This spring, close to 20 fodder beet cultivars are available. But amid all these options, Robbos increasingly stands out.

 

We’ve seen some superb crops this winter. And since we could not meet total demand for seed last season, we’re encouraging anyone who wants to benefit from ‘The Boss’ of beets to order early for the coming year.

 

Thanks to its combination of high DM yield/ha and high utilisation, Robbos is the new standard for farmers who want to get the best out of fodder beet crops sown for grazing in situ.

 

We’ve been testing it against other commercially available cultivars in NZ since 2008. It’s repeatedly been a top ranked performer, with excellent leaf keeping ability and good disease resistance.

 

A true mono-germ, Robbos typically has 16-18% DM, with very high feed quality (12-13 MJ/ME). Bulbs are well accepted by stock, and sit 45-50% above the ground, meaning high utilisation and less soil ingestion when grazing.

 

Typical yield is 18-24 tonnes DM/ha, although higher yields are being achieved under irrigation and with very good management. The orange-yellow bulbs are easy for stock to graze and the leaf keeps well through autumn, winter and early spring.

 

Farmers like Robbos because it is among the highest yielding grazing fodder beets. And the way it retains green leaf is outstanding compared to many other cultivars. This helps get more protein into stock.

 

In response to farmer queries, we’ve also analysed Robbos fodder beet as a summer crop, compared with Dynamo turnips for February grazing. If you’re interested in learning more about this, contact us – there is a handy summer crop calculator available which allows you to plug in your own figures to see how the options stack up.

 

Remember no matter when you want to graze it, fodder beet demands attention to detail particularly during establishment and stock transition – good preparation really pays off.