What are are your plans for next winter

Bass Reeves

It might seem a bit premature but it may be time to start planning. At present I have only about 50% of my silage requirement. It looks like there will be no second cut. I have a very dry farm and the drought is hitting it hard. Normally I carry 70-80 cattle (store and weanlings) over the winter. I have 31 yearling and about 3-4 bullocks that will not finish off grass.

I plan to grow a bit of rape but I am unsure how good the crop will be due to being unable to spray off field and I have seen little or no rain during May/June. I cannot see myself buying stores as buying feed is not an option I think there will be a good few in my senario. It is uneconomical to buy silage/hay at 30+/bale even if you could get it. I think rations will be 300+/ton so they will not be an option. If some store weanling buyers have to reduce there stock levels what effect will this have. Will the lads that have these cattle be able to hold onto them until next March/April.

I think finishers will be under pressure as well as Maize and grain stocks are being swallowed up by dairy farmers with cash in hand. It looks like the country is over stocked. In other countries when this happens you see wholesale slaughtering of stock and it take 3-5 years for stock levels build up again.My young lad in Australia was telling me that feed is scarce there as well. Oats is 450 Australian dollars(300 euro)/ton(by the lorry load) and Alfada hay is 150 dollars for big sqaure bales. The farm he was on has being slaughtering cows and ewe's 70 cows out of a herd of 150 and 1500 ewes out of a flock of 5K and it has not stopped yet.

So what is your opinion

Grueller

All passenger cows will go. Late spring calvers are being scanned in the next fortnight. Empties will go.

I have 80-85% of my silage requirements at present but that all depends on how much I feed out during this dry spell.

Cavanjack

In the same boat as Yourself more or less. 50% of usual winter feed saved. If we get decent rain in a couple of weeks we could get some bales made in September. All bullocks heading for 30 months are on near 8kg a day outside now. Everything else here is under 24month bull beef (some been fed inside now) so they'll all be finished out of the shed over the winter.
Won't start buying again till February the way things are going. Usually start buying in October. Stores and weanlings will be for nothing come the back end if rain doesn't come soon.

Who2

I’m short around 200 bales that’s with culling a fair few of the late calvers and basing it on a 5 month winter.

squinn2912

Haven’t put together a plan yet because it’s still very unpredictable. There may well be good grazing late on to extend the summer. If not then it’s going to be bleak. We’ll have to sell more cattle in the autumn

patsy_mccabe

Have 2/3 of silage needed. Hope to get a second cut but will have to graze it first. I dont think people realise how long it will take for grass to get going when rain comes. Soil moisture deficit is huge. We may only get scattered showers.

valtra2

Berries my head in the sand and plough on and when it all goes Tits up blame Larry and ifa.

Who2

It could be an opportunity if the ducks are lined up properly

older by the day

Bass Reeves wrote: »

It might seem a bit premature but it may be time to start planning. At present I have only about 50% of my silage requirement. It looks like there will be no second cut. I have a very dry farm and the drought is hitting it hard. Normally I carry 70-80 cattle (store and weanlings) over the winter. I have 31 yearling and about 3-4 bullocks that will not finish off grass.

I plan to grow a bit of rape but I am unsure how good the crop will be due to being unable to spray off field and I have seen little or no rain during May/June. I cannot see myself buying stores as buying feed is not an option I think there will be a good few in my senario. It is uneconomical to buy silage/hay at 30+/bale even if you could get it. I think rations will be 300+/ton so they will not be an option. If some store weanling buyers have to reduce there stock levels what effect will this have. Will the lads that have these cattle be able to hold onto them until next March/April.

I think finishers will be under pressure as well as Maize and grain stocks are being swallowed up by dairy farmers with cash in hand. It looks like the country is over stocked. In other countries when this happens you see wholesale slaughtering of stock and it take 3-5 years for stock levels build up again.My young lad in Australia was telling me that feed is scarce there as well. Oats is 450 Australian dollars(300 euro)/ton(by the lorry load) and Alfada hay is 150 dollars for big sqaure bales. The farm he was on has being slaughtering cows and ewe's 70 cows out of a herd of 150 and 1500 ewes out of a flock of 5K and it has not stopped yet.

So what is your opinion

It all depends on October and March for me. I had 3 bales left over from last year, but would have 100 only for starting in Sept and finishing the 9th of May. But if autum and spring come normal it might not be to bad

Mooooo

It's second cut that I'm missing at the minute as grazing it however have 160 bales made on top of first cut so if rain comes there will be a bit of silage made yet and those 160 in other years wouldn't have been there. Will see in 2 weeks time how things are looking may see if there is beet out there that I could pit with the the maize later on. Given that half my ground can be wetter I hope this won't take much to make up the moisture deficit and be back in faster than the dry ground. Moved the heifers while ago and this like thunder when they are running ground is that hard. Id never seen so much dust risen when going in to a fresh paddock either, not a mind the one they came out off.

Snowfire

We’ll get some second cut done around mid November, and be grand lads.

whelan2

Will do 50 acres of second cut in the next week or 2, this got slurry injected into it after first cut and fertiliser. Heavy ground. Will need a 3rd cut. Have 120 bales done, got some hay too. Have straw ordered. Grass still growing here. Cows out fulltime on 4kg of meal. We are very very lucky.

SuperTortoise

Have enough silage made for a 6 month winter which would be considered a good winter around here, hope to take another 40-50 bales of a second cut just to be sure, could all go up in the air if no rain comes for another while but we'll have wait and see.
Straw is a major problem though, will have to look at alternatives early as i don't think i be able to get any at all.

Angus2018

I have about 80% of my silage, all my hay and will have all my straw all going well this month. Fingers crossed on a good second cut of silage. I'm anticipating selling fodder in April since I know neighbours are short.

I will scan the heifers I've ran with the bull and the younger cows. Older cows I can always pick out but I might just scan a few I'm unsure of. Any cow or heifer not in calf will go to the factory. A handful of cows are being culled so they will go before housing. Bull is on his last season too so he will go. That should ease up on my fodder needs.

I'll be fine for a regular Winter but if I have early housing and late turnout again then it will be problematic.

mahoney_j

85% of feed in bank for winter ,60 tonne Trafford gold booked for September /October to be pitted for buffering next March April .straw booked and comming next week down side is z grazing all second cut atm ,will be aiming to close again and take another cut of quality bales late August/early September .after that that ground will get slurry mop and urea/can and heifer calves will go there in November with the hope of strip grazing them thru it till janurary or February .got very lucky taking out paddocks getting slurry and fertliser followed by whatever rain that came in may/June.

Dakota Dan

Bass Reeves wrote: »

It might seem a bit premature but it may be time to start planning. At present I have only about 50% of my silage requirement. It looks like there will be no second cut. I have a very dry farm and the drought is hitting it hard. Normally I carry 70-80 cattle (store and weanlings) over the winter. I have 31 yearling and about 3-4 bullocks that will not finish off grass.

I plan to grow a bit of rape but I am unsure how good the crop will be due to being unable to spray off field and I have seen little or no rain during May/June. I cannot see myself buying stores as buying feed is not an option I think there will be a good few in my senario. It is uneconomical to buy silage/hay at 30+/bale even if you could get it. I think rations will be 300+/ton so they will not be an option. If some store weanling buyers have to reduce there stock levels what effect will this have. Will the lads that have these cattle be able to hold onto them until next March/April.

I think finishers will be under pressure as well as Maize and grain stocks are being swallowed up by dairy farmers with cash in hand. It looks like the country is over stocked. In other countries when this happens you see wholesale slaughtering of stock and it take 3-5 years for stock levels build up again.My young lad in Australia was telling me that feed is scarce there as well. Oats is 450 Australian dollars(300 euro)/ton(by the lorry load) and Alfada hay is 150 dollars for big sqaure bales. The farm he was on has being slaughtering cows and ewe's 70 cows out of a herd of 150 and 1500 ewes out of a flock of 5K and it has not stopped yet.

So what is your opinion

You don't need to spray with roundup for fodder rape grown in July/August. I've grown forage rape several times in the past and had excellent crops. No weeds as rape is a fast growing crop. Just plough till fert and sow and top dress with a bag of can/acre when the crop is at 2 leaf stage.

degetme

mahoney_j wrote: »

85% of feed in bank for winter ,60 tonne Trafford gold booked for September /October to be pitted for buffering next March April .straw booked and comming next week down side is z grazing all second cut atm ,will be aiming to close again and take another cut of quality bales late August/early September .after that that ground will get slurry mop and urea/can and heifer calves will go there in November with the hope of strip grazing them thru it till janurary or February .got very lucky taking out paddocks getting slurry and fertliser followed by whatever rain that came in may/June.

how do you feed Trafford gold? can you feed it ad lib? sorry for stupid qs. I know nothing about it

mahoney_j

degetme wrote: »

how do you feed Trafford gold? can you feed it ad lib? sorry for stupid qs. I know nothing about it

Fed as buffer in conjunction with bales 50% dm
20% p and 13% me .can be fed up to 7/8 kg dm .really good highly palatable high energy feed

Dakota Dan

mahoney_j wrote: »

Fed as buffer in conjunction with bales 50% dm
20% p and 13% me .can be fed up to 7/8 kg dm .really good highly palatable high energy feed

What price for a tonne?

degetme

mahoney_j wrote: »

Fed as buffer in conjunction with bales 50% dm
20% p and 13% me .can be fed up to 7/8 kg dm .really good highly palatable high energy feed

do you feed it out mixed with silage? can you pit it in same clamp as grass silage? is it only sept oct time its available? where can it be bought?

mahoney_j

degetme wrote: »

do you feed it out mixed with silage? can you pit it in same clamp as grass silage? is it only sept oct time its available? where can it be bought?

No diet feeder so bales out first then bring in bucket of Trafford and scatter along top of silage .ideally pitted separately .avaliable all year but probably can’t get it now as demand for any feed is thru the roof .i purchase thru specialist nutrition

Dakota Dan

degetme wrote: »

do you feed it out mixed with silage? can you pit it in same clamp as grass silage? is it only sept oct time its available? where can it be bought?

It's processed in Manchester hence Trafford.

Cavanjack

whelan2 wrote: »

Will do 50 acres of second cut in the next week or 2, this got slurry injected into it after first cut and fertiliser. Heavy ground. Will need a 3rd cut. Have 120 bales done, got some hay too. Have straw ordered. Grass still growing here. Cows out fulltime on 4kg of meal. We are very very lucky.

What are You playing for the straw?

Bass Reeves

Dakota Dan wrote: »

You don't need to spray with roundup for fodder rape grown in July/August. I've grown forage rape several times in the past and had excellent crops. No weeds as rape is a fast growing crop. Just plough till fert and sow and top dress with a bag of can/acre when the crop is at 2 leaf stage.

No ploughing as picking stones is an issue. I have grown it before and I just disc and broadcast it in. I would have preferred to spray it but will plant it and see how it goes

Dakota Dan

Cavanjack wrote: »

What are You playing for the straw?

Some people are very secretive about prices, you'd swear it was facebook they were on.

grassroot1

Currently have about 50% requirements including bought in fodder but feeding out silage to the cows and calves now that paddocks are bare.
Interval rape/kale hybrid to go in shortly to keep weanlings out on minimal silage as long as possible. If there is a trade some or all will be sold. I cannot see a further cut of silage at this stage, if rain comes shortly it will be 1 August before paddocks have any cover. When sufficient rain comes nitrogen will be spread in the hope of grazing into late autumn. If a chance for bales comes they will be taken

Timmaay

Teagasc fodder guide says I have 100tons extra for the bare 3month winter once the maize harvested (and I'd like fodder for 4months but that's not going to happen, however milking block Sr not much over 2 so gonna aim for a big enough wedge to graze into Dec) , the problem tho is I'm feeding back out about 30ton/week to the milkers now, if I got 6 more weeks of that then that's 80tons down. So going in with the soya hulls this week to try reduce that 30t/wk.

cute geoge

what price are soya hulls delivered nowadays ,they seem popular here in kerry if silage is tight in winter ,no storage problems either ,i have seen artic load tipped in yard ,covered with plastic and fed with loader bucket ,the ideal silage replacer

stretch film

mahoney_j wrote: »

No diet feeder so bales out first then bring in bucket of Trafford and scatter along top of silage .ideally pitted separately .avaliable all year but probably can’t get it now as demand for any feed is thru the roof .i purchase thru specialist nutrition

Waiting almost 4 weeks for a load for immediate use so here's hoping your nailed on for autumn.
Some booked then also

grassroot1

Anyone else find the farmers journal fodder calculator is not working as well as it used to

Burning Tires

Selling bales at €22/bales standing crop here. Sent 18% of my animals rmto the factory last week. Another 25% to go next week or the week after. If weanlings or stores are still on the floor in the next week or 2, I'll get in 30 to 35 while still selling bales.

Duck and dive, take the money on offer. Sentiment is for the weak while syill treating neighbours fairly.

whelan2

Cavanjack wrote: »

What are You playing for the straw?

Didnt say a price, this lad bought calves off me and I didnt take any money for last batch to leave as payment for straw

mahoney_j

Dakota Dan wrote: »

Some people are very secretive about prices, you'd swear it was facebook they were on.

Lot of is may have deals negotiated
With suppliers etc that we nor supplier want as public knowledge .this is the internet and this is a public forum and lots of us know one another outside of our boards shadow name .

blackdog1

Around me its making between 20-30 in the field. Last year I got it delivered in the yard for 17. Last December I got a load for 25 delivered in the yard. Price will depend on your relationship with tillage farmers. Good customers will probably be looked after not good customers will probably have to pay market price.

pms7

cute geoge wrote: »

what price are soya hulls delivered nowadays ,they seem popular here in kerry if silage is tight in winter ,no storage problems either ,i have seen artic load tipped in yard ,covered with plastic and fed with loader bucket ,the ideal silage replacer

200 for artic
220 for smaller