“Farmers in the past have probably tripped themselves up because it was about beating the guy next door, but now I think they’re genuinely interested in extending their business and interested in what people are trialling. Their candid nature in this area is helping everyone progress.”
Just five minutes away, sharemilkers Chris and Carla Staples grow 10ha of swede to winter about two-thirds of their 360-cow herd and last season began grazing it before the cows dried off, partly because of wet weather in May. Usually they dry off the cows completely before grazing the swede crop to avoid mastitis.
“Last year we wintered 240 at home but it was too many because it was a hard winter. I think we’d lose too much production by wintering them all on the farm.”
Through winter the cows get 5kg of grass and 5kg of swedes each, plus 2kg of palm kernel from trailers in the paddocks.
“We’ve used straw before but that was just filling them up whereas the palm kernel puts weight on,” Chris says. “For what you pay for it, it’s worthwhile.”
So are the swedes. Though the crop takes the paddocks out of the round, Chris says the combination of the crop at about 15 tonnes/ha and the grass on it the rest of the year means the yearly tonnage is about 20t drymatter (DM)/ha from the swede paddock compared with just grass at about 11t DM/ha.
Like Dale, he sows the swede crop in late December and both say it’s better to sow less seed when planting later in the season.
The recommended amount of swede seed to sow is 1.25kg/ha, whereas they sow between 0.5 and 1.1kg and end up with bigger bulbs that result in a higher-yielding crop.
“Our 0.5kg/ha crop last year was fantastic,” Dale says. “It was the heaviest yielding crop on the farm which was measured at 20t/ha.”
From Dale’s experience, a beautiful bowling green-prepared paddock before planting normally spells a poor swede strike on their water-drenched silt soils.
Ploughing paddocks with minimal cultivation to follow has achieved the best results.
“On our heavy ground we need to aerate the soils and break the pans formed there. It offers a lot of drainage for plant establishment and it’s also part and parcel of improving the contour of the farm.
“We don’t overwork the paddock; minimal cultivation is important because overworking it gets you back to a water-impermeable surface. A beautiful bowling green around here will normally result in poor swede strike.”
Eighty units of phosphate go on at planting, with potassium and urea spread out through February and March. Now Dale is considering more urea in April because the crop is still growing.
Swedes are not the only crop of choice around Whataroa as farmers look for ways to improve their system in the challenging climate. Kaye and Grant Burgess milk 200 cows and have grown swedes for 20 years to winter some of the herd, but last year planted their first fodder beet crop so they could keep all the cows at home to save money.
This year they have 3.5ha of swedes and 6.5ha of fodder beet planted for winter. They intend drying the cows off before putting them onto the swedes, then transition them onto fodder beet just before calving and carry on with the beet as long as possible.
“Fodder beet is tried and tested in Canterbury, but we have to trial and test it here,” Kaye says. “Getting it in the ground is the problem with the weather and we probably miss out a month in growth. But we still averaged 24 tonnes last year and when you work that out per-cow in feed, it’s cheap.”
Last year the fodder beet worked out at $2300/ha and this year it will be a bit cheaper because the weather limited the herbicide sprays. It has meant there are more weeds in the crop, but it still looks like it will yield well.
“There’s damn more to lose if your fodder beet crop fails than if your swede crop fails.” she says.
Weather and lower grass production normally limits them growing grass supplements, though this season they have managed to get 90 bales of balage made to add to the available feed.
Not far away, Dale and Stacey Straight milk 1050 cows on a once-a-day system and this year they have 34ha of fodder beet planted to help winter the whole herd.
In the past they have wintered two-thirds off-farm, but in response to the poorer payout, all the cows will stay at home and if they can sell some cows, they will move to twice-a-day milking this season. Dale estimates twice-a-day will add another 15,000kg MS into the system, but they are still working out the cost of that production.
The herd produces a little less than 800kg MS/ha with no supplements apart from a couple of paddocks of silage from a neighbour. It’s hard to feed the cows well though, when pasture production is between 10 and 12t/ha DM.
Last year they planted 10ha in fodder beet for the first time and had a few problems with the transition despite religiously increasing the cows’ intake by only a kilogram of beet every two days.
“But some cows are into the beet just like that, while some take a week or two. That makes it difficult. And it’s also difficult to get the cows behind half a metre of break a day. The plan this year is to harvest some in a bucket to feed out to make it easier to manage and we’ll start that transition while they’re still milking.
“We’re only scratching the surface as far as milking cows on it.”
Once transitioned on to the fodder beet, cows will get 2kg of silage before their new break and then as much fodder beet as they can eat.
“The advantage with the beet is the potential yield advantage. You cock up beet and you’re still going to end up with 15t, though expensive. If you get it right, you might get 30-plus tonnes.
The cultivar Blaze yielded well last year, although there were problems with the fungus rhizoctonia in one paddock, which just about decimated the crop. However, the plants that survived thrived with the extra space and pulled through to produce about 20t/ha which was about breakeven point, if not better. Other paddocks produced up to 25t/ha and that’s what they are hoping to average this year.
“We need to get about 20t to be cost-effective. Last year it worked out just over 10c/kg DM.”
They’ve planted various crops over the years including swedes, kale and summer turnips, with varying success, but Dale says they are beginning to grow better crops regardless of the weather.
They also plant later – this year’s three fodder beet crops were planted on November 17, December 9 and December 19. Sown later, they have fewer plants, but bigger, he says, though different soil types vary the crops as well.
This year they have the updated Blaze cultivar as well as Brigadier, while a Seed Force trial on the farm has eight different cultivars planted including older, existing cultivars and new ones.
