next fodder crisis

lalababa

Will there be another fodder shortage this Winter/Spring? What will happen? Will there be more killing? A local contractor (in an area where there wasn't even browning of grass) told me yeild was down 30%.
Will this lower cattle prices? Looking at young stock on DD - they seem cheap.
Thoughts apprieciated.

_Brian

Allot of fodder being saved around here this week, it should make up shortfalls, lads that usually do one cut taking two and few lads knocking their third.

Nationwide I’d say it will be scarse. Haven’t been to the mart but I was told prices are lifting a bit.

Westernrock

lalababa wrote: »

Will there be another fodder shortage this Winter/Spring? What will happen? Will there be more killing? A local contractor (in an area where there wasn't even browning of grass) told me yeild was down 30%.
Will this lower cattle prices? Looking at young stock on DD - they seem cheap.
Thoughts apprieciated.

Spoke to the main contractor in our area a few weeks back, he said yields were down for first cut maybe 25/30% but there was twice the amount of feeding in what was made iykwim. He said men had made top quality this year that never had anything but soft bales every other year. Seen him again today he said he never made as much second and third cut as this year and massive crops of second and third cut. In the West and I know we weren’t really affected but the amount of people who were saying there was a shortage after the first cut was unreal.

Joe Daly

lalababa wrote: »

Will there be another fodder shortage this Winter/Spring? What will happen? Will there be more killing? A local contractor (in an area where there wasn't even browning of grass) told me yeild was down 30%.
Will this lower cattle prices? Looking at young stock on DD - they seem cheap.
Thoughts apprieciated.

Why is the present forage crises over ,good read on the farming independent yesterday about the take up on the forage crops it makes you think.

Dinzee Conlee

Westernrock wrote: »

Spoke to the main contractor in our area a few weeks back, he said yields were down for first cut maybe 25/30% but there was twice the amount of feeding in what was made iykwim. He said men had made top quality this year that never had anything but soft bales every other year. Seen him again today he said he never made as much second and third cut as this year and massive crops of second and third cut. In the West and I know we weren’t really affected but the amount of people who were saying there was a shortage after the first cut was unreal.

Will there be an excess in the West this year? From what people have been commenting here, you would imagine there would have to be?

Will we see bales moving west to east I wonder?

visatorro

Joe Daly wrote:

Why is the present forage crises over ,good read on the farming independent yesterday about the take up on the forage crops it makes you think.

Didn't get findo, what did article say?

mahoney_j

Joe Daly wrote: »

Why is the present forage crises over ,good read on the farming independent yesterday about the take up on the forage crops it makes you think.

The fodder crisis is a long way from been over in. A lot of the country

Who2

On my own set up I was panicking badly two months ago. I’ve gone into surplus from today and I’ve another ten acres will be cut as third cut in a few weeks. Talking to lads around me and all seem to have had a major turn around. Most however are going wintering far less stock and going selling surplus bales.

Aravo

Hopefully this weather is helping everyone. Last year winter essentially lasted from July/Aug 17 to May 18. Great to see a lot of silage being made this week. I remember last year seeing bales of water being baled during Aug/sept. Grass is flying it and the animals are loving it.

Angus2018

The 2019 fodder crisis started this Spring when sheds were emptied across the country and silage pits were picked clean. A lot of farmers are ok now but many still aren't. Planning right now is vital. Farmers will have to sell stock and slim down the amount of animals at housing. A strict feed budget will have to be out in place and any straw + hay needed should be bought before Christmas, if possible secure silage bales from other farms now.

With that said I see straw and hay bales left out in the fields since they were baled. No idea what farmers are thinking. Plenty of money to be made selling and if it's your own what are you leaving them out for months in the rain.

Birdnuts

Dinzee Conlee wrote: »

Will there be an excess in the West this year? From what people have been commenting here, you would imagine there would have to be?

?

Got 2 great cuts off my place in North Mayo and hearing similar things from my neighbours - for us this summer has been a godsend after last years misery

TooOldBoots

Every Baler in the country was going with the last few days, some amount of silage made. But thats only just covering whats needed for the winter in most places. Very very few have any surplus this year

Danzy

Another week of that strong easterly wind and this thread will do a Lazarus.

patsy_mccabe

Every time we get an east wind here it brings all the colds and flu. My father always said that nothing but badness came from the east.

Bass Reeves

Rain coming Thursday/Friday will drive grass growth and bulk up silage crops that are due to be cut towards end of the month. It will drive reseeds and other crops.

K.G.

Well if you havent grass now you done the b#ll#x some where

_Brian

K.G. wrote: »

Well if you havent grass now you done the b#ll#x some where

Not a case of not having it but very little growth in last 10-12 days.

Danzy

The grass is there but it's been a poor last month for growth given time of year.

GrasstoMilk

Bass Reeves wrote: »

Rain coming Thursday/Friday will drive grass growth and bulk up silage crops that are due to be cut towards end of the month. It will drive reseeds and other crops.

Frig all rain coming. If we dont get a decent drop soon it could be another sorry summer. 4.5 mm of rainfor the month of may so far and not a whole lot on the horizon

Bass Reeves

K.G. wrote: »

Well if you havent grass now you done the b#ll#x some where

Very dry farm. Hoped to skip paddocks late last week but because of regrowth had to keep sending cattle into higher covers. With the rain it will take 7-10 days to reconfigure grazingb rotation. Drystock is not like dairying that you can add silage and ration into the diet will nilly. If I do not get rain this week I would really be in bother and have to consider remowing a silage field for stock

Danzy

GrasstoMilk wrote: »

Frig all rain coming. If we dont get a decent drop soon it could be another sorry summer. 4.5 mm of rainfor the month of may so far and not a whole lot on the horizon

Ground is drier now than at the same time last year.

No reason that this couldn't go on for months again.

_Brian

We’ve had plenty of rain, ground is soft indeed. Just frosty nights and hasky days holding back the growth.

Was mowing the lawn last night and there were only half the boxes if grass formthe time of year.

Indeed spring is late enough here, blossoms just falling from the cherry trees aafter Sunday nights frost.

anthony500_1

Bass Reeves wrote:

Very dry farm. Hoped to skip paddocks late last week but because of regrowth had to keep sending cattle into higher covers. With the rain it will take 7-10 days to reconfigure grazingb rotation. Drystock is not like dairying that you can add silage and ration into the diet will nilly. If I do not get rain this week I would really be in bother and have to consider remowing a silage field for stock

In the same boat here, very dry exposed farm great in the middle of a wet summer but a disaster both last year and this, things are getting tight, I've sucklers and if I'm honest there not getting the quality of grass they should but it's just not in it for them. There been left in paddocks a couple of days longer then they should as I'm just trying to keep enough grass ahead of them that there not falling away on me. Since Jan here in West galway it has made very low amounts of rain fall overall and it's great in one way but I'm afraid to say it but if it continues it will be a poor year for me again silage wise.......

whelan2

anthony500_1 wrote: »

In the same boat here, very dry exposed farm great in the middle of a wet summer but a disaster both last year and this, things are getting tight, I've sucklers and if I'm honest there not getting the quality of grass they should but it's just not in it for them. There been left in paddocks a couple of days longer then they should as I'm just trying to keep enough grass ahead of them that there not falling away on me. Since Jan here in West galway it has made very low amounts of rain fall overall and it's great in one way but I'm afraid to say it but if it continues it will be a poor year for me again silage wise.......

Have you any feed left over you could supplement them with?

whelan2

_Brian wrote: »

Not a case of not having it but very little growth in last 10-12 days.

I'd say in the last 5 days we've had growth of 100 per day. Serious burst. This day last week I couldn't even drive into the fields in my jeep. Did a depressing walk of the farm. Barbecue tonight hopefully. Some difference in a week

visatorro

whelan2 wrote: »

I'd say in the last 5 days we've had growth of 100 per day. Serious burst. This day last week I couldn't even drive into the fields in my jeep. Did a depressing walk of the farm. Barbecue tonight hopefully. Some difference in a week

As you said before serious difference in farms. I'm looking at feeding silage next week if I don't have rain. River here is very low. Have a well that never recovered fully since last year. No rain in forecast.

anthony500_1

whelan2 wrote:

Have you any feed left over you could supplement them with?

Not a scrap...... Just one of these things, I got caught last summer with the drought and was short over the winter so fed plenty of nuts early to stretch the silage out. Got over the winter ok but growth is just not in it at the min. We won't panic just yet it's a long summer till the swallows head off again

TooOldBoots

Growth has fully halted now. Needs rain badly, cracks on the soil that I didn't see last year till June. Met Eireann has changed their forecast again now, little to no rain ahead till mid week next. I bet that'll change too by then.

Danzy

TooOldBoots wrote: »

Growth has fully halted now. Needs rain badly, cracks on the soil that I didn't see last year till June. Met Eireann has changed their forecast again now, little to no rain ahead till mid week next. I bet that'll change too by then.

Last year, the forecast had rain 5 days out, about 5 weeks in a row, every Thursday.

Sunday might be the this year's Thursday.

Keep on shaking.

whelan2

Danzy wrote: »

Last year, the forecast had rain 5 days out, about 5 weeks in a row, every Thursday.

Sunday might be the this year's Thursday.

Keep on shaking.

The year before it rained every single Wednesday for months

farawaygrass

Danzy wrote: »

TooOldBoots wrote: »

Growth has fully halted now. Needs rain badly, cracks on the soil that I didn't see last year till June. Met Eireann has changed their forecast again now, little to no rain ahead till mid week next. I bet that'll change too by then.

Last year, the forecast had rain 5 days out, about 5 weeks in a row, every Thursday.

Sunday might be the this year's Thursday.

Keep on shaking.

That’s right. God quick you’d forget

_Brian

Possible drought for the summer of this is anything to go by.
Their forecast is usually reasonable.

White Clover

_Brian wrote: »

Possible drought for the summer of this is anything to go by.
Their forecast is usually reasonable.

It'll be easy make drought this year. I have never seen land drains from springs go dry so early. Our ground now, which is heavy and some very heavy has never been as dry in May. Savage growth the last few days though!

_Brian

White Clover wrote: »

It'll be easy make drought this year. I have never seen land drains from springs go dry so early. Our ground now, which is heavy and some very heavy has never been as dry in May. Savage growth the last few days though!

Ground here has plenty of moisture still.
Just cold nights still knocking it back terribly.

CloughCasey1

Grass wilting standing here and blackening away. Luckily I've loads of grass but I'm strip grazing instead of taking out for bales as growth has slowed due to lack of moisture.

White Clover

CloughCasey1 wrote: »

Grass wilting standing here and blackening away. Luckily I've loads of grass but I'm strip grazing instead of taking out for bales as growth has slowed due to lack of moisture.

It's very early for things to be that bad. I was talking to a farmer yesterday farming dry ground and he was worried sick.

Mooooo

Next week is apparently broken. Okay here 're feed as after today will have over a bale a cow made and first cut still to be done. If lads are worried start upping feed and stretch the rotation. Walk the farm and see how it is

Timmaay

It's simply too early to tell. However plan for the worst and hope for the best, the winter (or summer buffering!) crops of silage here are certainly looking alot healthy than they were this time last year. We learnt plenty last year about cover crops etc, what works and what doesn't work. If another dry summer lead onto another great backend and mild winter it wouldnt be the end of the world (and here in east Wicklow we are use of that every few years)

Panch18

I would say that certain parts of the country are in the beginning of a drought already - certainly South Tipp is.

If there is another drought as bad as last year then it will put lads to the wall - there was huge money lost last year from the drought

Say my name

There are measures people can take to help mitigate against the effects of drought.
This is not preaching as I'm not really practicing much.

But.
Get more soil organic matter built up in your soil. Whatever it takes, dung, slurry, compost.
Lay back a little on the urea. There's seemingly a salt effect from urea that brings on stress faster in a plant.
Don't go practicing golf ball grazing if worried about a drought. Bare ground dries out faster and grass that isn't allowed stretch it's legs above ground doesn't stretch it's legs below ground.
Maybe look into spreading a little boron before a drought hits. It's a highly water solouble element and critical for nitrogen producing bacteria and if it starts to get dry is the first element that won't be available to the grass plant.
Look at other grazeable species other than ryegrass if really concerned year on year about drought or if you have a heads up from the man above about the coming year. They'll have longer roots and build up carbon and organic matter giving a two pronged approach against drought.

There's a few possible measures anyway.

Bullocks

anthony500_1 wrote: »

Not a scrap...... Just one of these things, I got caught last summer with the drought and was short over the winter so fed plenty of nuts early to stretch the silage out. Got over the winter ok but growth is just not in it at the min. We won't panic just yet it's a long summer till the swallows head off again

We have stuff left over in the pit if you want a few grabs in a trailer or anything to stretch the grass for an extra week or two.

Buford T. Justice XIX

Panch18 wrote: »

I would say that certain parts of the country are in the beginning of a drought already - certainly South Tipp is.

If there is another drought as bad as last year then it will put lads to the wall - there was huge money lost last year from the drought

Lots of places are heading from drought stress into full drought this week.
https://twitter.com/TeagascGrass10/status/1131110685616873472?s=19
And it's still only May.

whelan2

At least we got a good spring. Not like last year

Buford T. Justice XIX

whelan2 wrote: »

At least we got a good spring. Not like last year

Managing away atm here but going into stronger covers than I'd like and slowing rotation down to 23 days atm. Solids doing OK considering 4.06/3.48 but there's a big hole opening up in grass coming in the next 10 days. We really need about an inch of rain but the rain tomorrow should keep us going for another 2 weeks.

If that rain comes...

GrasstoMilk

Cut our first pddk in 2 years here last night. It was only a 1500 cover but the cows wouldnt have eaten half of it, wasnt grazed great the last time they were in it.
Have 200 bales made that should be mid 70s dmd. Ground wicked dry here already and plenty of cracks in it.
Hopefully some rain arrives and it wont have to be fed

anthony500_1

Bullocks wrote:

We have stuff left over in the pit if you want a few grabs in a trailer or anything to stretch the grass for an extra week or two.

Good man, thanks for the offer. I off loaded a few last week to offset the problem so that should see me ok, but if anything changes I'll be making contact.

For anyone under pressure kepak athleague are giving fairly good prices for culls and stock bulls but most importantly is, there willing to take them. Better act now then wait for the arse to fall out of it completely when everyone is in bother

Mortelaro

Grass is growing nicely up here in Wicklow
May is often a stress month for it,I've seen years here when we've had less than 5mm rain
This may it's been 15mm so far which has been enough to keep it tipping along
The coming months will tell a tale

Danzy

Bit of a lift in growth after the few cloudy days and an hour of mist in the last week.

There is still little dots of fertilizer on fields that were shook 3 weeks ago.

Shaking fields with some cover as well.

A damp day would make all the difference, worst May growth in a long time, streams as low now as they were in July last year.

Fields being strip grazed but if this goes on might not go as tight, they certainly took longer last year to recover, have cover but it may have to last a long time.

freedominacup

Buford T. Justice V wrote: »

Lots of places are heading from drought stress into full drought this week.
https://twitter.com/TeagascGrass10/status/1131110685616873472?s=19
And it's still only May.

The ****e I've gotten from some posters on this forum over the years about droughts being no bother. We're running along the edge of things here. Very little either way in terms of rain or sun could push us into serious deficits or surpluses. Took out bales today. Could easily be looking to feed them in a few weeks. For milkers graze as normal. Don't try to stretch grass as it will head out and you will get no value from it and have a lot of poor quality material to be dealt with when regrowths come once drought breaks. Even if feeding close to 100% of requirements indoors keep a rotation going. Camping on one or two paddocks close to the yard will only lead to issues with mastitis. There's a psychological benefit to moving them around also.

I know this is in direct contradiction to the teagasc tweet but tbh I saw no contributions from Teagasc people who deal with farms in drought every second year during last year's crisis only the usual talking heads who were doing their Charlton Heston impression with the microphone, "from my cold dead hands". We have a new advisor in this area. Moved down from the N midlands just as it got serious last year. He at least had the honesty to admit he hadn't a clue about the situation as there was little to no experience of it in his area. Too many others had to say something once the were in a public forum or close to a reporter.

Hopefully going to mow an extra .6 of an acre per cow tomorrow if the weather plays ball. Only stopped 5 weeks. Quality should be reasonable. 6 weeks AI done on heifers today. They're heading for contract rearers tomorrow also. Hopefully. Less demand on the home block plus extra bought in should see us in good order if gr plummets. Another .5 acres per cow for second cut stopped almost 2 weeks now. Hopefully that will be in the pit around the 15th of June. Same area will be stopped at some stage for third cut. Too much tail chasing last year. Planning on building a reserve of a couple of months if possible over the next year or two. If this is kicking off now that might not happen but feeding 12kg/hd of meal throughout July hopefully won't happen again either.

Bass Reeves

freedominacup wrote: »

The ****e I've gotten from some posters on this forum over the years about droughts being no bother. We're running along the edge of things here. Very little either way in terms of rain or sun could push us into serious deficits or surpluses. Took out bales today. Could easily be looking to feed them in a few weeks. For milkers graze as normal. Don't try to stretch grass as it will head out and you will get no value from it and have a lot of poor quality material to be dealt with when regrowths come once drought breaks. Even if feeding close to 100% of requirements indoors keep a rotation going. Camping on one or two paddocks close to the yard will only lead to issues with mastitis. There's a psychological benefit to moving them around also.

I know this is in direct contradiction to the teagasc tweet but tbh I saw no contributions from Teagasc people who deal with farms in drought every second year during last year's crisis only the usual talking heads who were doing their Charlton Heston impression with the microphone, "from my cold dead hands". We have a new advisor in this area. Moved down from the N midlands just as it got serious last year. He at least had the honesty to admit he hadn't a clue about the situation as there was little to no experience of it in his area. Too many others had to say something once the were in a public forum or close to a reporter.

Hopefully going to mow an extra .6 of an acre per cow tomorrow if the weather plays ball. Only stopped 5 weeks. Quality should be reasonable. 6 weeks AI done on heifers today. They're heading for contract rearers tomorrow also. Hopefully. Less demand on the home block plus extra bought in should see us in good order if gr plummets. Another .5 acres per cow for second cut stopped almost 2 weeks now. Hopefully that will be in the pit around the 15th of June. Same area will be stopped at some stage for third cut. Too much tail chasing last year. Planning on building a reserve of a couple of months if possible over the next year or two. If this is kicking off now that might not happen but feeding 12kg/hd of meal throughout July hopefully won't happen again either.

In beef it dose not quite work that way. extra costs cannot be absorbedinto the system. My farm is very dry and in early drought conditions 15-20 days ago. 6-8 days ago instead of moving on rotation I started to take action. I had two paddocks with heavy cover put aside for taking silage not grazed since first week in April. Because I was in early drought conditions 3 weeks ago I did not top up with fertlizer to take early silage. I pre mowed every 2-3 days these and gave cattle a daily allowance.

The cattle are in two bunches a finishing bunch being fed ration these got as much as they would eat of it. The second lot are not being fed yet these were given about 60-80% of there normal intake. IMO there is no point in baling it to feed it next week. Finisher went back into rotation yesterday, other bunch will start rotation tomorrow. Got a bit rain last night and looks like we will get some over more over the next few days.

Buford T. Justice XIX

freedominacup wrote: »

The ****e I've gotten from some posters on this forum over the years about droughts being no bother. We're running along the edge of things here. Very little either way in terms of rain or sun could push us into serious deficits or surpluses. Took out bales today. Could easily be looking to feed them in a few weeks. For milkers graze as normal. Don't try to stretch grass as it will head out and you will get no value from it and have a lot of poor quality material to be dealt with when regrowths come once drought breaks. Even if feeding close to 100% of requirements indoors keep a rotation going. Camping on one or two paddocks close to the yard will only lead to issues with mastitis. There's a psychological benefit to moving them around also.

I know this is in direct contradiction to the teagasc tweet but tbh I saw no contributions from Teagasc people who deal with farms in drought every second year during last year's crisis only the usual talking heads who were doing their Charlton Heston impression with the microphone, "from my cold dead hands". We have a new advisor in this area. Moved down from the N midlands just as it got serious last year. He at least had the honesty to admit he hadn't a clue about the situation as there was little to no experience of it in his area. Too many others had to say something once the were in a public forum or close to a reporter.

Hopefully going to mow an extra .6 of an acre per cow tomorrow if the weather plays ball. Only stopped 5 weeks. Quality should be reasonable. 6 weeks AI done on heifers today. They're heading for contract rearers tomorrow also. Hopefully. Less demand on the home block plus extra bought in should see us in good order if gr plummets. Another .5 acres per cow for second cut stopped almost 2 weeks now. Hopefully that will be in the pit around the 15th of June. Same area will be stopped at some stage for third cut. Too much tail chasing last year. Planning on building a reserve of a couple of months if possible over the next year or two. If this is kicking off now that might not happen but feeding 12kg/hd of meal throughout July hopefully won't happen again either.

I wouldn't argue with any of that, free, just that there's no sign of heading out here as yet. Heavy covers are doing well but recently grazed just peeps up and stops. If we get rain, I'll jump ahead and bale the strong covers but I'm still very wary about going into covers of 8-900 without rain coming. 11-1200 and I'd take the chance alright.