[benkt]

We usually plant about quarter of an acre of fodder beet which we use for pig food during the year. Unfortunately, the seed comes in one acre packs so does anyone want to share an acre bag with us? Last year we grew 'Magnum' and got a massive yield which lasted us through the year and really helped keep the feed bills down.
I'm looking at these:
http://www.hmseeds.co.uk/en/hurrells-fodder-beet-seed-magnum
which would be ~£80 for an acre so willing to share out pro-rata if there are any takers.

[Clarebelle]

Sorry, I can't help with sharing a bag, although I'd like to. I move to our new smallholding next week and had thought about planting around a 1/4 acre of fodder beet to help with food costs. How many pigs did you have to give your fodder beet to?

[Blinkers]

What a shame we're so far apart - I would definitely be interested.  We've talked of planting some fodder beet for a few years now and never got around to it, so really must crack on with it this year 

[Cactus Jack]

Purely out of interest what is the weight of a one acre pack?

[ScotsGirl]

We might be interested in some but can you feed to sheep and goats also?

[YoungRasher]

Hi. I'm not really ready to commit to doing this but if you wouldn't mind giving us a little bit of info, it would really help.
How do you plant these? do you let the pigs dig them up or do you pick them and store them ready to use? any other info about how you do it would be great.
Thanks.

[benkt]

Right, The weight of an acre pack is about a kilo so I can  post the seeds if you want. We plough and rotavate the ground with an old MF35 and then  I have a very old hand drill that we use to sow the seeds. It takes about an hour to do the 1/4acre patch. I then pretty much ignore it until late summer when I start lifting. I usually fill an old green wheelie bin every fortnight. To feed, I just put in a bucket and slice it up a bit with a spade. We finish about 25 pigs a year and I reckon the fodder beet gets fed to replace 10-15% of their pig nuts so 1/4 of acre costs us £20 and an hour of my time and saves us £300-£500 in pig feed bills.Definitely worth while!
I've had enough orders by PM to make it worthwhile so I'll buy the seeds today and send out when they arrive - probably this week.

[Treud na Mara]

We might be interested in some but can you feed to sheep and goats also?

We feed beet shreds to supplement their nuts and crunch in the winter to our sheep and Pygmy goats but when we started it took a while for them to acquire the taste so introduce slowly is my advice.

[benkt]

Oh yes.  I missed the sheep/goat question. We've only just got started on sheep this year with some cades so can't comment there. The goats seem to like it though but I only give them a little, more of a 'treat' than as a partial hard-feed-replacement as I've always worried it was a bit rich for them.

[Hillview Farm]

Hello,

I am very interested in buying the rest off you if your happy to post. How would you like to take payment etc?

What soil are you on?