Thursday, 11 June 2015 12:02

Watch fodder beet levels, farmers urged

Written by 
Beets have become popular feed for cows. Beets have become popular feed for cows.

DairyNZ scientists are urging farmers to take care when feeding fodder beet to their dairy herds this winter.

The caution comes as vets report increased issues with cows becoming ill or even dying as a result of problems experienced on fodder beet crops.

Beets have become increasingly popular over the past two years because they are high yielding and are suitable as a supplement for dairy herds. They are particularly popular in Southland and Canterbury, but are now being grown in North and South Island.

Despite being an excellent source of metabolisable energy, there is concern that some cows are getting too much of the high sugar crop in their daily feed intake or are not getting sufficient time to adapt to fodder beet as part of their winter diet.

“We have had reports of farmers offering cows unlimited access to fodder beet. Because of its high concentration of sugars, fodder beet is a feed that should not be offered in this way,” says DairyNZ nutritionist Dr Jane Kay.

DairyNZ senior scientist Dr Garry Waghorn says fodder beet’s high sugar component means that excessive intake of beets can lead to lactic acid production in the cow’s rumen, and cause acidosis.

The transitioning stage for fodder beet becoming part of the cows’ winter diet is critical to ensuring that cow health and the nutritional value of fodder beet are optimised.

Waghorn and his associates at DairyNZ have run trials on the impact of fodder beet feeding. They have found that even following the recommended transitioning over 14-21 days some cows could not cope with high levels (>70%) of fodder beet in the diet.

“Cows vary in the rate at which they adapt to a new feed type and in the amount they can eat. Move too quickly or feed them too much and you will kill some of them,” Dr Waghorn says.

The DairyNZ trial work found that cows need to be transitioned carefully onto the crop over a 14-21 day period.

A typical transition would involve ramping up the fodder beet input by an additional 1kg DM/cow every second day, from a starting base of 2kgDM/cow/day.

DairyNZ trials at Lincoln transitioned cows at an average of 0.5kgDM/cow/day, taking 17 days to get them up to their 8kgDM/cow/day allocation.

Waghorn said it was critical to ensure that cows were also offered sufficient silage, hay or straw before feeding the fodder beet, to slow down their intake of fodder beet.

Once transitioned it was also vital that farmers continue to pay attention to the proportion of fodder beet in the diet.

“At one stage in our trials we had cows eating 85% fodder beet and 15% straw. Half of these cows became sick, required treatment and had to be taken off the diet. 

“This was in a controlled environment, and he emphasises the importance of offering enough supplement to a herd to ensure all cows achieve adequate intakes to avoid acidosis.

“This trial work has shown that the herd should not be offered more than 70% of their diet as fodder beet. The remainder of the diet should be a long fibre source,such as silage, hay, or straw, and the cows should be fed this before their beet.”

This is about 8kgDM/cow/day in beets, and 4-5kgDM/cow/day of the other feed(s). “If you go over 70% fodder beet, you could kill some of your cows,” said Waghorn.

Good practice in managing a herd on fodder beet also requires that farmers accurately measure the crop yield. This includes knowing the percentage dry matter offered in each break, and remembering that this can vary within and between paddocks.

It was important that the cows grazed a ‘mix’ of the roots and tops, and care was needed to ensure cows were eating the entire break offered, and uneaten beets were not accumulating behind them.

“Every cow is unique and will adapt to the fodder beet diet slightly differently. Our trial showed that even a well-planned transition can result in acidosis and if cows are fed more than 70% of their diet as beet, half the herd are at risk of acidosis.

More like this

Strong uptake of good wintering practices

DairyNZ has seen a significant increase in the number of farmers improving their wintering practices, which results in a higher standard of animal care and environmental protection.

Winter grazing warning

Every time people from overseas see photographs of cows up to their hocks in mud it's bad for New Zealand.

Better animal genetic gain system

A governance group has been formed, following extensive sector consultation, to implement the recommendations from the Industry Working Group's (IWG) final report and is said to be forming a 'road map' for improving New Zealand's animal genetic gain system.

Featured

Massey Research Field Day attracts huge interest

More than 200 people turned out on Thursday, November 21 to see what progress has been made on one of NZ's biggest and most comprehensive agriculture research programmes on regenerative agriculture.

Expo set to wow again

Stellar speakers, top-notch trade sites, innovation, technology and connections are all on offer at the 2025 East Coast Farming Expo being once again hosted in Wairoa in February.

A year of global challenges

As a guest of the Italian Trade Association, Rural News Group Machinery Editor Mark Daniel took the opportunity to make an early November dash to Bologna to the 46th EIMA exhibition.

National

OSPRI's costly software upgrade

Animal disease management agency OSPRI has announced sweeping governance changes as it seeks to recover from the expensive failure of…

Machinery & Products

BA Pumps expand

Cambridge based BA Pumps & Sprayers, specialists in New Zealand-made spraying equipment, has acquired Tokoroa Engineering’s product range, including the…

Entries open for innovation award

Fieldays and its renowned Innovation Awards are celebrating their 57th year, marking a longstanding tradition in the agricultural calendar, with…

» Latest Print Issues Online

Milking It

Chinese strategy

OPINION: Fonterra may have sold its dairy farms in China but the appetite for collaboration with the country remains strong.

Not fair

OPINION: The Listener's latest piece on winter grazing among Southland dairy farmers leaves much to be desired.

» Connect with Dairy News

» eNewsletter

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter