Feeding fodder beet to cows

stanflt

Anyone do it?
How does it feed
Costly

Here's my thinking

Pit beet in march- washed chopped and mixed with citrus pulp

Was also thinking of pitting it with maize and brewers so I would have 1kg dm of maize/beet/brewers/citrus to have as a buffer feed for the shoulders and cut down on silage growing and stock the block at 4.5

Maybe just maybe even consider getting out of winter milk all together

I reckon I can deliver 600kg ms per cow on a spring calving system

Am I mad

Panch18

stanflt wrote: »

Anyone do it?
How does it feed
Costly

Here's my thinking

Pit beet in march- washed chopped and mixed with citrus pulp

Was also thinking of pitting it with maize and brewers so I would have 1kg dm of maize/beet/brewers/citrus to have as a buffer feed for the shoulders and cut down on silage growing and stock the block at 4.5

Maybe just maybe even consider getting out of winter milk all together

I reckon I can deliver 600kg ms per cow on a spring calving system

Am I mad

Where you going to get beet in March?

If its a hard winter beet will need to be out of the field early

the idea of pitting with maize etc is definitely a goer though

If you wanted to try the maize/beet 50:50 mix for a winter there is a guy in Kildare who was selling lorry loads of it of donedeal last winter.

I'd say its rocketfuel

Timmaay

Panch18 wrote: »

Where you going to get beet in March?

If its a hard winter beet will need to be out of the field early

the idea of pitting with maize etc is definitely a goer though

If you wanted to try the maize/beet 50:50 mix for a winter there is a guy in Kildare who was selling lorry loads of it of donedeal last winter.

I'd say its rocketfuel

I remember that, 65quid a ton delivered was abit steep, as maize is worth 55/t and beet only 40ish. Surely with grain quite cheap this year, and pits full all over the country, the price of beet and maize will fall also?

trixi2011

You could graze it

Cow Porter

4 to 1 mix with soya hulls I think is what a few do around here if there is some left over. Good feed and will keep well. Depending how you was and chop will decide how expensive it is I think. There is a lad in North cork with a washer and chopper similar to the cross machine who does a good bit for pit beet as far as I know.

stanflt

this is all ive found so far

http://www.dlf.com/upload/karsten_jensen_afsluttende_afrapportering_vedr_projekt_sam%E2%80%A6.pdf

Cow Porter

stanflt wrote: »

this is all ive found so far

"The cows are very happy"

Is it the ethanol? Lol

Is there beet locally or will you grow it? Do you intend clamping in march still and use maize already ensilled? Put a price on it?

stanflt

Cow Porter wrote: »

"The cows are very happy"

Is it the ethanol? Lol

Is there beet locally or will you grow it? Do you intend clamping in march still and use maize already ensilled? Put a price on it?

might grow some next year and ensile in october

was offered beet in march this year for 35ton chopped and washed

if grown myself approx 40ton excluding wash and chop

Coonagh

As numbers here increase I was thinking if sowing a small bit of it and graze in the back end and the spring time in order to extend the rotation. Anyone I've spoken to that's doing it is getting on fairly well with it. They use it as part of a reseeding programme

farmer10

Panch18 wrote: »

Where you going to get beet in March?

If its a hard winter beet will need to be out of the field early

the idea of pitting with maize etc is definitely a goer though

If you wanted to try the maize/beet 50:50 mix for a winter there is a guy in Kildare who was selling lorry loads of it of donedeal last winter.

I'd say its rocketfuel

Seen that. What way would that work would it heat €50/t was what he was charging. Reasonable.

farmer10

Timmaay wrote: »

I remember that, 65quid a ton delivered was abit steep, as maize is worth 55/t and beet only 40ish. Surely with grain quite cheap this year, and pits full all over the country, the price of beet and maize will fall also?

Think it was €50/t delivered

farmer10

Great feeding but wouldn't pay to grow it if u could buy for €40/t. Tying up your land when you should try graze as much cows as possible to generate as much profit as you can. Great for cows in winter milk.

Miname

would spuds be an option. i had a lad ask me would i be able to get rid of 300 ton of them next week. he wants 30 a ton for 1st grrade spuds he needs out of the cold storage. says the country is full of them this year.

Sam Kade

trixi2011 wrote: »

You could graze it

That looks like mangolds they are lower in dm which means more of the root grows above ground which makes them suitable for grazing.

farmer10

Miname wrote: »

would spuds be an option. i had a lad ask me would i be able to get rid of 300 ton of them next week. he wants 30 a ton for 1st grrade spuds he needs out of the cold storage. says the country is full of them this year.

Cows love them go mad for them once you give it to them but need to Buffer they can get acidosis if not getting digestable fibre in the diet

Timmaay

farmer10 wrote: »

Think it was €50/t delivered

Different chap so, at 50quid delivered I'd have got it definitely.

Greengrass1

farmer10 wrote: »

Cows love them go mad for them once you give it to them but need to Buffer they can get acidosis if not getting digestable fibre in the diet

Same as beet. Too digestable. Beer can be digested in two hrs

Brown Podzol

stanflt wrote: »

might grow some next year and ensile in october

was offered beet in march this year for 35ton chopped and washed

if grown myself approx 40ton excluding wash and chop

Say an outside farm to maximise feed grown and utilise slurry a rotation of one third beet and two thirds Rvp. This on land not suitable for maize or to take the inconsistency out of growing maize and minimise the amount of tilling needed. Would that be a runner.

freedominacup

Brown Podzol wrote: »

Say an outside farm to maximise feed grown and utilise slurry a rotation of one third beet and two thirds Rvp. This on land not suitable for maize or to take the inconsistency out of growing maize and minimise the amount of tilling needed. Would that be a runner.

Unless you contract out the beet growing it would be hard to recommend it to a novice. Beet is a hard enough crop to get right. The inputs are very high and you need to get good crops to make it pay. Maize is a lot easier to manage but the right site is harder to come by. If you know what you are about nothing will beat beet for dm yield.

leg wax

oh the days of the surplus beet from filled sugar beet quotas ,25 euro a ton dropped in, the rise in solids paid for the beet ,not to say the amount of silage saved.

farmer10

Timmaay wrote: »

Different chap so, at 50quid delivered I'd have got it definitely.

His name was john salley I think. I thought it definitely wasn't dear to buy & he'd still make serious profit out of his produce. When you have cows milking over the winter you can't beat maize beet etc grass silage is good too but must be cut early for high dmd

visatorro

are you any further on with this Stan, have you come to any conclusions? neighbour is thinking about sowing beet which I could draw out what I need

Brown Podzol

stanflt wrote: »

Anyone do it?
How does it feed
Costly

Here's my thinking

Pit beet in march- washed chopped and mixed with citrus pulp

Was also thinking of pitting it with maize and brewers so I would have 1kg dm of maize/beet/brewers/citrus to have as a buffer feed for the shoulders and cut down on silage growing and stock the block at 4.5

Maybe just maybe even consider getting out of winter milk all together

I reckon I can deliver 600kg ms per cow on a spring calving system

Am I mad

It's the sustainability of the system. It's not every year that the feed you are talking about is abundant and relatively cheap. Buffer feeding that feed will need good facilities, adequate feed space so all can eat together, and extra work as cows will have to be brought in earlier to allow them time to eat buffer as against feeding meal in the parlour. Good quality silage bales work better as you are not opening and closing a pit as you need buffer and you don't need as much feeding space in my experience, you can milk away as cows are feeding and when half are milked shoo the rest into the collecting yard and leave the milked ones to eat the silage or return to paddock.

4.5, every thing needs to be right, price and weather, I would take a chance on the weather if the price was right. I was ready to stock at 4.5 this year but sold heifers as the price will be wrong. If the weather is wrong at a high stocking rate you will be buying the milk from the last livestock unit.

Spring calving and milking all cows to within 45 days of calving, even without a winter bonus, has been very profitable for me in the past. It comes down to milk/feed price ratio and the milkiness of the cows, response to meal feeding. 12 kg dry matter silage cost is going to be incurred whether the cow is milking or dry. Is the 6/8 kg meal cost going to be covered by the ltrs produced and leave a profit and leave the cow in the condition you want her to calve in?. Say meal cost this year, 8 kg x 25c -€2, 15 lts@ 35 -€5.

keep going

Brown Podzol wrote: »

It's the sustainability of the system. It's not every year that the feed you are talking about is abundant and relatively cheap. Buffer feeding that feed will need good facilities, adequate feed space so all can eat together, and extra work as cows will have to be brought in earlier to allow them time to eat buffer as against feeding meal in the parlour. Good quality silage bales work better as you are not opening and closing a pit as you need buffer and you don't need as much feeding space in my experience, you can milk away as cows are feeding and when half are milked shoo the rest into the collecting yard and leave the milked ones to eat the silage or return to paddock.

4.5, every thing needs to be right, price and weather, I would take a chance on the weather if the price was right. I was ready to stock at 4.5 this year but sold heifers as the price will be wrong. If the weather is wrong at a high stocking rate you will be buying the milk from the last livestock unit.

Spring calving and milking all cows to within 45 days of calving, even without a winter bonus, has been very profitable for me in the past. It comes down to milk/feed price ratio and the milkiness of the cows, response to meal feeding. 12 kg dry matter silage cost is going to be incurred whether the cow is milking or dry. Is the 6/8 kg meal
cost going to be covered by the ltrs produced and leave a profit and leave the cow in the condition you want her to calve in?. Say meal cost this year, 8 kg x 25c -€2, 15
lts@ 35 -€5.

you touched on something interesting , the now changed economics of milking cows a bit later or longer due to quotas going .while the margin in that milk is lower it will pay many years and feeding cows for qthe winter is just cost.i am thinking of growing wholecrop wheat or barley on rented ground using it to stretch autumn grass and milk on.while I suspect the economics of growing it might be tight it suits the ground if it comes this year as its rented year to year and is in stubble.

blue5000

freedominacup wrote: »

Unless you contract out the beet growing it would be hard to recommend it to a novice. Beet is a hard enough crop to get right. The inputs are very high and you need to get good crops to make it pay. Maize is a lot easier to manage but the right site is harder to come by. If you know what you are about nothing will beat beet for dm yield.

Ballpark what would it cost per acre, contractor doing it all? No point in going ploughing/tilling/spraying/harvesting it yourself when there is 101 other jobs to do. My dad used to grow it before Thurles closed. Maize is also a lot simpler to feed.

Brown Podzol

keep going wrote: »

you touched on something interesting , the now changed economics of milking cows a bit later or longer due to quotas going .while the margin in that milk is lower it will pay many years and feeding cows for qthe winter is just cost.i am thinking of growing wholecrop wheat or barley on rented ground using it to stretch autumn grass and milk on.while I suspect the economics of growing it might be tight it suits the ground if it comes this year as its rented year to year and is in stubble.

If possible undersow with a cheap grass seed mix. Harvest wholecrop as low as possible, the crop will be easier to pit and more stable with the grass. Also you could get a couple of grazings later in the year otherwise your field is idle from July.

stanflt

Brown Podzol wrote: »

If possible undersow with a cheap grass seed mix. Harvest wholecrop as low as possible, the crop will be easier to pit and more stable with the grass. Also you could get a couple of grazings later in the year otherwise your field is idle from July.

Grew whole crop here before- never again
Doesn't feed like its suppose to and not as good as 78dmd silage

keep going

stanflt wrote: »

Grew whole crop here before- never again
Doesn't feed like its suppose to and not as good as 78dmd silage

Maybe it wouldnt compare to maize/beet for winter girls but I have used it before with autumn grass and it s ideal for that job and for that job might be ahead of grass silage as they seem to graze better with that than silage which just switches off grazing

keep going

Brown Podzol wrote: »

If possible undersow with a cheap grass seed mix. Harvest wholecrop as low as possible, the crop will be easier to pit and more stable with the grass. Also you could get a couple of grazings later in the year otherwise your field is idle from July.

The options are to undersow with grass but the yeild will be lower with the wheat or harvest wheat and follow with it rape or kale depending on cutting date.it would all be done min till.one year a neighbour got a fantastic cut of barley rape mix in late oct when dropped barley came with the rape, lucky he did it instead of grazing as 2 weeks later we got snow which would have wiped out rape

Dawggone

stanflt wrote: »

Grew whole crop here before- never again
Doesn't feed like its suppose to and not as good as 78dmd silage

+1. Wholecrop just doesn't produce. Good maize is waaay better.
Forgot to give final spray to a field of w wheat last May, so we said we would pit it. No good. Won't be going there again.

Greengrass1

Im not going to grow maize or winter wheat.
Hoping to get very high 70 DMD silage for winter milkers this yr and minimal meal fed. What would ye feed with the silage to get a good 26l out of cows and not take condition off cows.
Heaps and heaps of beat for sale around me

stanflt

Greengrass1 wrote: »

Im not going to grow maize or winter wheat.
Hoping to get very high 70 DMD silage for winter milkers this yr and minimal meal fed. What would ye feed with the silage to get a good 26l out of cows and not take condition off cows.
Heaps and heaps of beat for sale around me

assumes avg cow weight is 580

13kg/dm 76dmd silage
5kg fresh brewers
ikg soya
4kg 16% hi nrg nut in parlour
0.4kg straw

required for 27kg and 3.4%p

Greengrass1

stanflt wrote: »

assumes avg cow weight is 580

13kg/dm 76dmd silage
5kg fresh brewers
ikg soya
4kg 16% hi nrg nut in parlour
0.4kg straw

required for 27kg and 3.4%p

Simple diet. Will see if we can go with that.
Breeding results looking good. Will Scan in a few weeks. Looks like an 80% conception to 1st service

Timmaay

Greengrass1 wrote: »

Im not going to grow maize or winter wheat.
Hoping to get very high 70 DMD silage for winter milkers this yr and minimal meal fed. What would ye feed with the silage to get a good 26l out of cows and not take condition off cows.
Heaps and heaps of beat for sale around me

Beet not a bad option, but be careful about feeding too much sugar beet. I've said it a few times to ya ha, the best option is just to reduce the number of your winter calvers...

Greengrass1

Timmaay wrote: »

Beet not a bad option, but be careful about feeding too much sugar beet. I've said it a few times to ya ha, the best option is just to reduce the number of your winter calvers...

I will when I'm fully stocked.
Will be 45 to serve next winter. I'll only keep 30 winter milkers wether I sell those 15 or push them too spring is the question

stanflt

Greengrass1 wrote: »

I will when I'm fully stocked.
Will be 45 to serve next winter. I'll only keep 30 winter milkers wether I sell those 15 or push them too spring is the question

30 winter milkers and late lact cows requires 1200 litres of winter milk contract per day


Do you have this or do you need to be winter milking

Greengrass1

stanflt wrote: »

30 winter milkers and late lact cows requires 1200 litres of winter milk contract per day


Do you have this or do you need to be winter milking

Think our winter contract is 500l day.
Were thinking about buying some liquid contract.
I'll be able to milk on 60 next ye to nearly Christmas
I shouldn't need contract for the late lact cows.
If I have contract for what I calve and milk I will be good to go

stanflt

Greengrass1 wrote: »

Think our winter contract is 500l day.
Were thinking about buying some liquid contract.
I'll be able to milk on 60 next ye to nearly Christmas
I shouldn't need contract for the late lact cows.
If I have contract for what I calve and milk I will be good to go

You only need to calve 15 winter cows in November to fill your contract- calve the rest in jan feb

Greengrass1

stanflt wrote: »

You only need to calve 15 winter cows in November to fill your contract- calve the rest in jan feb

We've always over supplied and got paid granted only 35/40 being milked 25/30 fresh calved
Might change with quotas going. Definitely not going to bother my arse if they make us stick to our contract and we only need to calve 15 cows.
I'll stay in bed for the extra hr over the winter

Timmaay

Our liquid contract is 350l/day. Winter surplus bonus runs out in December, and is quite small anyways. We calved 14 last autumn, and milked on another 30 late spring calvers, so have over suppled the Jan liquid by about 8klitres, annoying because we get zero bonus on it. My dad wanted to serve more winter milkers this year but I've dug my heals in, and pushing them around until the spring (it's got to the stage where if he tells me go out and get the number of the cow bulling I tell him it's a cull ha). Also the reason why I've being very quick to boot the cows out to grass now, was I buying or selling milk with the cows on grass silage, maize, 6kg of nuts, low solids and no winter bonus ha??

Greengrass1

Those late lactation milkers is cheap milk.
There going to get silage any way.
Minute grass us gone this autumn any milket needing TLC will be dried and rest milked up to 6 wks before calving like we always did.
We haven't decided if we'll buy any liquid contract yet but if we do it'll only be for another 500l.
In case glanbia dig the heels in and make us stick to our winter contract