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'We want to completely replace soy with field beans'
This season, the IJpema family has been growing summer field beans in Ezinge in Groningen for the third year. "We really like feeding bean flour as a protein-rich concentrate substitute," says Klaas IJpema. In 2023, the sizes will grow more field beans to feed their own protein all year round. Then purchasing soy is no longer necessary.
Despite a lot of rain after sowing their summer field beans, the buddies Klaas (55), his wife Bettie (51) and their son Peter IJpema (26) are still satisfied with a yield of 7 tons of beans per hectare, this year from loam soil. "After full-field sowing on March 16, there were many showers. The ground was closed in places and fewer beans emerged. The plants that did come through well were growing well."
The IJpema family will be growing from 2020 LG Cartouche summer field beans. They milk 65 cows on 50 hectares of land and grow 30 hectares of grass, 5 hectares of maize, 7,2 hectares of winter wheat and 3,5 hectares of summer field beans. IJpema also rents out 4 hectares for seed potatoes. "The pre-fruit of the field beans was winter wheat. 10 tons of solid manure per hectare was applied over the wheat stubble, which we then plowed on winter furrow."
Since field beans are leguminous plants that fix nitrogen from the air, the crop can do with little fertilization. Immediately after sowing, a soil herbicide is sprayed against weeds. "Cultivation costs are relatively low and not much higher than in 2021. It is important to sow deep enough to prevent bird damage, because ducks and pigeons have a lot of problems with us. You have to make sure you get enough plants per square meter. , at least 38."
Feeding ground beans
On September 1, IJpema threshed his beans. This yielded 7 tons of beans per hectare with 14% moisture, so that post-drying was not necessary. The dry beans are stored in grain boxes. "Once every eight weeks, the contractor grinds 6 tons of beans. We have the ground beans blown into a silo. We feed a mixed ration of grass, maize and crushed wheat and every feed we unload bean flour into the feed mixer."
IJpema feeds 1,5 kilos of field bean meal per cow per day, which replaces 1 kilo of soy per cow per day. Field beans contain 27% to 32% protein and 350 to 450 grams of starch and are therefore high-quality concentrates. "This year we still had to buy soy. Hopefully not again next year, because then we will grow 5 hectares of summer field beans. With 1,5 hectares of extra field beans, we want to be able to feed our cows bean meal all year round." The partnership has bought another seeder with which they can sow both summer and winter field beans. "It is a 3 meter wide 8-row row with a row spacing of 37,5 centimeters. We are switching to sowing in rows and with this machine we can also sow deeper against bird damage."
Read all about field beans in our online cultivation file >>
