Some 110 dt/ha dry mass grass per year
“Everything was actually developed out of necessity,” sums up Alfons Göbel. He is sitting at the kitchen table. Through the window, you can look out into the garden with the old fruit trees. He grew up here in this house. “Only 15 years ago, the grassland was very poor. The grass only had 2,000 to 3,000 shoots/m2 and large gaps, where only sorrel, dandelion or other less valuable herbs grew. We only harvested 50 to 60 dt/ha dry mass of low quality per year,” he recalls. The farmer did not want to content himself with this problematic situation. He searched for solutions and asked the Chamber of Agriculture Rhineland-Palatinate for advice.
After an appraisal, he put together a plan with the consultants, for optimising the quality and yield of the sward. With success. Today the business harvests 100 and 110 dt/ha DM grass with the same amount of fertiliser, because the grass now grows with 8,000 to 10,000 shoots/m² on Göbel’s grassland. “That is a density similar to that of an English lawn,” he compares proudly. It has a tremendous affect on the profitability of the milk production: before, 1,000 to 1,500 l milk/cow were produced from the staple feed. Today it is 5,000 l and more per cow and year, which means an overall annual milk production of 8,250 l/cow. That saves on costs for concentrated feed.