A Pembrokeshire beef farm has reduced its winter feed costs by £33/tonne by replacing a bought-in protein blend with home-grown beans and peas.

The Jones family grew eight hectares (ha) of the crop at Pantyderi Farm, Boncath, as part of their project work as Farming Connect demonstration farmers.

The pulses replaced a 36 per cent protein concentrate blend which had been fed at a rate of 1-1.5kg/head/day with grass silage and home-grown urea-treated crimped barley in the growing and finishing rations of 400 head of cattle.

Eurig Jones, who farms with his father, Wyn, says it is an important step toward a goal to become self-sufficient in protein in the beef enterprise.

The crop, which he harvested on 3 September, analysed at 16.4 per cent protein as fed, 13.6 ME and 61.7 per cent dry matter (DM) and achieved a protein yield as fed of 860kg/ha as a crimped feed.

Costings calculated by the project’s nutritionist, Hefin Richards, of Rumenation, priced the feed at £242/tonne(t)/DM compared to £275/t for the concentrate blend, a feed based on rapeseed meal and maize distillers grains.

Not only is the mix £33/t cheaper but Mr Richards points out that the cost is consistent year on year and is not dependent on the volatile protein market - in January 2021 soya prices peaked at £480/t.

The Jones’ considered growing single crops of beans or lupins but felt that yields could be improved significantly by bi-cropping beans and peas and crimping them. This allowed for storage in an outside clamp with the feed processed at harvest, clamped and ready for feeding out in the winter.

The crop favours free draining soil and responds well to plentiful moisture which made it a good match for the conditions at Pantyderi.

Lime was applied to the trial field at a variable rate of 937kg/ha to lift the pH from 5.8 - the ideal pH for beans and peas is 6.5; farmyard manure was applied at 25t/ha, there was no requirement for nitrogen inputs.

The growth habits of beans and peas are very complimentary - the beans provide a strong scaffold which helps keep the peas standing later in the season; they also benefit from the same agronomy approach, says Farming Connect Technical Officer Dr Delana Davies, who managed the trial.

“Double cropping also tends to synchronise any varietal differences with regard to time to maturity and the peas fill the air gaps between the larger particle size of the beans in the clamp,’’ she explains.

The seed was planted in two passes on 22 April – the beans were sown first at a rate of 308kg/ha and a depth of 60mm followed by the peas at 225kg/ha and at a depth of 30mm; these seed rates were calculated using an app available through the Processors and Growers Research Organisation (PGRO).

A fungicide was applied twice to tackle chocolate spot.

Mr Jones harvested the crop with his own combine, fitted with a side knife. “The side knife is a must, an essential bit of kit for the job,’’ he says.

Getting the timing right was a balance between having the crop dry enough to go through the combine but at above 30 per cent moisture for crimping.

The crop yielded 5.25t/ha – 42 tonnes from 8ha – and also produced 22 bales/ha of haulm, the fibrous part of the plants which is nutritionally superior to straw.

In systems where soya is fed, on a cost per kg of protein basis, soya is cheaper at £0.83 compared to £1.08 for peas and beans but with some milk and beef contracts now stipulating that soya must not be fed, Mr Richards says those figures must not be taken in isolation and other benefits factored in.

“There is a real benefit to a cereal crop that follows because soil fertility is lifted by the nitrogen fixing characteristics of beans and peas, this combination crop is definitely worth consideration,’’ he says.