I have just returned from a two day meeting of an  Organic Advisors Proteins  Group held in Belgium.   It is usual with these meetings to combine farm visits with technical sessions.  As in past years, the theme is reducing the dependence on purchased protein.  One idea that came out of the group is that farms need a clear strategy as to how they will reduce the dependency on purchased proteins, just as one should have long term cropping plan.

A visit to one of the few organic dairy goat farms was a first for me, with 400 nannies producing 1100 litres each per year.  For the dairy consultant, the thought that some of these goats milk for 3 or 4 years without kidding was a first.

New standards are forcing these flocks to adopt more grazing was good to see.  However, the farmer commented that nannies that had been introduced grazing as kids were much more adaptable to grazing otherwise they only went outside on a few days when the weather was just right “goat weather”.

The one area that always impresses me is the performance of mixed crops and not just spring planted but also winter planted with winter beans and triticale.

What does seem to be different from us is that Europeans plant higher seed rates especially of the protein crop.

These crops are normally harvested dry and used on farm but work is ongoing to ensile these crops.

We visited a Belgium dairy farm milking 50 Montbeliarde cross Fleckvieh cows.

 

One of the interesting things on so many Dutch and Scandinavian Farm is the attention that they give to silage clamps.

The latest thing I saw is this water filled tube placed adjacent to  the clamp wall and this eliminates   side waste

 

As is common on many Low Country Farms is

the high input systems and the complexity that goes with it  However our host was adapting to grazing but still housing and buffer feeding with  the high levels of supplementation.  He was trailing very diverse swards.

The mix was very similar to our diverse swards whilst the mix had originated in France.  The deep rooting chicory and plantain were being used to pump minerals from the deep subsoil.

A couple of papers were given.  The first looked  at Tannins and their role improving protein utilisation.  Work in Sweden had shown that Tannin rich silage produced more milk than similar swards.

The second paper looked at the role of higher dry matter silages (45-55% DM) in improving the protein quality and the impact that this could have on reducing the need for purchased quality protein.

Last year a paper had been given on the effect of toasting beans and lupins on protein quality.  This year a follow paper confirmed that heat treated beans could be used instead of soya in diets for an organic herd yielding up to 10,000 litres.

A lot of the discussion was around maintaining and improving clover levels in swards.  With reductions in clover being widely reported in established swards across Europe, it seems that the problem is very complex and individual solutions need to be worked out on a case bycase situation. The problem can be caused by a soil nutrient or soil condition issue, especially after the wet weather that we have had or it may be pest related.