Fodder Crisis

whelan2 · 10-01-2018 8:08pm

Say my name wrote: »

Anyone have a tractor and loader in Mullingar?

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Spotted, on the Mullingar bypass...and the price of it! https://t.co/z2cLomx6M9 https://twitter.com/farmersjournal/status/951162230959206406?ref_src=twcamp%5Eshare%7Ctwsrc%5Em5%7Ctwgr%5Eemail%7Ctwcon%5E7046%7Ctwterm%5E2

Reggie

mf240 · 11-01-2018 1:36am

stanflt wrote: »

Your missing the point- if I was allowed to keep more stock I would

I cut grass when it's young so I have a quality feed for my animals- this in turn allows you to grow more as it need less time to recover

You probably could cut back on fertilizer or bought in feed if your consistently making to much silage. But having said that there's no flys on ya so you probably know what your at.

I like to have lots of silage as on a wet year I could have to rehouse cows .

Water John · 11-01-2018 1:50am

See the lads on RTE picking up redistributed bales last night. None had even thrown a rope over any load!!!

keepalive213 · 11-01-2018 2:34am

There was an awful lot of bad silage made around here this year, does that count as a crisis... Bales with so much muck on them that they were black before wrapping from land being tore up, wrappers needing help to lift bales cos they are so heavy. 390 2wd reversing with bales... Cattle spitting out silage, not rechewing it. Silage quality is questionable here in a good year but the likes of this year when it's raining since May, it's brutal altogether.

I says · 11-01-2018 2:46am

Did a bale count today with turnout date the 29th of March will have 30 bales left.Heres hoping for an early spring around these parts.

stanflt · 11-01-2018 9:52am

mickdw wrote: »

Its over my head but something not right if you have to cut 500 bales too many for no good reason.

Using 15 ton of silage a day here so 500 bales is around 1 months supply

kerryjack · 11-01-2018 12:04pm

Was talking to a lad this morning he was outraged at a lad selling silage at 50 euro a bale, I don't have a problem with it, I think its up to every farmer themselves to make sure they have enough fodder for the winter and if they haven't, off load some stock but no excuse for running out of fooder in January.

blackdog1 · 11-01-2018 12:42pm

mickdw wrote:

Its over my head but something not right if you have to cut 500 bales too many for no good reason.

I'm not getting involved in this argument but I will say this... People forget that you can still suffer drought in the summer and that twice in the last couple of years the spring has been so bad that we're feeding silage into May so it's a very smart thing to have 2-3 months more than you need. I know some lads had a terrible year and couldn't cut enough and I genuinely feel sorry for them and I don't think lads should be charging them 50 a bale.

Lady Haywire · 11-01-2018 12:53pm

I know I'd prefer to be looking at silage bales instead of looking for them......

Farming can be a very strange business at times. Instead of banding together at times of low prices in factories, bad fodder years or curbing disease, there can be a horrible attitude of making a quick buck and not giving a toss about others.

wrangler · 11-01-2018 1:04pm

Lady Haywire wrote: »

I know I'd prefer to be looking at silage bales instead of looking for them......

Farming can be a very strange business at times. Instead of banding together at times of low prices in factories, bad fodder years or curbing disease, there can be a horrible attitude of making a quick buck and not giving a toss about others.

That's business, you'll take the hit whether you like it or not in the bad times, you'd be foolish not to cash in on the good times.

kerryjack · 11-01-2018 1:13pm

Silage is a commodity which is bought and sold in the open market, some farmers are buying in all there winter feed because it has been cheap, never a great business plan in my opinion.

Buford T. Justice XIX · 11-01-2018 1:44pm

blackdog1 wrote: »

I'm not getting involved in this argument but I will say this... People forget that you can still suffer drought in the summer and that twice in the last couple of years the spring has been so bad that we're feeding silage into May so it's a very smart thing to have 2-3 months more than you need. I know some lads had a terrible year and couldn't cut enough and I genuinely feel sorry for them and I don't think lads should be charging them 50 a bale.

We had very poor first cut silage yields this year due to drought so when a neighbour asked if I was interested in some of 20 acres of second cut he had, I took it all. I was told by one in my discussion group I was foolish buying as we would have a great backend like last year.

He rang me last week wondering if I knew anybody who had silage for sale:rolleyes:

I think we have to get to the stage where we have a reserve of pit silage of at least 3 or 4 months. My BIL has a years silage reserve at all times. Next winter, he will start on last years silage and this years silage will be his reserve. If he eats into his reserve, he sells cattle until he makes enough silage to replace his reserve. It's not a bad policy to have.

RedPeppers · 11-01-2018 1:55pm

kerryjack wrote: »

Was talking to a lad this morning he was outraged at a lad selling silage at 50 euro a bale, I don't have a problem with it, I think its up to every farmer themselves to make sure they have enough fodder for the winter and if they haven't, off load some stock but no excuse for running out of fooder in January.

Utter madness paying €50 for a bale of silage. Id sell the lot instead. Alot of bales moving round here, didn't hear anyone paying more than €30.

Muckit · 11-01-2018 2:52pm

Well this is the thing. It's only 5years since the last crisis. If this weather pattern is going to be a regular thing, we probably need to be factoring it in rather than firefighting.

Tis hard enough get time to feed them with silage in the yard, than have to go looking for it. Neighbour here fed the last of his own silage bales the first week of December. I just couldn't live like that. The stress wouldn't be worth it.

Dakota Dan · 11-01-2018 3:38pm

RedPeppers wrote: »

Utter madness paying €50 for a bale of silage. Id sell the lot instead. Alot of bales moving round here, didn't hear anyone paying more than €30.

€50 for a lucky bag and transport costs on top. Surely if farmers did a feed budget and knew they didn't have enough fodder they should have stretched their fodder using soya hulls or a combination of alternatives. That would be one way of avoiding €50 lucky bags, even if the alternatives cost the same as the lucky bags at least you'd know what you were feeding and transport wouldn't be as expensive.

davidk1394 · 11-01-2018 4:45pm

€50 is wrong in my opinion. But I don't see why we should leave the prices low. In years of over supply people had to sell excess fodder at a lower price but in a good year like this they can charge the going rate. Farmers seem to begrudge the lads that are making money this year but they didn't mind buying silage last year because it was cheap. I remember seeing people post last spring who were saying it was cheaper to buy silage than to make it. Now their turning around giving out its too expensive.

patsy_mccabe · 11-01-2018 4:52pm

It's one thing for a few local lads to be exchanging bales at €25, some will be short a few one year, some another year. But what about guys that only make silage and keep no stock. Are they not entitled to have a good year like anyone else?

davidk1394 · 11-01-2018 5:02pm

patsy_mccabe wrote: »

It's one thing for a few local lads to be exchanging bales at €25, some will be short a few one year, some another year. But what about guys that only make silage and keep no stock. Are they not entitled to have a good year like anyone else?

Their dead right. Fella here does that. Getting good money this year and has the yards nearly cleared. However I know of another person who sells pit silage. Fills the trailer. Turns on a hose and puts it in the trailer and goes for the dinner, all to make a few extra euros. That kind of thing is totally wrong and I don't know how someone could do it. Unfortunately the Irish are the best and the worst in the world.

mahoney_j · 11-01-2018 5:27pm

All this talk of price per bale etc should be irrelevant .price should be determined by quality namely dmd ,dm crude p content and me value .a 75/80 plus dmd bale at 30% dm is serious rocket fuel ,big difference beteween that and a high 60s low dm bale

Mooooo · 11-01-2018 5:32pm

True, cows eating thru a lot more silage here as dmd is in 60s in the pit here would have been higher other years

Snowfire · 11-01-2018 6:15pm

mahoney_j wrote: »

All this talk of price per bale etc should be irrelevant .price should be determined by quality namely dmd ,dm crude p content and me value .a 75/80 plus dmd bale at 30% dm is serious rocket fuel ,big difference beteween that and a high 60s low dm bale

Ya, in theory, but nobody selling Silage is going to say the quality is only average , and in a yr like this where it’s a sellers market buyers don’t get to call the shots bout testing Silage before negotiating price.

st1979 · 11-01-2018 6:16pm

Buford T. Justice V wrote:

I think we have to get to the stage where we have a reserve of pit silage of at least 3 or 4 months. My BIL has a years silage reserve at all times. Next winter, he will start on last years silage and this years silage will be his reserve. If he eats into his reserve, he sells cattle until he makes enough silage to replace his reserve. It's not a bad policy to have.

I was on a USA farm that had 30,000 cows milking and they had 12 months fodder ahead of them over and above what they need in that year just in case of a disaster. And they were in a pretty good area to grow maize.

Bass Reeves · 11-01-2018 6:18pm

I have noo issue with lads charging 50/bale, I do have an issue with lads paying it. At 50/bale it is way more expensive than ration. I know lads have issue's with trying to give all cattle access to the feed at the same time. Good ration is better than a expensive poor quality bale. However it is hard to estimate the vale of mediun to good quality silage. Most lads fail to factor in haulage costs compare to delivered ration.

Soya hulls not available if they are they are at 220/ton. Barley has gone up in price. The other factor is straw is not available and hay is not available either in much quanity. Some lads have already sourced there requirement and even in area's where it was available silage is scarce.

Willfarman · 11-01-2018 6:35pm

50 euro a bale or buy 200kgs of 16% meal. 4 kgs feeds 50 cattle and then ration whatever forage you have with it to keep stomachs right.

Muckit · 11-01-2018 6:49pm

Is over dependency on baled silage a reason for a lot of these shortages? In that It's harder to keep it over from year to year. Hard to 'bank' silage in the good year.

If lads had a pit and made say 20% more silage than they needed annually, in year 5 if they only got 20% of theur silage they'd still have 100% of their winter feed

Mooooo · 11-01-2018 6:52pm

Muckit wrote: »

Is over dependency on baled silage a reason for a lot of these shortages? In that It's harder to keep it over from year to year. Hard to 'bank' silage in the good year.

If lads had a pit and made say 20% more sulage rhan thry needed, in year 5 if thry

Tbh it's weather related this year on nw surely, I made 300 bales from strong paddocks in 2014 along with 2 cuts of silage., in 2012 with less numbers made no bales and couldn't harvest part of second cut.

Bass Reeves · 11-01-2018 7:06pm

Muckit wrote: »

Is over dependency on baled silage a reason for a lot of these shortages? In that It's harder to keep it over from year to year. Hard to 'bank' silage in the good year.

If lads had a pit and made say 20% more silage than they needed annually, in year 5 if they only got 20% of theur silage they'd still have 100% of their winter feed

I do not think dependency on bale silage is the issue. Entering ground into traditional hay meadows may be a problem. earlier GLAS and AEOS had it set at 10HA or 25 acres this is a large amount of land. Early winter this year has not helped and as some posted earlier some lads had got into the habit of buying a large of there silage requirement. As well lots of lads in the west were dependent on straw with ration to fill gap when silage was gone.

TBH I expect that most lads that were buying a large amount had it sourced early in the year. In a way bale silage may be a part of the problem as it allowed farmers on smaller farms to do two cuts of silage not really an option with pit silage if you were only doing 15-20 acres of first cut and 10ish acres of second cut. Lots of lads got caught with second cut this year.

Buford T. Justice XIX · 11-01-2018 7:11pm

st1979 wrote: »

I was on a USA farm that had 30,000 cows milking and they had 12 months fodder ahead of them over and above what they need in that year just in case of a disaster. And they were in a pretty good area to grow maize.

Looks like it may be time for more concrete to go down:eek:

mahoney_j · 11-01-2018 7:20pm

Snowfire wrote: »

Ya, in theory, but nobody selling Silage is going to say the quality is only average , and in a yr like this where it’s a sellers market buyers don’t get to call the shots bout testing Silage before negotiating price.

If price is top dollar test should be completed simple ,after that there’s other options like acting before it’s too late ,feeding straights and in some cases sell stock

patsy_mccabe · 11-01-2018 7:24pm

I think going forward lack of straw will be a huge problem, so one less feed source to fill the gaps of scarce silage.

Fodder Crisis

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