Brassica crop keeps on growing and feeding dairy cows
Dairy cows at Green Lane Farm, near Chester have been enjoying Winfred semi-dwarf brassica crop - a cross between a stubble turnip and kale this autumn, after organic dairy farmer Andrew Arden drilled 4.5 hectares at the end of June.
The crop was zero grazed from mid August until early September when it yielded more than 24t/ha. A second cut was taken six weeks later, yielding 9.8 t/ha. It has been fed with grass silage in a feed bunker to 160 cows.
“I am keen to grow as much home-produced protein as possible as the cost of bought-in organic soya continues to rise,” Mr. Arden said.
“We have a lot of red clover in our swards and we tried growing lucerne for the first time this year. Putting in the Winfred came about after the early harvest of some winter wheat. I have been very impressed by the amount of material we have been able to harvest.”
Winfred available from Oliver Seeds, has better winter hardiness than stubble turnips. Mr. Arden hopes to take another cut next March, before the crop is ploughed in and the field drilled with an organic barley, pea and vetch mixture called Barley ProPlus.
