Fodder beet's drought resilience and feed value drive strong Irish demand

The 2026 fodder beet harvest starts this week in Ireland, and growers may already have buyers lined up for every tonne they planted.

That is the scale of demand now building across the livestock sector. Farmers who made grass silage earlier in the year are watching those stocks diminish fast, and fodder beet has become one of the main feeds they are turning to as winter progresses. It would not surprise close observers of the trade to learn that the entire 2026 beet crop is already spoken for.

The same applies to forage maize. Both crops sit at the centre of what is now a pronounced shift in Irish ruminant production: the growing role of alternative forages, with maize and beet leading the way.

Why do cattle want beet so badly?

The affection ruminant nutritionists have for the crop was summed up bluntly at a farmers' meeting some years ago. If cattle had pocket money, the nutritionist said, they would spend it on fodder beet.

The remark was made half in jest, but farm-level behaviour backs it up. On dairy and beef farms where beet is a staple feed, cattle will trample over anything in their way once they know a feed bunker containing beet is available. For a feed to command that response from stock, it has to deliver something nutritionally exceptional, and beet does: growers and nutritionists routinely describe beet and maize as "rocket fuel" — extremely valuable energy sources within ruminant diets.

How resilient is the crop?

Fodder beet has also proved it can take weather punishment that would set other crops back. The crop demonstrated a strong ability to withstand severe drought conditions in Ireland last year, and again in 2026.

The mechanism matters here. Beet does not merely survive dry spells — it shows strong compensatory growth (the ability to accelerate growth and recover yield once rain returns) when the weather turns. That trait has real value for growers planning feed budgets in an increasingly unpredictable climate, because a dry summer no longer means a written-off crop.

Can growers get the crop off cleanly?

Ground conditions are the immediate challenge. Storms in recent days have softened soils on most beet-growing land, which normally raises the risk of rutting and harvest delays.

The window looks workable, however. High pressure is building later this week, and harvesting machinery should be fully engaged well before the weekend. Growers who can move quickly on the drier spell should get the bulk of the crop lifted without lasting damage to fields.

What does this mean for tillage farmers?

Two fundamental realities are driving the shift toward beet and maize. First, neither crop is marginal under Irish growing conditions any more — both have established themselves as reliable performers. Second, both deliver exceptional energy density in ruminant diets, which is exactly what livestock buyers now need.

Tillage farmers are well placed to grow both. That matters because the crops sector continues to face intense economic pressure, and alternative forages offer a genuine diversification route. The case is strongest for growers who no longer see malting barley as a spring cropping option carrying that "value added" bonus — a market that has lost part of its appeal for some producers.

For livestock farmers, the practical takeaway for the weeks ahead is simple: secure beet and maize supplies early. For tillage growers, the question to watch is whether demand holds strongly enough through the 2026 harvest and into the 2027 planting decisions to justify expanding acreage of both forages.