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'Big plus in terms of fat content and animal health'
With 120 dairy cows, fifty beef bulls and associated young cattle on 57 hectares of land, a good roughage yield is important for the Scheepers family in Hoeven (North Brabant). On the advice of an enthusiastic fellow dairy farmer, they started growing fodder beets in 2019. "It is a beautiful feed with a very high dry matter yield."
Marien Scheepers farms as a successor in partnership with his parents on the family farm. In addition to 3 hectares of fodder beets, they grow 37 hectares of grass and 17 hectares of maize. "We use full grazing on the house plots. We also work with arable farmers in the region, exchanging land for maize and placing fodder beets and manure," Marien explains.
Feed from our own land
"With more than 20.000 liters of milk per hectare, we farm quite intensively, so we try to get as much feed from our land as possible. We no longer practice derogation and grow relatively more maize. And the fodder beets also provide a good yield annually with 20 to more than 22 tons of dry matter per hectare."
Health is the biggest plus
That enormous yield potential is not even the biggest advantage for Marien. "I see a major effect on the health of the animals. The cows are extremely eager for the tasty beets. The 2 kilos of dry matter beets that we feed is almost entirely extra feed intake. You will of course also get that extra energy back through healthier animals and higher levels in milk."
Take good care of cultivation
In 2019, Marien started with 2 hectares of fodder beets of the Rialto variety. "We immediately chose to leave the entire cultivation to our contractor. You have to take good care of the crop and the contractor is well equipped for this due to the sugar beet cultivation. We also invested in a VDW cleaning and cutting bin, so that we can process the beets. being able to feed well without too much extra work."
Primed seed
After three years of Rialto fodder beets, Marien sowed it in 2023 new variety Foribo. "A somewhat drier beet, with resistance to rhizoctonia and rhizomania and the seed was primed. The latter really appealed to me. I saw the Foribos emerge much more evenly this year and far fewer plants were lost than I was used to with the non-pregerminated ones. seed."
Store well
In mid-September, the contractor will harvest the first fodder beets so that Marien can start feeding. "We then dig up a stock about every three weeks. If winter is actually forecast, we completely dig up the remainder to prevent frost damage. For storage, I can recommend a Toptex fleece cloth to colleagues. The beets dry nicely underneath and can remain breathe, the quality remains much better."
