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Roughage tour Week 14

Lower concentrate costs through summer stable feeding

7 April 2021 - Erik van der Deure

More protein from our own land is becoming increasingly important. With 65% protein from our own land as an indicator for soil-bound, summer stable feeding is becoming more and more popular. 

Dairy farmer Roel Assies, participant in the Boerenbusiness Roughage Tour, has been successfully applying summer stable feeding (offering fresh grass in front of the feed fence) for years. About 25 years ago he fell in love with the system and fanatically started using it.

Assies starts summer feeding as soon as there is enough grass. ''At the feed fence I keep feeding corn and corngold to maintain stability and to be able to steer easily. With the fresh grass I can turn off the concentrate tap a bit with 1,5 to 2 kg per cow, says the dairy farmer and arable farmer from Zeewolde (Flevoland).  

Highest KVEM per hectare 
In the table below, the different systems are placed next to each other in order to make a good comparison. From a business economic point of view, limited grazing scores slightly better than summer stable feeding. With summer stable feeding, savings can be made on the purchase of (concentrated) feed. The summer stable feeders also manage to achieve the highest kvem/hectare, with 1.200 more than limited grazing and 700 more than summer feeding. 

Comparison between pasturers, summer feeders and summer stable feeders Source: Alfa Accountants

Not as rosy as it seems
Summer stable feeding has advantages in terms of efficiency and utilization, but there are also disadvantages. For many companies, labor is the biggest barrier to starting summer feeding. Opening the door and letting the cows fetch the grass themselves is simply less work.

Leo Tjoonk, knowledge coordinator for roughage cultivation at Agrifirm, sees much more in a combination of the various systems. ''By starting summer feeding just before or in the fall, the autumn grass is used optimally and the dairy farmer is not busy with summer feeding all year round.'' 

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