This looks like a good year for maize and fodder beet, at least in terms of yield and quality.

Harvesting of maize is under way and many crops already have mature cobs along with green leaf. Beet crops responded well to the early summer heat to set themselves up a good harvest also.

Last week, Goldcrop held an open day for fodder maize and fodder beet varieties in Cobh.

This is a favourable site, sitting on a south-facing field and sheltered from the sea winds. Many of the early maturing maize varieties were ready for harvest on the day.

The fodder beet varieties were equally impressive, with individual roots best described as massive wherever there was additional space for growth. All had good healthy tops following a single fungicide application in early August.

Forage or concentrate

Both of these are fodder crops but maize might be best described as a forage, while fodder beet might be described as more equivalent to a concentrate. Both are destined for the livestock farmer and better suit out-farms, away from the main grazing block, or to be produced by tillage farmers on contract to best use the skills of both farmer types.

Dave Barry of Goldcrop said that beet DM has a UFL (energy) value of 1.15.

Maize, on the other hand, provides a combination of grain plus fibre, which makes it more of a forage with a DM UFL of 0.8.

Dave went on to suggest that maize better suits spring-calving dairy herds as a buffer feed in the spring or in the autumn when grass is either very rich or a bit scarce.

Supplying 25% to 30% of the forage as maize helps to dry up the gut to make better use of rich spring grass.

Beet tends to be more associated with beef fattening, where it is used to substitute for a proportion of the concentrate.

Adding beet to a diet helps to increase overall dry matter intake and performance.

But Dave stated that it is important that it be washed and chopped to help maximise its value.

The relative value of different forages depends on how the calculations are done, Dave stated.

Looking at different options on a cost/1,000UFL utilised basis (this does not include a charge for land), well-managed grazed grass is cheapest (€58) followed by washed and chopped fodder beet (€122) and uncovered maize (€131), then first-cut silage (€132) followed by maize under plastic (€138).

But when a €200/ac land cost is put in for all forages, maize under plastic comes in third (€181) after grazed grass (€108) and fodder beet (€154).

Relative values

Maize under plastic produces the highest utilisable dry matter yield per acre, estimated to be 25%, or more, higher than grazed grass.

The relative values of the different alternatives are shown in Table 1 where they are valued as they come out of the field and also as a feed-out cost.

Dave reminded us that beet varieties vary in dry matter content, with sugar beet types having the highest dry matter level.

And, as feeds are valued on their dry matter content, sugar beet is worth 15% to 20% more than fodder beet, depending again on the variety and dry matter.

Sugar beet varieties tend to be around 21% to 22.5% dry matter, while fodder beet varieties can be anything between 12% and 19% dry matter depending on the variety.

Transport cost from field to farm must also be considered, especially for maize but this also applies to fodder beet.

In making silage from maize, Dave indicated that the majority of crops should have enough free sugars for fermentation at ensiling to make good silage. However, pits need to be rolled heavily to squeeze out air pockets.

This is especially important in high-dry-matter (>32%) maize silage clamps because if it is not heavily rolled, secondary fermentation is likely to occur during feed-out. So the challenge is to minimise or avoid secondary fermentation at the pit face.

Where silage is likely to be at or above 32%DM one might consider an additive to prevent secondary fermentation at the pit face. It is still important to roll as tightly as possible before covering.

Maize varieties

As maize is primarily grown as a source of starch, it is useful to show the recommended list varieties ranked according to starch yield (Table 2).

All of the recommended varieties were grown at this site, along with a number of others that are being evaluated. Goldcrop made particular reference to a new variety – Spyci CS – which was bred by Caussade Semences in France.

This variety is in its third year of recommended list trials and is up for recommendation next year. In its first two years in trials it averaged 105 for dry matter yield and 107 for starch content. Its dry matter content is average at 100.

Its dry matter yield is similar to P7905 but there is a seven point different in starch content in favour of Spyci.

Fodder beet varieties

Fodder beet varieties tend to be divided into different categories based on their root dry matter levels as follows:

  • Sugar beet and energy beet.
  • High dry matter fodder beet.
  • Medium dry matter fodder beet.
  • Low dry matter fodder beet.
  • As well as having broad differences between variety types, dry matter level also influences other characteristics.

    In general, lower dry matter varieties tend to have a bigger proportion of their root growing above ground, while higher DM varieties tend to have the bulk of their root below ground. Variety characteristics for a number of beet varieties are shown in Table 4 .

    Sugar beet types have more of their root in the ground but they also have the classical fold in the root, which is associated with intensive root formation and holding soil at harvest. For this reason, such varieties should always be washed for feeding and high DM roots also need to be chopped for high intakes.

    Two new varieties:

    Viridis has a white, classically shaped sugar beet root with yield potential that is halfway between the long-serving Magnum and the high yielding Enermax. It has been a consistent performer in trials. Its leaves are floppy and this might be a factor if harvesting with a belt harvester.

    Tarmina is also a sugar beet type with white roots. It produces big fresh yields and is high in dry matter.

    This variety has strong, upright leaves.

    Recent results indicate that its yield level is around 116 compared with 112 for Rosalinda. So it is one to look out for into the future.

    There are also many other good varieties of maize and fodder beet in the market supplied by other companies.

    The economics of fodder crop production are good in comparison to many combinable crops. The development of a feed value system for maize was an important step to help promote fairness in trading.

    Weather has a huge bearing on the quality of a maize crop and poorer quality is worth less to the user and vice versa. With fodder beet, yield is the main variable and feeding quality is not heavily influenced by season.

    Both maize and fodder beet are relatively expensive crops to produce and the total variable costs are shown in Table 3. These figures are for maize grown under plastic and this additional cost is deemed to be profitable in itself in respect of some additional yield produced and the assurance of higher silage quality and potentially earlier harvesting, both of which have a value in themselves.

    Saleable yield is obviously important where the crop is to be sold. Maize has the additional cost of ensiling and covering while many varieties of fodder beet should be washed and chopped for improved intake and animal performance.

    Yields in excess of 30t/ac are not uncommon for fodder beet but it takes good crops on good fields in a good year to exceed 22t/ac of forage maize. The implications for margins can be seen in Table 3.

  • Producing crops for livestock producers, either maize or fodder beet, can be profitable options for tillage farmers.
  • Fodder beet should really be washed and chopped for feeding, especially if being fed to dairy cows.
  • Fodder beet for sale is a potential high margin crop and has looked good in recent years in Teagasc’s e-profit monitor.
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