Roughage tour Week 32
Grass plots are barren misery, also worries in corn
The lawns need water and very quickly. Some dairy farmers cannot avoid irrigating and can hardly see the grass growing. The maize also needs water in certain regions.
According to the dairy farmers participating in the Boerenbusiness Roughage tour it is 'a dry misery' on the lawns and watering must be involved if the growth is to continue. With the ongoing heat, growth will only be more disappointing. They have a gloomy outlook for the coming days. Irrigation still provides some growth, but the dairy farmers wonder whether the grass crop has sufficient vigor under the high temperatures.
Irrigate the solution
Anyone who has irrigated recently will see a clear difference in the length of grass where the water has and has not been. This is also the case with Sander Vijverberg from Strijen (South Holland), where the grass is arid in the places where he has not irrigated. According to him, the grass would have grown very little without watering. The same applies to Robert Welhuis in Wapse (Drenthe), who notices clearly less grass growth on the dry heads on his plots. He also watered his fodder beets last Tuesday to prepare them even more for the heat.
At Silvain Kusters in Guttecoven (Limburg) the drought is not easy at all. He still has his third cut of grass. "The third cut of grass becomes nothing anymore. I hesitated before to mow, but there is almost nothing and it no longer grows." Kusters does not have the possibility to irrigate. Grass growth is not much better in Udenhout in North Brabant, says Hans Schoenmakers, who has now started irrigating his fodder beets. After the last mowing, almost nothing has grown on his lawn. "The grass is very barren here".
Never rained a plot so often
With regard to the drought on the maize fields, it is a little easier for dairy farmers, but precipitation is also urgently needed here. Especially in the south of the Netherlands, the maize is really starting to show signs of drought. For example, Schoenmakers has a maize plot that needs a lot of attention in terms of moisture: "I have a maize plot on dry sandy soil and have already irrigated it three times. Never before have I irrigated the same plot so often".
According to the dairy farmers, the earliest sown maize is also the best this year. They conclude that the maize sown later is slightly more affected by the drought. On average, dairy farmers are satisfied with their maize fields. Plots in the south of the Netherlands are already suffering from the drought and heat, says Kusters. There are plots that show considerable drought symptoms. The crop also has a taste for ripening. That will only go faster with the oncoming heat. According to the dairy farmers, there must really be precipitation, so that the maturing of the maize is not hindered.
Jesse Torringa
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