Fodder Crisis

Bass Reeves

whelan2 wrote: »

Most lads dont even ask the price of what they are getting never mind what's in it. Alot of farmers buy off the same place all the time. Only themselves to blame for being screwed

Could you not say the same about lads caught for silage it is a bit tongue in cheek. But I am really annoyed with co-op over some of the carry on over this. They are there to support farmers but lots of co-op are ran for the benefit of there workers rather than farmers.

Take Glanbia's smash and grab this year for market share of dairy rations. On the other side of this was the way they structured there grain payment to tillage farmers. Most co-op are on the higher side of the price curve on a lot of products.

Mtx

In the north big bales of wheat are selling as high as £90/€101 and silage at £35/€39. Some farmers used their last bale at Xmas and are out buying.

Brown Podzol

Bass Reeves wrote: »

Could you not say the same about lads caught for silage it is a bit tongue in cheek. But I am really annoyed with co-op over some of the carry on over this. They are there to support farmers but lots of co-op are ran for the benefit of there workers rather than farmers.

Take Glanbia's smash and grab this year for market share of dairy rations. On the other side of this was the way they structured there grain payment to tillage farmers. Most co-op are on the higher side of the price curve on a lot of products.

An article on how the dairy co-operative movement in America got hijacked by big business.

https://washingtonmonthly.com/magazine/january-february-march-2018/how-rural-america-got-milked/

Timmaay

Very little demand here in Wicklow for fodder, I've seen stuff advertised for 15e/bale. Got wayyy too much of it here, but the stuff I'd be selling certainly wouldn't be worth transporting down the country as there would be more water than silage in the bale. A neighbour offered me a paddock of strong grass to bale for nothing in late Sept, I didn't need it but thought I'd take it as it would only stand me about 13e/bale, long story short it ended up bucketing down when baling, I ended up with double the bales as expected, it didn't preserve proper at all, cows refuse to eat it, gonna end up throwing whole lot in the dung heap.

tomwaterford

Timmaay wrote: »

Very little demand here in Wicklow for fodder, I've seen stuff advertised for 15e/bale. Got wayyy too much of it here, but the stuff I'd be selling certainly wouldn't be worth transporting down the country as there would be more water than silage in the bale. A neighbour offered me a paddock of strong grass to bale for nothing in late Sept, I didn't need it but thought I'd take it as it would only stand me about 13e/bale, long story short it ended up bucketing down when baling, I ended up with double the bales as expected, it didn't preserve proper at all, cows refuse to eat it, gonna end up throwing whole lot in the dung heap.

Give em away the worst of em....if it's only to dung your putting em?

Timmaay

tomwaterford wrote: »

Give em away the worst of em....if it's only to dung your putting em?

Anyone wants them ya can take them ha. Definitely not worth transporting any distance though.

kerryjack

If a cow in Wicklow won't eat it, chances are a cow in mayo won't eat it, anyone runing low in fodder should let out some stock, give them the run of the place evan if it cuts up a bit no harm a run of roller will sort it out in spring give them some meal and you would be surprised how good they will get on.

freedominacup

kerryjack wrote: »

If a cow in Wicklow won't eat it, chances are a cow in mayo won't eat it, anyone runing low in fodder should let out some stock, give them the run of the place evan if it cuts up a bit no harm a run of roller will sort it out in spring give them some meal and you would be surprised how good they will get on.

That is the grassland management equivalent of loading 2 bb cartridges and taking careful aim and blowing your own foot off.

BENDYBINN

freedominacup wrote: »

That is the grassland management equivalent of loading 2 bb cartridges and taking careful aim and blowing your own foot off.

Lesser of two evils..
Payin 40euro for a bale of silage ain’t too clever either

patsy_mccabe

Reality is lads with weanlings or store cattle can sell then. Lads with sucklers are going to have some tough decisions to make in the coming weeks, myself included.

mahoney_j

BENDYBINN wrote: »

Lesser of two evils..
Payin 40euro for a bale of silage ain’t too clever either

Fair price If quality within is good

ganmo

kerryjack wrote: »

If a cow in Wicklow won't eat it, chances are a cow in mayo won't eat it, anyone runing low in fodder should let out some stock, give them the run of the place evan if it cuts up a bit no harm a run of roller will sort it out in spring give them some meal and you would be surprised how good they will get on.

But hunger is a great sauce

Willfarman

kerryjack wrote: »

If a cow in Wicklow won't eat it, chances are a cow in mayo won't eat it, anyone runing low in fodder should let out some stock, give them the run of the place evan if it cuts up a bit no harm a run of roller will sort it out in spring give them some meal and you would be surprised how good they will get on.

Why on earth wouldn’t you sell stock before you’d resort to the like of that? Cattle are a good trade.

Muckit

Willfarman wrote: »

Why on earth wouldn’t you sell stock before you’d resort to the like of that? Cattle are a good trade.

I'd agree. Rob Peter to pay Paul. Solving nothing only setting yourself up for another crisis next year. No spring grazing and not able to close any ground for silage next summer.

selectamatic

freedominacup wrote: »

That is the grassland management equivalent of loading 2 bb cartridges and taking careful aim and blowing your own foot off.

At it here to an extent with a low stocking rate on marginal hilly land and hardy Angus cattle Supplemented with hay and ration.

Massive reduction in fodder requirements and cattle are doing the finest, not thriving or anything but maintaining nicely and will be ready to hit the ground running when the spring arrives and they can be moved to the lower lying pastures that are actually capable of growing large amounts of grass.

Not a method suitable for highly stocked flat Midland farms where most of the land is of a high standard but by all accounts these aren't the farms/farmers who are worst affected.

Around here most of the 2nd cut was just roughly grazed off in the backend as twas less damaging than ploughing furrows in meadows with 3 or 4 tractors trying to salvage any of it.
It also had almost 3 months of solid rain soaked at that stage too.

Effective Grassland management is a pipe dream for a certain type of land in the northwest and letting cattle plough it up during the winter is far from the end of the world especially in the case of low input low output beef farming.

Water John

Select, you give a good feel for what is happening. Would it also be the case that, traditionally, many of these farmers would have reared calves bought in the South to stores? Light stock. Now they have sucklers and heavier cattle.

selectamatic

Water John wrote: »

Select, you give a good feel for what is happening. Would it also be the case that, traditionally, many of these farmers would have reared calves bought in the South to stores? Light stock. Now they have sucklers and heavier cattle.

Yep kinda before my time but that's exactly the type of beef farming system that was most prominent and profitable in these parts right up until the mid 90's at a guess. If ya weren't at that you were most likely doing a bit of everything (milking a few cows, rearing a few sucks and perhaps finishing a few black white head bullocks on grass) in a classic family farm type setup.

Now around here all of the small farms are ran part time and are mainly lightly stocked sucklers or 7 month men.

Water John

Yeah, giving away my age. But that was the trade. Calves off dairy herds in the south, brought be dealers, mainly, to the west. Store cattle then shipped east to good land for finishing. Long tradition, that worked for everyone and land types.

Mtx

People need to be planning ahead , this bad year WILL happen again. Whether it's taking ground for more bales or cut earlier.

Mooooo

Water John wrote: »

Yeah, giving away my age. But that was the trade. Calves off dairy herds in the south, brought be dealers, mainly, to the west. Store cattle then shipped east to good land for finishing. Long tradition, that worked for everyone and land types.

Got a letter from a lad in mayo that had bought HE calves that originated in my herd looking for more, would have been sold in bandon. Couple of years ago so still goes that way prob not to the same extent I guess. He was using them as suckler dams

charolais0153

Mooooo wrote: »

Got a letter from a lad in mayo that had bought HE calves that originated in my herd looking for more, would have been sold in bandon. Couple of years ago so still goes that way prob not to the same extent I guess. He was using them as suckler dams

Dealer possible?

Base price

patsy_mccabe wrote: »

Reality is lads with weanlings or store cattle can sell then. Lads with sucklers are going to have some tough decisions to make in the coming weeks, myself included.

The regulations of the BDGP scheme is affecting suckler farmers around here with regards to selling stock.

Mooooo

charolais0153 wrote: »

Dealer possible?

Yeah He likely bought of a dealer who bought in bandon id say. Was grand to get a letter that wasn't a bill or the bank!

ganmo

Base price wrote: »

The regulations of the BDGP scheme is affecting suckler farmers around here with regards to selling stock.

When do they have to maintain the numbers all year? Could they sell some now and buy more back in summer and be ok?

Sheep breeder

kerryjack wrote: »

If a cow in Wicklow won't eat it, chances are a cow in mayo won't eat it, anyone runing low in fodder should let out some stock, give them the run of the place evan if it cuts up a bit no harm a run of roller will sort it out in spring give them some meal and you would be surprised how good they will get on.

And what will they do for spring grass and then silage ground and grazing, all land at the moment is wet and letting cattle out will only plough land.

sea12

Yes land is wet but it's the mid of Jan. It's amazing what a good dry week dies once it hits the end of March. People think they will never get stock out again. They will but need to feed them between now and then.

Bullocks

ganmo wrote: »

When do they have to maintain the numbers all year? Could they sell some now and buy more back in summer and be ok?

I'm not sure cos we aren't in it but I know a lad at work is selling a few of his older cows and buying 5 * springers even though he has heifers but they won't be calving this year .
So I'm guessing there's a certain amount needed to calf each year to qualify .

Base price

ganmo wrote: »

When do they have to maintain the numbers all year? Could they sell some now and buy more back in summer and be ok?

TBH I don't know. I presume you'd want to hold onto their best stock -star rated cows/heifers - and not pay over the top prices for replacements.

Water John

Not in it either. Surely, there is some Force Majuere clause?

tanko

Base price wrote: »

The regulations of the BDGP scheme is affecting suckler farmers around here with regards to selling stock.

Im in the scheme and i cant see how it can be a problem if under pressure for fodder.
A farmer can sell plenty of stock or even sell all their cows as long as they replace enough of them next year to comply with the terms of the scheme.