J. agric. Engng Res.
(1996) 63, 45 – 52
Mechanized Feeding of Ensiled Liquid Beet Mash to Dairy Cows
A. Deininger;* J. Beck;* T. Jungbluth;* M. Tu¨ rk;† G. Ho¨ rnig†
* University of Hohenheim, Institute of Agricultural Engineering, D-70593 Stuttgart, Germany
† Institute of Agricultural Engineering Bornim, D-14469 Potsdam, Germany
(Receiy ed 25 October 1994; accepted in rey ised form 1 September 1995)
Beet roots, particularly fodder beets, are high-
yielding feed crops with energy contents equalling
concentrates. However, technical difficulties as-
sociated with cleaning, storing and feeding beets have
resulted in a decline in their cultivation and use. A
new approach for using beets through liquid conserva-
tion was therefore tested. The beets were mashed in a
beet mill and pumped into a hermetic silo, where the
beet mash fermented to produce a stable silage. The
beet mash silage can be fed to animals via a mobile
mixer-feeder or by using a fully automatic demand
system at responder stations. The latter allows the
monitoring and individual regulation of the amount
fed to each animal. A feeding trial investigated the
effects on animal performance of substituting the beet
mash silage for concentrates. Whereas the average
daily milk yield was significantly lower in the group
fed with beet mash silage, the fat and protein content
of milk did not differ between experimental and
control groups. ÷ 1996 Silsoe Research Institute
1. Introduction
For many years, beet root played a central role as
feed crops for pigs and for cows. Sugar and fodder
beets have many advantages. They have an enormous
yield potential (up to 113 000 MJ NEL per ha), much
higher than that of cereals (56 000 MJ NEL per ha).
(NEL is net energy lactation, the amount of energy
contained in the food which can be used for milk
synthesis in the cows metabolism). They are highly
digestible feeds with a high energy content equal to
concentrates (approximately 7?5 MJ NEL per kg dry
matter). Production is hardly affected by periods of
drought or cold. Fodder beets are readily accepted by
cows and inclusion in the ration may increase dry
Presented at Ag Eng 94, Milan, Italy, 29 August – 1 September
1994
45
0021-8634 / 96 / 010045 1 07 $12.00 / 0
matter intake.1–3 They have a positive influence on the
milk yield and milk composition.4,5 Despite these
advantages, a drastic decrease in their cultivation area
has taken place in the last 30 yr in Germany (1960:
446 000 ha, 1994: 26 650 ha). This is primarily owing to
technical problems with storage, cleaning and feeding
of these root crops. Traditionally, fodder beets are
stored in clamps during winter time. The handling of
the whole root crops is a hard and time intensive job
that requires manual labour (labours demand of up to
50 h per ha) and few farmers are willing to do this.
Also, traditional storage in clamps may give high
losses through rising temperatures, increasing the
metabolic processes and putrefaction. With this
system, beets should be used normally only in the
winter months rather than throughout the whole year.
The handling of beet roots as a liquid beet mash
silage using the system of liquid preservation can solve
many of the problems mentioned above. Previous
research was concerned with the use of beet mash
silage by pigs.6 These results showed that beet silage
could be a real alternative to the use of cereals in the
feeding of fattening pigs. Derived from these results,
the idea was born of feeding the silage to dairy cows
and to examine both technical questions and the
effects on animal performance. First, however, it was
necessary to test the acceptance by cows of beet
silage. The results of a study carried out by
Schullerus7 were very encouraging: he reported a
good acceptance of beet mash silage both by dairy
cows and fattening bulls, so the prospects appeared to
be promising.
2. Technique for liquid preservation of beet roots
2.1. Processing and storage of the beet roots
An innovative approach for the use of root beets as
feed crops, which overcomes the problems mentioned
above, is liquid preservation. The principle is shown in
÷ 1996 Silsoe Research Institute
46 A. DEININGER ET AL .

C
E

A G H

Fig. 1. Process steps of the liquid presery ation of beet roots together with the necessary mechanization equipment. A , fodder
or sugar beet. Process steps: B , hary esting; C , cleaning and remoy al of stones; D , filling of the mill. Mechanization: E , auger;
F , beet mill; G , rotational piston pump; H , storage bin

Fig. 1 . The beet crops are harvested normally, using
fully mechanized harvesting techniques. Then the
harvested beets are washed in special machines. It
is important to remove as much dirt as possible,
because high contents of ash in the beet mash silage
lead to a depression of food intake and digestibility.
It is highly recommended to clean the crops with
water, because dry-cleaning, based on treatment with
mechanical cleaning elements will not meet the
nutritional requirements in most cases. This is
followed by the central process, namely, chopping
and mashing of the cleaned roots in a beet mill that
produces a liquid beet mash with a consistency
comparable to apple-pure´ e. The handling of this pure´ e
is much easier than handling the whole crops, because
the ensiled mash can be pumped through tubes, and
the feeding process is automated. The beet mash
silage, which should not be in contact with oxygen, is
then pumped into a hermetic storage bin. There the
beet pure´ e ferments under anaerobic conditions to a
stable silage with pH lower than 4 in 8 – 10 d. No
additives are used for the fermentation as it is a self
starting biological process, which changes the car-
bohydrates into lactic and acetic acid with little
production of alcohol (alcohol content of silage: 0?15
to 0?20% d.m.). After the end of fermentation, the
beet mash silage can be used as feed for pigs and
cattle.
2.2. Feeding beet mash silage to dairy cattle
Beet mash silage can be offered to dairy cattle in
different ways: via a feed wagon or by using a fully
automatic system at responder stations. The use of a
mobile mixer feeder is a convenient and easy way to
use beet mash silage. The silage is pumped into the
wagon and is intensively mixed with the other com-
ponents of the ration. Unfortunately, this method of
feeding does not allow different amounts of silage to
be given to individual cows, so individual performance
cannot be taken into account. Thus, the potential of
the high quality feed may not completely be realised.
Information on the silage intake of each individual
animal is not obtained.
The offer at responder stations overcomes all these
restrictions: the amount of feed can be programmed
individually for each cow, and the feed consumption
can be recorded for the whole herd as individuals. The
method of offering beet mash silage at responder
stations is shown in Fig. 2 . The silage is pumped from
the silo through a pipe to the responder stations,
regulated by automatic valves. Each cow carries an
identification chip that is attached to a strap around its
neck. On entering the station, the cow is identified by
an electronic detection system and the animal’s food
claim is checked. If there is a right to food, the valve
at the station opens, the transport pump is switched
 MECHANIZED FEEDING OF ENSILED LIQUID BEET MASH 47

D
C

B
Fig. 2. Indiy idual feeding of beet mash silage to dairy cows at different responder stations. Technical equipment: A , storage
bin; B , worm pump; C , pneumatic y aly es; D , responder stations

on for a short time, beet mash silage is pumped
through the pipe and a small amount of feed (ap-
proximately 1 kg) is dispensed at the station. The
valve then closes and the demand for food is comp-
leted. At the same time, the food claim of the cow is
reduced and no more will be fed unless or until the
cow has further entitlement.
Initially, problems were experienced in accurately
dispensing the correct amount of feed. The diameter
of the dosage pipe is crucial for precision: only small
diameters guarantee the output of an exact amount of
food. However, the flow properties of the beet mash
silage inhibit transport over long distances in such
small pipes. So the method described in Fig. 2 works

K
E

D
F

I
H
G

A B C
Fig. 3. Indiy idual feeding of beet mash silage to dairy cows at different responder stations some distance from the silo. A , B ,
C , stations 1 , 2 and 3; D transport worm pump (about 100 l min21); E transport pipe (100 mm diameter); F , storage bunker
(filled by ley el control); G , dosage worm pump (about 10 l min 21); H , dosage pipe (40 mm diameter); I , pneumatic y aly es; K ,
feed pipe from storage bin
48 A. DEININGER ET AL .

2000

of beet mash silage ± s(g)

Mean discharged amount
1500

1782·1 ± 17·6ab

1788·7 ± 12·3b
1765·8 ± 13·0a
603·3 ± 5·4

607·3 ± 5·9

606·0 ± 6·9
1000

1200·0 ± 11·1
1197·7 ± 7·5

1193·6 ± 7·0
305·7 ± 5·7

312·8 ± 7·1

309·1 ± 7·9
500

0
2 4 8 12
Running time of the dosage pump, s

Fig. 4. Accuracy of the dosage of beet mash silage at responder stations , depending on the station and the running time of
the dosage pump. left / middle / right bar: station 1 , 2 and 3 . n 5 10 discharges of food; dosage pump: 297 rey min 21; numbers
giy e mean y alues Ú standard dey iation s ; letters a , b and c indicate significant differences of the mean y alues , probability of
error: 5%

satisfactorily only if the distance between the trans- average, the cows were 99 d in lactation and the
port pump and the stations is very short (,20 m). For average number of lactations was 2?9 for the whole
greater distances, the method is modified as shown in herd. All cows were fed the same amount of fresh
Fig. 3 . Here, the beet mash silage is pumped by means matter of roughage per day, namely, 11 kg grass silage
of a worm or rotational piston pump through pipes of (57?1% d.m.), 15 kg maize silage (37?8% d.m.), 3 kg
greater diameter (100 mm diameter) to a small storage hay (90?5% d.m.) and 1 kg of a mineral mixture
bunker with a content of approximately 150 l located (89?3% d.m.), estimated to be sufficient for the
near the responder stations. Connected to this bunker, production of 10 kg of milk per day. It was impossible,
which is filled by level control, is a smaller dosage however, to measure the feed intake of each cow,
pump that transports the silage to the stations at each because roughage was fed to the groups of cows. The
call for food. The small diameter of the dosage pipe control group was fed concentrates in the form of
enables an exact discharge of the beet mash silage to pellets (87?7% d.m.), containing 20% crude protein
be made. The transport and the dosage worm pump and 7?6 MJ NEL / kg d.m. energy content in quantities
were standard commercial items, as were the respon- related to the actual milk yield. In the experimental
der stations. The latter had to be modified for the use group, concentrates were fully replaced by an amount
of beet mash silage by building in a completely new of sugar beet mash silage (20?4% d.m.), calculated to
electric control and by installing the storage bunker be equivalent in energy content. Additionally, the
and the transport and dosage pipes. cows were fed with soybean-expeller to compensate
Tests were done to establish the accuracy of the for the low protein content of the beet mash silage
amounts of beet mash silage metered. The results of (90% sugar beet mash silage, 10% coarse soya bean
these tests are shown in Fig. 4 . The mean value of the meal, both fresh matter). The chemical analysis of the
dispensed amount of beet mash silage is stored sugar beet mash silage gave the following contents of
individually for each station by the feeding computer nutrients (% of dry-matter): crude ash XA: 8?2%;
and can easily be changed by the user. The small crude protein XP: 5?2%; crude lipid XL: 0%; crude
standard deviations (always less than 20 g) show the fibre XF: 2?9%. According to an in y itro gas produc-
high precision of the dosage. tion of 69?9 mg per 200 mg d.m., the digestibility of
the organic matter was determined to be 85?4%.
Using the formulas of the energetic assessment system
3. Feeding experiments based on the net energy lactation NEL,8 the energy
content of the silage was calculated to be 7?4 MJ NEL
In a feeding trial, a herd of both Holstein – Friesian per kg d.m. from the results of the chemical analysis.
and Simmental cows was divided into a control and an In a pre-period of 1 week the animals were gra-
experimental group, each containing 18 cows. On dually accustomed to their rations, followed by the
 MECHANIZED FEEDING OF ENSILED LIQUID BEET MASH
experimental period, which lasted 4 weeks. Then there
was a change over of the groups, the cows in the
control group now being fed with beet silage and vice
versa. After acclimatization to the new conditions, the
second experimental period of 3 weeks followed. The
following parameters were recorded during the ex-
perimental phase: the milk yield was registered daily,
the milk composition was analysed once per week.
Additionally all station visits were registered, includ-
ing time and duration of the visit, food claim and the
amount of food dispensed during the visit.
4. Results
4.1. Animal performance
Fig. 5 shows the fat-corrected and protein-corrected
milk yields (FPCM) during the whole experimental
phase. Table 1 lists all important performance para-
meters. The average daily milk yield was significantly
lower in the group fed with beet mash silage
(20?8 l d21). Regarding the parameters of milk com-
position, the differences between experimental and
control groups were only small and not statistically
significant. Therefore it is doubtful, if, concerning
30
25
Milk yield (1 d–1)
20
15
10
0
23/2 2/3
Pre-period
Fig. 5. Ay erage milk yield per cow per day during the experimental phase , corrected to 4% fat and 3?2% protein (FPCM) ,
running ay erage oy er 5 days. (— test group , fed with sugar beet mash silage , - - control group , fed with concentrates , each
group contained 18 dairy cows)
49
energy supply, concentrates can be totally replaced by
beet mash silage.
4.2 . Behay iour at the stations
The behaviour of the cows at the responder stations
was of special interest. Fig. 6 shows the average intake
rate of the programmed amount of food, which is
defined as ratio of dispensed and programmed food.
In order to obtain this intake rate the amount of food
dispensed to the cow during the whole day is divided
by the amount of food programmed for each cow per
day in the feeding computer. The high rate between
80% and 90% shows, that the cows readily consumed
both beet mash silage and concentrates.
The number of station visits ranged from 20 to 35
visits per cow per day with only between 9 and 15
visits (35% and 45% of all station visits) leading to the
discharge of food, because often the cows had no
entitlement for food. The mean amount of food
received per visit was 0?43 kg of concentrates or
1?82 kg of sugar beet mash silage. The difference can
be explained by the different dry-matter content of the
concentrates and beet mash silage.
The gaps in the record of Fig. 6 were caused both
by technical problems with the data collection and by
9/3 16/3 23/3 30/3 6/4 13/4 20/4 27/4 4/5 11/5
Date
Period I Change Period II Post-
of groups period
Experimental phase
50 A. DEININGER ET AL .

Table 1
Results of the feeding trial with dairy cows fed with beet mash silage or concentrates. Period 1: 23 / 2 – 30 / 3 / 1994 ,
period 2: 13 / 4 – 12 / 5 / 1994

Period 1 Period 2 Total

————————————— ————————————— —————————————
Sugar beet Sugar beet Sugar beet
Concentrates mash silage Concentrates mash silage Concentrates mash silage

Milk yield, l 21?9*** 20?5*** 20?0 19?6 21?1** 20?2**

Ú7?5 Ú7?4 Ú6?8 Ú6?7 Ú7?3 Ú7?1

Milk-fat (%) 4?17 4?11 4?21 4?11 4?19 4?11

Ú0?63 Ú0?58 Ú0?72 Ú0?66 Ú0?67 Ú0?66

Milk-protein (%) 3?46 3?44 3?55 3?58 3?50 3?50

Ú0?35 Ú0?33 Ú0?29 Ú0?34 Ú0?33 Ú0?34

Milk-lactose (%) 4?82 4?76 4?77 4?77 4?80 4?76

Ú0?19 Ú0?18 Ú0?16 Ú0?18 Ú0?18 Ú0?18

Cell count 144?4 131?9 136?9 140?6 141?0 135?7

(31000) Ú181?0 Ú151?4 Ú138?2 Ú148?0 Ú162?5 Ú149?5

*** Differences between the mean values of the groups are statistically significant, probability of error ,0?1%.
** Differences between the mean values of the groups are statistically significant, probability of error ,1%.

difficulties in accustoming the cows to the new food owing to difficulties with cleaning, storage and feed-
during the change of groups. ing. An innovative approach to using beets through
liquid conservation was developed and tested. Feeding
trials, based on adapted responder stations, showed
5. Conclusions
that beet mash silage could be substituted for con-
Despite many favourable feed qualities, the popula- centrates. Whereas milk yield was significantly de-
rity of beet roots declined over the last three decades creased, milk composition was not affected sig-

110
Intake rate of the programmed ration %

100

90

80

70

60
23/2 2/3 9/3 16/3 23/3 30/3 6/4 13/4 20/4 27/4 4/5
Date

Pre-period Period I Change of groups Period II

Experimental phase
Fig. 6. Ay erage rate of intake of the programmed ration per cow and day during the experimental phase (running ay erage
oy er 3 days). (— test group , fed with sugar beet mash silage , - - control group , fed with concentrates , each group contained 18
dairy cows)
 MECHANIZED FEEDING OF ENSILED LIQUID BEET MASH
nificantly. In future, the individual use of beet mash
silage could be a helpful method to reduce nutrient
import to the farm by substituting beet mash for
commercially produced concentrate feed.
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