- Location
- Ceredigion, wales
So what's involved? When is it sown, how is it sown, how much does it cost to grow etc etc
I expect it's just as cheap to buy?
TIA
I expect it's just as cheap to buy?
TIA
Growing fodder beet
- Thread starter GTB
- Start date
- Location
- Lincolnshire
It is just as cheap to buy really.
But we continue to grow it as we have the tackle left from when we used to grow sugar beet.
Drill into a reasonably fine, firm but no overworked seedbed from about now if conditions allow. Can drill up to end of April but yield suffers a bit.
I give it a big hit of preem weed killer as I can't be bothered with little and often. Works well for me. maybe also a grass weed killer,like Orama in June before the rows close up. A fungicide (Spyrale) in July. Manganese, Magnesium and Boron sprayed on. Mg and Mn as and when, Boron when it starts bulking.
It likes a lot of potash, about 140 kgN per ha, 50 kg phosphate depending on soil reserves.
Seed is fairly expensive. £60 per acre? Fertilser £120 per acre. Sprays £60 per acre. Stubble to stubble probably £160 per acre. So probably £400 per acre to grow. If you are lucky it can do 40 tons per acre so costs you £10 per ton. But I've known 20 tons per acre in a dry year so £20 per ton.
- Location
- Welshpool Powys
spin cycle
Member
- Location
- north norfolk
landslave the 2nd
Member
- Location
- near the zoo (m42 j11) east mids
Use the searchbox top right plenty of thread's on it.........just sayin that's all
Yes about buying it in this year,£12.50 in last week's FG paper ,or I did hear £5 collect from Newark for sugar beet
I used too sell at 25% of WW price,
All depends on tonnage required and which type of livestock and soil type.
KISS........... (KEEP IT SIMPLE STUPID )
Graze it in situ .....sheep,cattle,dairy.electric fence.
Harvest ,store it feed in mangers in shed or feed outside from dribbling out of tractor bucket.
Gess about £15 /ton to grow ,seed 1box £60 ish for 1.25 acres,weed sprays 60 acre,bug and fungi say 25,fert needs a higher potash and 70 units N,,, loves Fym, ph 6.5 ,contractor harvest £80 acre ,drill middle April ( frost will kill new seedlings).
Stock will love it......Most ME per acre effective crop you will ever grow.
Looking forward........upside giving you another home grown forage.likes fym , 1 in 5 rotation or 2 yrs on same field then a6 year gap.
Downside.....sugar beet boys getting pi$/ off with £ may grow fodder beet as got all the kit putting more in the market = lower price so cheaper to buy in
Yes about buying it in this year,£12.50 in last week's FG paper ,or I did hear £5 collect from Newark for sugar beet
I used too sell at 25% of WW price,
All depends on tonnage required and which type of livestock and soil type.
KISS........... (KEEP IT SIMPLE STUPID )
Graze it in situ .....sheep,cattle,dairy.electric fence.
Harvest ,store it feed in mangers in shed or feed outside from dribbling out of tractor bucket.
Gess about £15 /ton to grow ,seed 1box £60 ish for 1.25 acres,weed sprays 60 acre,bug and fungi say 25,fert needs a higher potash and 70 units N,,, loves Fym, ph 6.5 ,contractor harvest £80 acre ,drill middle April ( frost will kill new seedlings).
Stock will love it......Most ME per acre effective crop you will ever grow.
Looking forward........upside giving you another home grown forage.likes fym , 1 in 5 rotation or 2 yrs on same field then a6 year gap.
Downside.....sugar beet boys getting pi$/ off with £ may grow fodder beet as got all the kit putting more in the market = lower price so cheaper to buy in
- Location
- Lincolnshire
If the seedbed is a bit dry and knobbly (probably not this year) then a good rolling helps get it going, straight after drilling. Don't roll light sand though, or it'll blow and be a right mess. in the case light soil soils prone to blowing, drill straight into furrow pressed ploughing.
capping can be problem if certain soils are worked too fine and heavy rain follows drilling. Watch for slugs when emerging. Can wipe out acres.
capping can be problem if certain soils are worked too fine and heavy rain follows drilling. Watch for slugs when emerging. Can wipe out acres.
- Location
- Lincolnshire
I thought the seedlings would stand a bit of frost.
But the crop needs lifting before the frost gets into it or it's a mess.
But the crop needs lifting before the frost gets into it or it's a mess.
ssssh its a secret
- Location
- Ceredigion, wales
Thanks all. I think I will stick to buying it in. Fodder rape or stubble turnips I can manage but that sounds too complicated for me.
spin cycle
Member
- Location
- north norfolk
- Location
- Cornwall.
It's okay no-one noticed.ooops silly me...sorry
so you haven't just e mailed me with seed prices thenIt's okay no-one noticed.
spin cycle
Member
- Location
- north norfolk
i'm going to have a go at some main crop turnips this year...cheaper seed..higher protein....run by blog alongside roscoes
that won't be fair you've got better weatheri'm going to have a go at some main crop turnips this year...cheaper seed..higher protein....run by blog alongside roscoes
- Location
- Ceredigion
You need good land, I tried and gave up, swede out yielded it was esier to grow at half the cost
- Location
- Montgomeryshire
I grow it as an insurance crop. If my turnips or swedes fail/underperform, I can always strip graze the beet. If they do well, I can lift a lot if it for sale. Eggs in lots of baskets helps me sleep at night as we approach winter forage grazing.
Expensive crop to grow, if you grow it to get a good yield. My agronomist is even adamant that it has to be sprayed with a particular type of nozzle & pressure set up, which means getting a contractor in from further afield. I wasn't convinced, but it does seem to have had an effect.
Lifting here is £90/ac. If you can graze in situ, you obviously save that. Just run a scuffle through it afterwards to lift the rest of the crop for the sheep to clear up. Even after lifting there will be a good bit of keep. We lifted the last 6 ac of ours last week, and the remnants have kept 400 ewes for 8 days (still some bits left, but sides need tidying up before lambing too).
Expensive crop to grow, if you grow it to get a good yield. My agronomist is even adamant that it has to be sprayed with a particular type of nozzle & pressure set up, which means getting a contractor in from further afield. I wasn't convinced, but it does seem to have had an effect.
Lifting here is £90/ac. If you can graze in situ, you obviously save that. Just run a scuffle through it afterwards to lift the rest of the crop for the sheep to clear up. Even after lifting there will be a good bit of keep. We lifted the last 6 ac of ours last week, and the remnants have kept 400 ewes for 8 days (still some bits left, but sides need tidying up before lambing too).
Chimera
Member
- Location
- North Wales
How well will it stand some wetness? My target field for our great 2016 fodder beet trial(disaster) runs from sand at one end to sloppy sand at'tuther end. (River level) Is it worth sowing the wet bits, or just put in grass as runback?
- Location
- Lincolnshire
It will like the moisture from a growing point of view but grazing or harvesting could be messy.
- Location
- Lincolnshire
If you can grow turnips or swedes reliably and you aren't looking to sell forage, then I wouldn't bother with fodder beet. For us it's an insurance that my brother the sheep man wants us to grow.
Cattle like it but you end up needing more bedding. I don't think you can beat good silage or hay or barley straw, with perhaps a few acres of stubble turnips for the sheep over winter.
as regards spray nozzles for the beet herbicide, you need a fine spray at low volume if you are spraying post emergence. I think you need 015's or something. that's why a I put the whole lot of herbicide on preem with 04's at 200 litres per ha, 3 bar. Saves needing to buy a new set of nozzles and clatting about. Works just as well IMO.
If you have thistles then you might need some Shield or similar in June ish. Expensive, so spot treatment is best. Normal nozzles OK.
What puts me off it the most is the damage done to land carting it out onto the fields over winter for the sheep. Seems like madness to me when turnips or swedes could be self harvested by the sheep. If you feeding it indoors or self grazing then that isn't a problem, but with part of the root below ground and not frost hardy, I'd worry about grazing it in situ.
It also grates on me that it's at least 80% water.
I could live without it, but it's a "nice" crop to grow.
Cattle like it but you end up needing more bedding. I don't think you can beat good silage or hay or barley straw, with perhaps a few acres of stubble turnips for the sheep over winter.
as regards spray nozzles for the beet herbicide, you need a fine spray at low volume if you are spraying post emergence. I think you need 015's or something. that's why a I put the whole lot of herbicide on preem with 04's at 200 litres per ha, 3 bar. Saves needing to buy a new set of nozzles and clatting about. Works just as well IMO.
If you have thistles then you might need some Shield or similar in June ish. Expensive, so spot treatment is best. Normal nozzles OK.
What puts me off it the most is the damage done to land carting it out onto the fields over winter for the sheep. Seems like madness to me when turnips or swedes could be self harvested by the sheep. If you feeding it indoors or self grazing then that isn't a problem, but with part of the root below ground and not frost hardy, I'd worry about grazing it in situ.
It also grates on me that it's at least 80% water.
I could live without it, but it's a "nice" crop to grow.
- Tags
- dairy soil stability