Frost damage check on oilseed rape, fodder beet
According to Teagasc advisers, most fodder beet crops have been harvested, but they have received calls from growers with crops still growing.
These farmers have found the crop has been damaged by temperatures as low as minus 12 degrees Centigrade. When the over-ground portion of the beet defrosts, it goes soft and black. Loss of leaves makes harvesting more difficult. Harvesting and storing badly frosted beet in a clamp could accelerate spoilage. And feeding frosted beet can sicken livestock and increase the incidence of scour.
Last year Teagasc experts advised increasing the roughage content of the diet when feeding thawed beet.
Meanwhile, a number of oilseed rape crops in Britain have been wiped out by freezing soils, melting snow and ice.
On close inspection, leaves appear blackened, and when plants are pulled up, roots are black.
This was due to crops not “hardening off” before hard and persistent frost in the coldest December for more than 100 years.
In the north of England, some varieties had lost 80% of their plant populations by Christmas, but others came through almost unscathed, demonstrating far better winter hardiness.
