At Tjele Gods, an organic farm located between Viborg and Hobro, fodder beets have gained a more prominent role in the crop rotation. This is due to a strategic commitment to supply the estate’s 1650 organic dairy cows with energy-rich and climate-friendly feed. A central part of this strategy is the investment in FarmDroid field robots, which now play a significant role in managing the farm’s 93 hectares of fodder beets.
Experiences form the basis for expansion
Steffen Rohde Døssing, operations manager at Tjele Gods, explains the background for the increased commitment: “Beets are an efficient fodder crop with a high energy content and good digestibility. They also combine well with grass silage, which we ensile them with.” He continues: “We budget for 13,000 feed units per hectare, and we’ve expanded the area this year.”
Tjele Gods acquired its first FarmDroid in 2022. The experiences from subsequent seasons were positive, particularly regarding precision in sowing and efficiency in weed control without the use of chemicals. This success has now led to a significant expansion, so that by the 2025 season, the estate will operate a total of five FarmDroid robots.
Fossil-free operation and time savings
Leif Jensen, sales manager for special machinery at Yding Smedie & Maskiner, who is the Danish dealer and partner for FarmDroid in Denmark and Sweden, sold and services the robots at Tjele Gods. He notes a growing interest from dairy farmers. “We clearly see a trend: Beets are back as a fodder crop, especially where corn can be uncertain. Here, FarmDroid fits in well, as it offers reliable, fossil-free, and precise field work, and contributes to better beet quality,” he says.
One of the 5 FarmDroids at Tjele Gods is equipped with Active Front Wheel, which makes it better at handling slopes on “hilly” fields.
The FarmDroid robots perform both precise sowing of beet seeds and automatic row cleaning both in the row and in between plants. This reduces the need for manual hours in the field and ensures that the beets can grow unhindered by weeds. Steffen Rohde Døssing highlights the robots’ fossil-free operation, powered by solar cells, as a good synergy with the farm’s organic profile.
The investment in the five FarmDroid robots at Tjele Gods underscores a forward-thinking approach to organic farming, where technology is used to optimize fodder beet production with a view to both economic and environmental sustainability.