are you having a laugh.
Fodder beetAny being sold in sussex
- Thread starter B614
- Start date
Mixedupfarmer
Member
- Location
- Norfolk
No, plenty of better options, feed it too ewes, but not fattening cattle, plenty of better / easier options
Hindsight
Member
- Location
- Lincolnshire
What value would you place on Sugar Beet.
Mixedupfarmer
Member
- Location
- Norfolk
If they work for you then great. We can get chips delivered in which imo are far superior for finishing, and don't have to bugger about storing, cleaning, washing and chopping beet, but do grow some for the ewes, and sucklers when we had them
- Location
- Montgomeryshire
Does anyone buy it direct from farmers, could be tempted to grow some if there’s a market
Whenever I lift a surplus (c.200-250t) most of it sold directly to other farmers, most of which come and pick it up with tractors and trailers. Sell a bit through dealers too, who have responded to the same local paper ad.
Mixedupfarmer
Member
- Location
- Norfolk
How's that going to work with direct drilling?Does anyone buy it direct from farmers, could be tempted to grow some if there’s a market
- Location
- Montgomeryshire
Surely all that is taken into account in the price paid? If the price is competitive then it’s a good feed.
With barley hitting £200/t, beet will be competitive as an energy source at quite high prices this year, probably at higher prices than the growers are selling it for.
location, location, location. im sure your chips are good stuff high starch , we feed spuds between beet time and the cattle do get an easier finish on them.
Strip til, still have to make a living, tried Linseed, OSR, Peas, Beans and Oats, all would have been better financially in AB15, I can grow a good crop of beet, well, used to
Mixedupfarmer
Member
- Location
- Norfolk
Maybe, but the cost of cleaning washing and chopping, along with storage (frost protection), low DM and lack of starch for finishing have to be taken into account, and in here are a significant cost / PITA. I agree that they will be better value feeding to ewes though.
Mixedupfarmer
Member
- Location
- Norfolk
This is what we found, just could not get finish on them without the starch. They also had wetter bedding due to the low dry matters, but maybe some of the newer high DM varieties may reduce this.
Mixedupfarmer
Member
- Location
- Norfolk
I meant what are you going to drill the following crop with if if you have to harvest the beet in a year like the last one?
would the AD boys want beet down your way? sheep boys in derbyshire cry out for it in feb march , i think haulage would kill it and in a early spring you might finish up with a heap of sh1t but we never have!
Mixedupfarmer
Member
- Location
- Norfolk
British sugar still looking for growers?
have a short memory, the last 2 oh sorry forgot youre the dry east!
Leave it over winter, worst case, paraplow and then GD barley
Mixedupfarmer
Member
- Location
- Norfolk
Similar too fodder beet, generally a bit higher DM so bit higher value, but will definitely need chopping. We have found they are harder on ewes teeth than fodder beet as well, probably due to being harder and higher sugar content
- Location
- Montgomeryshire
Quite a few round Shrewsbury ploughed lots in in the Spring two years ago. They had all upped areas having had a flier the previous winter, then had an early Spring the next year.
I ploughed the last 2ac under myself, rather than pay a contractor £90 to lift it. Probably should have lifted it to get it out of the way tbh, as it was a pita coming back up in the following forage crop. It seems to be easy to kill when you don’t want to, but difficult to kill when you want it gone.
