Roughage tour Fodder beets - week 37
First fodder beets have been harvested and fed
The first fodder beets were harvested on a plot of a dairy farmer who participates in the Boerenbusiness Roughage tour. Four out of ten dairy farmers in the roughage tour grow fodder beet, which they use to maintain the VEM content in the ration if it deteriorates in the grass. The fodder beets are known for their high VEM contents.
With Hans Schoenmakers from Udenhout (North Brabant), the first fodder beets of the Rialto variety are harvested by hand. He chose this variety because of its reliability and the fact that the root mainly grows above the ground. This makes the fodder beets cleaner and easier to harvest. Schoenmakers wants to clear the way to maize. For this he has already harvested the fodder beets on the headlands of the plot and along the spraying tracks.
Schoenmakers' plan is to have a fellow farmer come every two to three weeks with the beet harvester to harvest the beets for this period. This ensures that Schoenmakers can feed fresh beets until March. By feeding this super fresh, he retains the highest VEM value. The cows receive around three kilos of feed beet per cow and this is gradually increased. The fodder beets are shredded and fed together with eighteen kilograms of silage from the first and second cut, plus 24 kilograms of maize. "Since feeding the fodder beets, the fat and protein percentage has increased by 0,1 percentage point. "However, this is not due to the fodder beets, but because I have also just started feeding the new silage". Shoemakers don't say much yet, the fodder beets continue to grow until November/December.
In Wapse (Drenthe) near Robert Welhouse the fodder beets are still in the ground. Welhuis expects an average yield, despite having watered the fodder beets. "It has been too hot for the fodder beets, which means that the harvest will unfortunately not be a great one this year." The fodder beets are shredded and fed with a feed mixer. The freshly fed beets provide an extra tasty ration. In contrast to previous years, when Welhuis always silaged the beets in the maize silage.
Manon van der Meer
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