Fodder Beet Trial Shows Significant Yield Increase

11 July 2025

A fodder beet crop established at a Welsh livestock farm with primed seed and a late season application of nitrogen (N) fertiliser yielded 40% more forage.
Roger and Dyddanwy Pugh winter graze progeny from their 60-cow Limousin and Aberdeen Angus-cross suckler herd on fodder beet.

In the 2024-25 growing season, they embarked on a Farming Connect Our Farms network trial to see if there were benefits from using primed instead of standard, unprimed seed.

Priming seed involves a process of pre-germination, drying and pelleting. 
Forage and grassland specialist Charlie Morgan, commissioned by Farming Connect to provide expert advice for the project, says the expectation from primed seed is faster germination, more uniform and faster establishment, and higher yield.

The study also looked at the merits of meeting the crop’s nutrient requirements for N throughout the season. 

In a normal year, the Pugh’s would apply 50kgN/ha at the end of May and the same amount again in mid to late July, with 40-60Kg/ha of this targeted at the seedbed.
But for this project a third 50kg dressing was applied in mid-September to meet crop need.

Modern varieties of fodder beet are able to utilise more N, Charlie explains. 
This is especially so in later applied N, used to enhance and improve leaf production and leaf quality which in turn improves the protein level in leaves, root production, and offers greater protection under winter conditions, he says.

“The treatment results of the project clearly demonstrate that under good agricultural practice, a crop of fodder beet will utilise the N applied to crop requirement levels.’’   

The Pugh’s grew Geronimo, a grazing variety with a dry matter (DM) potential of 16.5%.
Four different treatments were applied to a 4ha field.

The primed seed plots either received two applications of N, each at 50kg/ha, or three, and the same approach was used for the standard seed plots.

Analysis of samples taken in November 2024 and January 2025 showed that, on average, primed seed and three applications of N in combination produced a 40% uplift in yield over the standard seed crop that only had no late season fertiliser application – 25.42 tDM/ha compared to 18.07 tDM/ha.

Other data showed the primed seed and N combination produced:

• 29% increase in bulb yield over standard seed crop with two N applications

• 10% increase in bulb yield over the primed seed crop with two N applications

• 23% increase in leaf yield in standard seed crop with three N applications

• 18% increase in leaf yield in primed seed crop with three  N applications

“The primed seed was faster to establish and gave a more even canopy which was able to capture more light, compete with weed competition better and consequently have a longer growing period, this has clearly been recorded in the results of the bulb yield,’’ he says.

The additional 50kg/ha N application had a greater influence on leaf yields.

“Both the standard and primed seed have more leaf weight when the third N dressing is applied,’’ Charlie notes.

“This additional leaf will protect the bulb more into the winter from frost damage and if conditions are mild will continue to supply growth to the bulbs.’’
Although primed seed is more expensive than standard and extra N is an additional cost, it produces more forage and reduces the cost of production, as costings from the study show.

Based on the book value figure for bulb and leaf DM, the cost of production per kilogramme is £62.67tDM for primed seed in combination with the additional 50kgN/ha, £67.16tDM for primed seed only, £68.08tDM for standard seed and additional N, and £82.85tDM for standard seed only.

All plots received farmyard manure at 30t/ha (12t/acre) and neither that or lime applications is included in the costings as these costs apply to future grass or crop production.

“The correct nitrogen, potash, phosphate, salt, sulphur and other trace elements were applied and all included in the cost,’’ Charlie explains.

As primed seed in combination with a third application of N in this study produced 40% more forage than standard seed with two N applications, he points out that more feed can be produced on a smaller acreage.

For Roger and Dyddanwy, the trial meant they grew more forage than they anticipated and this allowed them to graze stores for longer, capturing a higher price when those 25 animals were sold at Monmouth livestock market in April 2025.

The cattle were turned onto the fodder beet in November at an average weight of 400kg and averaged 525kg at sale.

As well as achieving stronger stores, there was the added bonus that beef prices had further strengthened when the cattle were sold.

The additional forage also meant a further 50 younger cattle could be turned onto the fodder beet in March, reducing wintering costs.

There was a positive impact on labour requirements too.

“It only takes 20 minutes a day to move the fence and we provided silage twice a week but the bales were in situ so that was an easy job,’’ says Roger.

In spring 2025, the Pugh’s planted a further 4ha of fodder beet, this time primed Lactimo seed, drilled on 1 May.

Roger says it was the Farming Connect trial that gave them the confidence to invest in the additional upfront cost of primed seed.

“We were unlikely to have gone down that route had we not seen the benefits ourselves during this study,’’ he admits.

PANEL

The feed value of the different fodder beet plots was also examined, with samples taken in December 2024.

On average, a bulb ME of 13 was recorded in every plot but the third application of N produced higher crude protein (CP) in both the primed and standard seed plots. 

For bulbs, primed seed with extra N produced a CP of 9.1% compared to 5.4% without and for standard seed 7% compared to 5.8%. In the leaf, primed seed with extra N had a CP of 25.2% compared to 23.7% without and the standard seed 26.2% compared to 22.6%.

Charlie points out that a standard concentrate feed would have an ME of 12.5% and 16% crude protein.

“The data from this trial shows ME and CP better in fodder beet than bagged feed,’’ he says.

“The intakes are the only point to question - whether cattle can consume enough fodder beet to supply the necessary ME and CP.’’

Later applied N also encouraged mineral uptake by the plants.

PANEL

Average yield of the two samples taken in November and January

Bulb analysis

Leaf analysis

Growing costs of fodder beet per ha

* Costs based on 2024 figures

FARM FACTS

• 98ha farmed – 94ha owned and 4ha rented
• 238m above sea level
• Loamy soils
• 60 suckler cows
• 300 breeding ewes