Rainbow Carrots Modern Day Beef Cow

Historically, man and beast alike were great beneficiaries of the turnip plant. Heck, before the 20th century, beef producers relied heavily on a steady stream of crops to sustain their herds through wintertime, fifty-fifty in a specific order of turnips, rutabagas, and fodder beets (mangels) and carrots, based on crop storage qualities.

But if you recall turnips are merely something European farmers commonly grazed and fed hundreds of years ago, call back again.

In an era of high feed prices and widespread, persistent drought, new turnip varieties – such as Pasja – are giving beef producers an opportunity to extend grazing options and seasons. Just as important, turnips tin can aid ameliorate pasture quality.

Fashion out west

Chris Benedict, regional specialist at Washington State Academy Extension, directed a two-year study of root-crop production in 2011 and 2012 to help farmers in western Washington make decisions about using root crops such as turnips in livestock operations.

"Pasja turnip produces massive amounts of biomass per acre," Benedict says. "The plant has very petty root system in comparison to other varieties, such as Purple Top. For a grower, that means the plant puts a lot of energy into the forage. Pasja also has potential for multiple harvests since it can exist grazed or cut within thirty to twoscore days subsequently planting, and so allowed to regrow."

Beginning in the 1600s, turnips were grown extensively in England for winter feeding of sheep and cattle, as a pasture crop for pigs, and wintertime forage for sows.

Some of the starting time North American settlers in the 1600s brought turnips hither. Over fourth dimension, as less labor-intensive corn silage became widely bachelor, turnips began losing popularity with livestock owners. The Brassica is gaining notoriety once again as research like Benedict's demonstrates that provender crops such as turnips can exist grown in soils and climates unsuitable for corn or alfalfa.

"Turnips are a short flavour ingather and tin exist grown either as a jump or a fall crop," Benedict says. "They're not real frost tolerant, are moderately shade tolerant and tin be successfully intercropped with corn. Because they're tolerant of colder climates, they're well suited for production in the northern United states and southern Canada."

Tweaked turnips

The first hybrid turnips – documented equally far dorsum as 1844 – were developed to combine the cold tolerance and greater amount of dry matter in rutabagas with the faster growth and maturity of turnips. Electric current forage turnip varieties include Pasja, Seven Top, Appin, All Superlative and Tornado (Forage Star).

Pasja turnips have been bred for rapid growth and high performance, featuring a high leaf-to-bulb ratio. Information technology has excellent regrowth ability and provides leafy summer livestock feed.

Five common turnip shapes include long, tankard, circular, earth and flat. Most turnip provender varieties currently used are globe-shaped.

In the past, when grazing root crops was more common, tankard blazon varieties were valued for uniformity. Round types are also uniform in shape, tending to sit down at or above soil surface. Globe-shaped turnip varieties are nearly spherical in form. Their root remains beneath ground much more so than tankard or long turnip varieties.

"Globe blazon turnips tend to exist more frost hardy," Benedict says. "Flat types have similar characteristics every bit earth varieties, simply develop greater width than length, leaving a big amount of the root exposed above the soil surface."

Today'due south provender turnip varieties have optimal root development and high leaf-to-root ratio for grazing purposes. In that location are white-fleshed and yellowish-fleshed varieties with skin color varying from white to regal.

"The majority of modern-day turnip varieties are cultivated as a vegetable crop," Bridegroom says. "Vegetable breeding programs more often than not focus on small, tender roots and vigorous leaf production. Vegetable variety turnips can be used for livestock forage, merely they won't produce the maximum yield seen with older fodder varieties."

Pesky pests

The cabbage flea beetle and striped flea beetle feed exclusively on Brassicas such as turnips, attacking the cotyledons and first true leaves, causing all-encompassing loss to turnip crops. Turnip louse and aphids tin also be problems. All Top and Tornado are resistant to turnip mosaic virus and tolerant of aphids.

"Crop rotation helps control turnip diseases," Benedict says. "To avoid pests, don't grow turnips in soil where root crops or Brassicas were grown in the previous four to five years. Clover, beans, peas and grain crops are all good in rotation with turnips."

Cultivation

Turnips are more tolerant of a greater variety of soil types than other root crops, thriving on moist, well-drained, slightly acid sandy loam soils and loam soil with a pH range of 5.5 to 6.viii.

"Fertilizer should exist applied near the time seeds are sown to give the crop a competitive advantage over weeds," Benedict says. "Spring turnip crops typically crave heavier fertilizing than fall crops."

In full general, depending on soil weather condition and organic matter, 50 to 70 pounds of nitrogen (N) per acre, 20 to 150 pounds of phosphorus (P205) per acre, and 120 pounds of potassium (K20) per acre should be applied at planting. Simply soil testing is the best tool for developing effective fertilizer applications.

Turnips can exist successfully sown into pasture ground with minimum tillage if pasture crops are suppressed to allow young seedlings to compete. For pasture production, seed tin can exist broadcast using 4 to half-dozen pounds of seed per acre and lightly harrowed. If drilling turnip seed, 3 to four pounds per acre is generally recommended.

Acceptable moisture is key to turnip root enlargement. Depending on the time of year and growing region, viii to 12 inches of water is required during the growing flavour. Water requirements vary between soil types. Lighter soils may crave boosted moisture.

"Turnips don't germinate well nether cold soil temperatures," Bridegroom says. "In bound, sow seed when soil temperatures have reached at least 50 degrees. Turnips are cold hardy but don't withstand frost every bit well as root crops such as rutabagas."

For midsummer grazing, turnip seed should be sown in late May or early on June. For fall forage, planting should be completed between July 20 and August 1, or nearly 70 days prior to the first hard frost.

"The get-go and second cultivation of turnips for weed command may exist relatively deep, but succeeding cultivations should be shallow to avoid damaging roots," Bridegroom says. "One time turnips are established, they compete well with most weeds.

Application to stock

Turnip roots, stems and leaves are all palatable to livestock. However, livestock tin can go sick if allowed to eat too much turnip too rapidly. If livestock are subsisting on forage with depression nutritional quality, producers should gradually add high-quality feed such as turnips to their nutrition to build up healthy rumen microbial populations that can break down protein. When grazing turnip leaves, livestock should have access to hay or other pasture. Additionally, lower-quality hay should simultaneously exist made available to provide animals with adequate amounts of fiber.

"Yous don't want to totally switch to grazing crops like turnips," Bridegroom says. "What is economically viable is mixing turnips with corn silage to increment crude poly peptide content of corn silage and reduce the acid detergent fiber (ADF) content in the silage."

The ADF value of feed correlates with cell wall digestibility. As ADF increases, digestibility decreases.

"Turnips in particular, when mixed with corn silage, cause ADF in silage to exist relatively low," Benedict says. "In turn, neutral detergent cobweb (NDF) increases when turnips are mixed with corn silage, which means livestock can consume less dry matter without sacrificing nutrition considering nutritional value of silage mixed with provender such as turnips is higher."

Turnip greens grown for fodder yield an average of 3 to 4 tons of dry out matter per acre. A good average harvest of turnip roots is xv tons per acre.

Roots may be harvested 45 to 80 days after seeding. Turnips are frequently pulled by hand, only beet lifters tin can be used for lifting and topping turnip roots.

"If turnips are grown for forage or dark-green chopping, they should exist harvested when leaves are 12 inches alpine, which is generally 70 to ninety days after planting," Benedict says.

Topped roots tin be stored in piles or pits in well-drained soil. To prevent heating, pile dimension should exist no greater than viii anxiety wide and half dozen feet deep. Wooden chutes or perforated PVC pipe can exist inserted into the pile to promote sufficient aeration. Smaller quantities can be stored for four to six months in a root cellar in clammy sand to prevent drying.

To revive aging pastures, turnips can be used to help create root channels for moisture and reduced compaction. Grazed turnips will also exit decomposing materials behind that enrich the soil.

"Turnips decompose quickly later grazing," Benedict says. "They scavenge available nitrogen below the root zone and leave micronutrients such as zinc and sulphur that grasses can take upward. They also add to soil organic matter, which helps revive pastures that accept been grazed for many years."

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Loretta and her husband subcontract an acreage in southwest South Dakota where they raise Belgian draft horses.

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Source: https://www.grit.com/animals/livestock/cattle/cattle-grazing-zm0z16jfzreg/

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