Fodder beet is a rare sight on the West Coast, but Grey Valley farmer Darryl Kennedy is an enthusiastic advocate of the crop after it helped put condition on his cows through a wet winter.
Three hundred of his rising two and three-year-old cows were fed about 7kg drymatter (DM) of fodder beet a day through winter on a crop that reached more than 30 tonnes DM/ha. And he's rapt with the results, so much so that he intends growing 30ha for the cows next winter as well as including it in the cows' menu during milk production.
"It's such a cheap feed to give them because it's so high yielding per hectare."
Darryl milks 900 cows with his father Bill on a 350ha milking platform at Atarau and they became interested in fodder beet after watching over the fence to see how neighbour Gary Graham got on growing the crop. When Gary raved about its virtues, the Kennedys planted 7ha of fodder beet on the milking platform for the R1 and R2s, and another 5ha on their 80ha runoff over the Grey River at Totara Flat for the R1s.
The goal was to use it to improve cow condition through winter and improve their fertility without it costing an arm and a leg.
Dry weather in March had them questioning their choice of crop without irrigation as the leaves turned brown and a big chunk fell off, leaving them with some sad-looking paddocks to discuss at a field day in April. But the crop bounced back without any lasting effect. The milking cows fed on it for a fortnight in May before drying off, then the 7ha fed the 300 younger cows for most of winter.
‘It's great for putting weight on cows through the winter period – phenomenal.’
In the past they have used kale and rape for the winter crops, with the kale reaching 14-15t DM/ha compared with the fodder beet at more than 30t on the milking platform and 25t on the runoff, where the soil dries out more. They have had better results with the fodder beet putting condition on the cows, feeding 7kg DM with up to 4.5kg DM a cow of silage, 2kg DM of hay and 1kg DM of maize silage.
"The magic number in the industry is 12kg DM of fodder beet per cow along with fibre, but when we gave them just that and not enough other supplements they didn't seem to do as well."
They started the cows on 2kg DM fodder beet a day, increasing that every second day by a kilogram until they were offering the cows 12kg, but by that stage they were leaving some of the crop each day. After three weeks on that diet, the cows were still not putting on weight and just weren't happy. So they dropped back to 7kg and that worked well.
"They all seem very happy on that and there's no wastage. And we like a few different things in the rumen, though they'll tell you differently." (See Lincoln University veterinary scientist Dr Jim Gibbs’ advice on page XXX.)
The older cows had 36ha of rape and kale to keep them going through winter, though next year they will also move on to fodder beet as the Kennedys plan to plant 30ha on the milking platform and 6ha on the runoff for the R1s.
Fodder beet has been grown on the West Coast in the past but often with disappointing results, so both Darryl and Bill took on board advice from the seed representative and were particular about soil preparation and sowing.
Seven hectares of fodder beet was the main feed source for 300 R2 and R3 cows through winter.
They sprayed twice before ploughing and then planting the crop in October, but spray drift on a hectare meant they had to go back and plant that part again in mid-November. The crop was sown with a precision drill belonging to Gary who is adamant it is a crucial factor for the success of fodder beet, with the potential of adding 10 tonnes DM/ha to the crop.
"You have to use a precision drill," Gary says. "You can plant it with a direct drill but you might get 10 tonnes less because you have to have uniform germination and then have a very soft spray to knock the weeds back until the plant has canopy closure.
"The first thing I did was follow the instructions to the letter from the rep. You need to follow the programme and have your reps monitor the crops."
Darryl and Bill sprayed three times for weeds in the crop's early stages of growth, including an insecticide in the first spray. The insecticide was a preventative spray against spring tail and nysius that Darryl says causes major mayhem in some fodder beet crops.
"It's a very intense period for two months."
But once established, moving the break each day is a breeze compared with rape and kale as there are no tall stems to negotiate.
The fodder beet cost about $2300 a hectare to establish and produced high-yielding crops. On the milking platform which is made up of terraced river flats with a loam soil, the Kennedys planted the cultivar Rivage, with a deeper root and smaller bulb. It's the crop that performed the best, with an end result of 35 tonnes DM/ha. On the runoff's fertile river loam they planted Brigadier which has a bulb protruding even more out of the ground and it worked well for the calves, reaching 25 tonnes DM/ha.
When the cows were dried off at the end of the season, their body condition score (BCS) averaged 4.5 and Darryl reckoned they had easily gained half a condition score during winter. It's too early to judge any difference in fertility with the use of fodder beet, but improved condition was a start. In the past few years they have kept later-calving cows to boost numbers in the herd, so last year they induced 3% of the herd and this year it would be about 4%. With inductions no longer available next year, Darryl says they will continue to focus on nutrition to improve fertility. Their empty rate has averaged 7.5%, with 84% getting in-calf within six weeks, but he wants to tighten that even more.
"We do spend a bit of time focusing on nutrition," he says. "I believe most issues with cows can be solved with nutrition."
They grow wheat and barley for alkalage because they had problems with sub-clinical acidosis in the herd and Darryl says it is proving beneficial. This year they also tried some maize alkalage with the milking herd because of the staggering results it was achieving elsewhere, though Darryl said it was expensive to make and at this stage was still a trial on the farm.
‘The magic number in the industry is 12kg DM of fodder beet per cow along with fibre, but when we gave them just that and not enough other supplements they didn't seem to do as well.’
Over the fence, Gary Graham is so enthralled with fodder beet that he intends harvesting it on the runoff this season to bring back to the milking herd.
"I'll just make a pile in the paddock opposite the feed pad."
He milks up to 1350 cows at the peak of the season and though he has pivot irrigation in place, the fodder beet with its 600ml tap root was able to find moisture without irrigation.
He began growing fodder beet two years ago with 10ha that achieved a yield of 23t DM/ha. Last year he couldn't plant until December 16 because of the season and achieved yields of 25, 29 and 32t DM/ha on 110ha, including 47ha on the milking platform.
He started feeding it to the cows in April behind a wire, increasing it to 5kg a cow and continued feeding to the end of the season. Through winter they were offered 12kg fodder beet a day along with straw and balage for roughage.
At the beginning of winter the cows averaged a BSC about four and by calving they had increased to 5.5.
"It's great for putting weight on cows through the winter period – phenomenal. Especially with maize silage and PK Plus for a bit of protein."
From calving, the cows are fed 4-5kg DM of saved beet on the farm and when that runs out about October, Gary will harvest crop on the runoff to carry back to the milking platform and feed to the cows.
Plus, his projections show that feeding the crop to the cows through the season should drop the quantity of palm kernel to a third of what he has fed out in the past. And it will replace the summer turnips.
"It's making me money."
Palm kernel costs him between 36 and 45 cents a kilogram DM and grain this year will cost 53 cents, while he puts the cost of fodder beet between six and 10 cents a kilogram. Yet it has a metabolisable energy level of around 13 MJ/kg DM which Gary says puts it on par with grain.
"I just find it awesome. I love the stuff."
Crop care critical
The West Coast's temperate climate produces more leaf on fodder beet crops than many other regions, adding extra protein to make it a more balanced feed source.
PGG Wrightson technical field representative Shaun Barrett has been working with West Coast farmers growing fodder beet for the past couple of years and said the crop not only grew more leaf, but was unaffected by caterpillars that often plagued the region's crops.
"We face a lot of bugs on the coast and we seem to be forever putting sprays on some crops, whereas caterpillars aren't a problem with fodder beet. It needs herbicides, but not so much insecticides."
Like Gary Graham, he also advised planting with a precision drill to get uniform growth in the young plants and it was one of the factors that made a difference in crop yields.
"It's a soft sort of a plant, so to get our yield up we have to keep on top of the weed population and the idea of precision drilling is getting all the plants to come up at the same time. If we have to wait for plants to germinate we can end up wiping out those young ones coming through the surface.
"The other influence has been when farmers have not been able to get the timing of the sprays right because the weather has not been conducive or a helicopter is not available. And that's something we have to take into account on the West Coast. It's more important with fodder beet because timing of sprays is very, very crucial."
Softer chemicals used on fodder beet work by building up residue in the soil with each spray to suppress weeds, so a missed spray meant the spray programme might have to start again, he says.
"And if you're six to eight weeks into it, that's almost impossible to do."
Interest in fodder beet has increased on the West Coast, which he attributes to increased knowledge about how to manage it in the region to consistently achieve good results. Initially he hoped the crops would achieve 24 tonnes DM/ha, but they have surpassed his expectations and averaged 24-26t.
Two years ago 11ha of fodder beet was grown in the area, but this year he expected to oversee about 200ha and that was just the farmers he worked alongside.
"The more we play around with it the more we can see how it will fit in with our system and the more it will be grown."
Key points
Location: Atarau, Grey Valley, West Coast
Area: 350ha milking platform and 80ha runoff
Herd: 900 crossbred breeding back to Friesian
Production: 365,000kg MS 2013-2014, 460kg/cow
