This is what the first fresh grass analyzes show

The first bare light green plains can already be seen in the country, last week the first grass extraction started in many places. Some dairy farmers make room for the cows to graze outside, while others mow the entire area of ​​grassland. And every farmer wants to know: what nutrients does the cut grass contain? Hereby the analysis of the fresh grass at two participants of the Roughage Tour.

Dairy farmers Frank Rooker from Aartswoud (NH) and Hans Schoenmakers from Udenhout (NB) made the first cut last week. Rooker mowed everything off in the afternoon on April 26, he estimates the yield at between 3.000 and 4.000 kilos of dry matter per hectare. Schoenmakers mowed on 28 April with an average of 3.000 kg of dry matter per hectare. At Rooker, the first grass was chopped early in the afternoon on April 29, at Schoenmakers on the same day in the afternoon.

Below in the table the analyzes of the fresh grass.

Sugar varies
Rooker already had a large cut of grass. The VEM content with 971.3 is neat for the cut. The protein content is a bit on the small side with 154.7, this is due to the somewhat colder weather. The sugar content is also a bit tighter due to the heavy cut. Other than that it is a nice cut that is very clean which shows the rough ash. At Schoenmakers, the grass cutting is slightly less heavy, with an average of 3.000 kilos of dry matter per hectare. What is striking is that the dry matter percentage for fresh grass is already quite high at 25,5%. This may be due to the somewhat drier sandy soil. The VEMs give a slightly higher value at Schoenmakers. The less heavy cut affects the sugar content which is a lot higher. This shows that the protein content is slightly behind. The raw ash is also very neat at Schoenmakers.

Nice quality grass managed to win
Frank Rooker indicates that the weather was cloudy with little wind during the field period, so the grass did not dry quickly. In his opinion, he has managed to win a nice quality of grass. He expects to have a product of around 40% dry matter, which in his opinion should have been slightly higher. At Hans Schoenmakers it was still cloudy and dark weather, but on Friday 29 April mid-afternoon the sun still came out. Shoemakers expect between 35 and 40% dry matter product. All in all, Schoenmakers is satisfied with the choice made to mow. He says he has a nice product in his pit.

Reuben van der Maas

Intern at the Boerenbusiness Roughage tour

r.vandermaas@boerenbusiness. Nl

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