Friday, March 29, 2024

Scope for beet in sheep systems

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The uptake of fodder beet in the South Island has been fierce. Its key is its flexibility, which extends beyond dairying and into sheep farming systems. The crop has found favour as a highenergy winter food for dairy cows but beef farmers are now growing it for finishing.
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The crop has another exciting element, and this is within sheep systems. Farmers growing it for their beef are testing it on their ewes.

Lincoln University’s and New Zealand’s fodder beet guru, Jim Gibbs, is excited about the profit potential fodder beet can bring to the sheep industry and sees increasing production through increased stocking rates as one way to do this.

“Fodder beet can artificially crank up stocking rates on the whole farm.”

He warned it wasn’t suited to all regions or soils.

As sheep are best set stocked on three-day blocks at a rate of 200 head/ha, depending on crop yield, excessive muddy conditions over winter can be an issue in regions with higher rainfall or soils that aren’t free draining.

Incorporating fodder beet into wintering systems as a crop for ewes is on the rise, but Gibbs said a more specialised system was to use the high-energy crop to achieve good growth rates in lambs. Store lambs are bought in autumn and finished over winter.

In-lamb hoggets also do well on the crop and it can also be used to carry extra ewes over winter.

Gibbs said one issue he encountered was farmers having to balance their stock numbers based on what they could carry over winter. As a result spring pastures could get away, loosing quality for lamb growth.

With beet more ewes could be wintered, allowing higher stocking rates, and resulting in more mouths to keep control of fastgrowing spring grass and thereby maximising production.

Unlike cattle, sheep are not affected by rumen acidosis from grazing fodder beet, although they are susceptible to clostridial disease so vaccination is vital.

Crop yields can be large but Liam Donnelly of Seed Force said he typically saw the range being between 17-25 tonnes. Under irrigation this tended to be 22-30t.

Unlike cattle, sheep are not affected by rumen acidosis from grazing fodder beet, although they are susceptible to clostridial disease so vaccination is vital.

The Seed Force variety Brigadier, a traditional mangel-type beet, is considered one of the better varieties for sheep and yearling calves because it is soft, upright, and a sits well out of the ground. It is lowest in drymatter at 6-8%, compared with mid-range beets at 14-19%, and the highest of the harder beets at 30%. The mid-range beets are more suited to cattle and the harder beets ideal for harvesting.

Gibbs said older ewes could handle the mid-range beets okay but younger sheep and yearling calves would do better on the softer beet.

Don’t be tempted to graze lambs on leaf tops in autumn, like swede tops.

Donnelly said the leaf was high in protein and low in drymatter so animals would scour, plus the bulb was reliant on the leaf for growth through late summer and into autumn. Maturity dates tended to be 180-200 days.

Aphids aren’t a problem but springtails, greasy cutworm, and nysius are. Both pest and weed control are important.

Beet has specific fertiliser needs especially salt, potassium, and boron.

Soil tests should also be done to identify nitrogen, phosphorous, and magnesium levels.

Donnelly said the plant did respond to nitrogen and it helped drive the canopy, key to creating a good yield. A later application of nitrogen would also help keep the leaf green going into winter.

Boron inputs tended to be higher than those for brassicas. A general rule of thumb was 1kg/ha for every tonne of beets – that is, 25kg/ha for a 25t/ha crop.

Sodium and potassium are crucial but there is debate about what these levels should be. Gibbs said these two inputs drove yield more than any other input and his experience showed that the farmers achieving the best yields had consistently high inputs of sodium and potassium.

He was unhappy about recent recommendations by one of the large fertiliser companies suggesting lower amounts of these two inputs where MAF Quick Test results were less than 4. He considers this advice to be incorrect.

As a price guide, Gibbs said best practice crops across NZ this year had typically been between $1800-2400/ha, with a tendency for the larger crop areas further north to be at the lower end.

The bottom line

Using a fodder beet crop grown on James and Helen Hartshorne’s property at Tapanui in West Otago, Seed Force priced the cost at $2422.29/ha. The price included soil tests, pre-spraying, full-contract cultivation, sowing, fertiliser, and weed and pest treatments.

MAF Quick Test results were good for sodium (7) and potassium (12).

AgSalt was applied at 120kg/ha, and potassium (MOP) at 100kg/ha. Total boron applied was 29kg/ha. Fertiliser costs contributed to 23% of the total cost at $550/ha, excluding cartage, mixing, and sowing. The crop yielded 23-24tonnes/ha.

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