing plot where it mainly concerns dry matter yield," concludes Philipsen.
Getting started with more protein from grass?
