Wholecrop beans boost livestock performance and cut carbon
Wholecrop beans can improve livestock performance, reduce reliance on imported proteins, and strengthen the sustainability of both arable and livestock systems, according to experts speaking at the NCS project’s on-farm open day in December.
Hosted by Yorkshire beef and arable farmer Richard Barker, the event brought together producers, advisers, seed specialists and processors to share their expertise, practical experience and trial results from the Defra-funded NCS project.
Richard, who farms in partnership with his father and nephew, finishes Aberdeen Angus cattle for Dovecote Park under a Waitrose contract. The business has increasingly focused on feeding homegrown crops, including beans, crimped wheat and barley, supported by the introduction of herbal leys to increase grazing.
“We initially began growing spring beans as a homegrown protein source, but yields were inconsistent,” Richard explained. “However, in the cattle ration they performed very well, with noticeable improvements in animal performance. The cattle are more settled and content.”
As part of the NCS project, Richard worked with beef nutritionist Lizz Clarke to trial beans in calf diets too. His 140 calves were split into two groups – one fed a total mixed ration (TMR) including herbal ley silage and the other a TMR based on wholecrop beans.
“From the get-go the animals on the bean diet were flourishing more,” Richard said. The group on the wholecrop beans TMR gained an average of 1.19kg/day, compared with 1.05kg/day on the herbal ley ration – an advantage of 140g/day. Over the course of the trial, this translated into a 66% total weight gain for the beans group versus 49% for the herbal ley group.
He plans to continue using beans wherever possible. “Our challenge is growing beans consistently when we can’t control the weather. We want to deliver a consistent end product for Dovecote and the consumer, and by working with experts through NCS we hope to improve how beans are grown and used.”
Sustainability is also a key driver for processors. Chloe Bridgett of Dovecote Park explained the company’s shift away from imported soya: “Our main customer, Waitrose, was concerned about soya coming from deforested areas. Every year we must declare that we don’t have soya in our supply chain.”
Heather Oldfield of Limagrain highlighted the opportunities for growers: “It’s encouraging to see government supporting projects like the NCS that bring together the whole supply chain to make impactful change. The added value of beans when fed to livestock can be significant, and together with the agronomic benefits this makes them a very viable break crop on a mixed farm”.
Seed specialists also encouraged growers to explore new approaches. David Watson of Nickerson recognised the reliability challenges of beans, suggesting different approaches including bi-cropping peas and beans to stabilise yields.
Further insights from the NCS project included harvesting efficiency trials from Kelvin Cave, showing that maize headers outperformed standard headers for bean wholecrop. Erin Matlock of PGRO reinforced the importance of good agronomy, including rotation, soil testing, seed quality and early weed control, alongside awareness of diseases such as chocolate spot and rust.