Practical trial provides convincing evidence

With 125 dairy cows, 70 head of young stock and 70 hectares of land, it is a challenge every year for Dijkman Dairy Farm to get enough roughage from their own land. When asked if they wanted to participate in a practical trial with Grow PEQ® MiCrops, the entrepreneurs did not have to think long. The collected results confirmed their positive experience.

In the spring of 2023, a 5-hectare trial field was established on the clay soil of Groningen. Simultaneously with the application of liquid fertilizer, strips of 16 meters were treated with liquid fertilizer only and strips with Grow PEQ MiCrops and liquid fertilizer. ‘Because it was a very wet spring, we were able to spray quite late,’ begins Wim Dijkman who runs the dairy farm in Den Horn with his wife Bonnie and son Jan-Willem.

Amazed at the result

In mid-April the sprayer traversed the lanes across the grassland and a week before the first cut, the first results were measured using sensors and grassland altimeters. ‘The difference was over 16% more yield on the treated sections. I didn’t trust that difference at first. But when I sat on the tractor to mow, I immediately saw that there was really much more on the treated parts. It was so unusual that I got off the tractor and walked down the lanes. It was exactly 16 meters,” Jan-Willem recalls his surprise.

Soil structure improvement

In addition to fresh grass samples, the entrepreneurs also went into the field with the spade during the dry summer to take soil samples in several places. ‘That was really miraculous,’ says Jan Willem. ‘On the untreated parts, the handle almost broke off, that’s how hard the soil was. And on the treated areas we just stuck the shovel into the ground’. The difference they saw in the soil structure quickly explained why the treated part was easy to cultivate. The soil in the treated section was much more crumbly than the soil in the untreated section, which had become rock hard due to the drought.

Over 10% more yield

The contrast in the soil samples shows clearly that the treated sections retained more moisture. A difference that they also unmistakably saw on the land after the dry period. ‘After the third cut we clearly saw that the grass on the treated parts immediately took a head start due to the presence of moisture. It recovered faster and yielded more,’ Wim complements his son. During the past grass season, yields were determined at three different times. Over the three measurement times, the dry matter yield on the treated parts was on average over 10% more than on the untreated parts. A result that is comparable to the tests also obtained on other types of soil.

Harvesting extra cut

Next growing season, the entrepreneurs plan to treat the entire 55 hecatares of grassland with GrowPEQ MiCrops. ‘With this result, it’s well worth the investment. By applying it at the same time as the liquid fertilizer, it can easily be included in a single work pass,’ says Jan-Willem. ‘We want to use our land efficiently and harvest as much forage as possible from our own land. In this way we can cut the grass three to four days earlier each time and eventually we can harvest an extra cut,’ Wim concludes.

Compony data