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Reduce concentrate costs with field beans
Due to the enormously increased concentrate prices, the feed costs have a significant impact on the milk balance. In addition to paying extra attention to extracting good roughage, the cultivation of a concentrate substitute can reduce your feed purchases. The field bean is very suitable for this, as more and more farmers are experiencing.
Since LG in 2016 the Tundra winter field bean introduced in the Netherlands, the acreage of field beans is growing steadily. Ground field beans are a high-quality concentrate with an average of 1.050 - 1.200 VEM, 25% to 32% crude protein and up to 400 grams of starch.
Depending on the ration, livestock farmers replace 1 kg of soy with 1,5 kg of bean meal, or 1 kg of soy and 1 kg of maize meal with 2 kg of bean meal. This results in significant savings in feed costs:
In addition, with field beans you not only reduce the purchase of feed, but also of fertilizer: the leguminous field bean binds N from the air itself. After the harvest, the beans also deliver up to 100 kilos of N, ideal for grassland to sow. Thanks to the early bean harvest (August), you can already mow a nice cut of grass in the autumn.
Eco-premium in new CAP
The cultivation of protein crops will be stimulated in the CAP that will come into effect on 1 January 2023. The cultivation of field beans is one of the possible activities in the eco-scheme, which can yield a €60 to €200 premium per hectare.
Winter or summer field beans
Tundra winter field beans are sown from mid-October to the end of November in well-moisture soil with a sufficiently high pH (clay >6 and sand >5,4). Mixed cultivation with winter wheat is also an option, which gives you extra weed suppression and yield security, especially on lighter soil. The yield potential of Tundra winter field beans is more than 8 tons per hectare, which was also achieved by several growers in 2022.
Summer field beans are sown from early spring and have a slightly lower yield potential than winter field beans. More seed is also needed.
Would you like to know more about the cultivation of field beans? Download our white paper >
