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Fodder Crisis

paddysdream

Apologies if there is a thread on this but after a quick looksee can't see one.
Surprised at that as from reading on here it seems many if not the majority are farming in DA areas.The papers are full of it and it seems to be a topic of conversation even down here in the sunny South East.

Down here no shortage of feed but a serious lack of straw moving.Whether people are waiting for price rises or its not there is hard to know.A lot of straw was lost on the ground and also a good bit was baled after turning etc and would be of dubious quality at best.
Bales of hay are ranging 23 to 30 euro,4x4 straw 20/25 euro,silage somewhat similar and 8x4x3 good straw hitting 60/65 a bale.All those ex yard.Add in transport of maybe 100/150 miles each way and you have rather expensive inputs.
So are things as bad as everyone says or is it just a small proportion of farmers in trouble ie is this going to be a repeat of 2012 or will a reasonable Spring avert the crisis?
Lots of talk/meetings it seems but is anything actually happening?

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Bass Reeves

Walked the farm today. Grass covers well ahead more like early March covers rather than mid January. Ideal conditions to spread Urea or slurry. Ground conditions more like late March often spread Urea with ground softer. Definitely looking at mid/late February to start turning out.

Measure ground temp last Saturday it was 10C that is 4-5 degrees above normal years. Hard to see it grass stopping growing for long this year with ground as dry as it is and days getting longer. There will be nearly 10 minutes Morning and Evening added in daylight this week. By mid February days will be over an hour longer

Never wrestle with pigs

It must be fairly short in spots. I know a lad looking for some hay or silage. Anything advertised within a few miles is gone within minutes. He said that he rang 2/3 lads with allot of fodder advertised 200 bales ish. Gone within minutes.

Good loser

Heard today that Kildare straw suppliers were ringing dealers in Limerick with offers.
Wouldn't sell in Autumn.

orm0nd

Good loser wrote: »

Heard today that Kildare straw suppliers were ringing dealers in Limerick with offers.
Wouldn't sell in Autumn.

They can stick it where the sun don't shine. My haulier used to buy thousands of bales from Kildare every year. Last harvest they jocked him rotten.

kk.man

Good loser wrote: »

Heard today that Kildare straw suppliers were ringing dealers in Limerick with offers.
Wouldn't sell in Autumn.

Winter is not over yet.

whelan2

kk.man wrote: »

Winter is not over yet.

We haven't had winter yet imo

Dakota Dan

whelan2 wrote: »

We haven't had winter yet imo

We had nine months of winter last year,

TITANIUM.

whelan2 wrote: »

We haven't had winter yet imo

didn't you hear? this April, WINTER IS COMING!!!

https://youtu.be/wA38GCX4Tb0

emaherx

Dakota Dan wrote: »

We had nine months of winter last year,

And 9 months of summer...... It was a long year

Say my name

The poor oul Jerseys.

Positive news non the less.

https://jerseyeveningpost.com/news/2019/01/24/hay-from-the-uk-keeping-cattle-fed/

JJayoo

Have a plum tree that has been fully in flower since 15th of January, weird weather weather.

tabby aspreme

JJayoo wrote: »

Have a plum tree that has been fully in flower since 15th of January, weird weather weather.

Saw a few honey bees checking out some dishevelled flowers in Dublin today.

Birdnuts

Stuff is several weeks ahead of were it should be - bit of a shock on the way next week though and I wouldn't be surprised if we had a prolonged wintery spell well into the spring proper

Say my name

Birdnuts wrote: »

Stuff is several weeks ahead of were it should be - bit of a shock on the way next week though and I wouldn't be surprised if we had a prolonged wintery spell well into the spring proper

The weather forum is thata way. >>>

The only thing certain about the weather is the uncertainty.

But atm it looks like Spring is on the way after next week's curfuffle.

blackdog1

Say my name wrote:

But atm it looks like Spring is on the way after next week's curfuffle.

NZ had an unbelievable spring and the wettest silage season in 65 years. Loads of grass though. And the year before they had a draught.... Think if this weather keeps up we might see the same.

Say my name

blackdog1 wrote: »

NZ had an unbelievable spring and the wettest silage season in 65 years. Loads of grass though. And the year before they had a draught.... Think if this weather keeps up we might see the same.

Nobody knows.

Plan for worst. Hope for the best.

_Brian

Silage feeding quite quickly here so we’ve increased ration to be sure we’re covered until mid April.

Ground is covering well here which will help.

mengele

Say my name wrote: »

The weather forum is thata way. >>>

The only thing certain about the weather is the uncertainty.

But atm it looks like Spring is on the way after next week's curfuffle.

The problem is what does spring involve? Is it plenty of mild weather, snow or rain

Mooooo

Pissing rain here, had my calved cow's out by day the last 5 days, in today. Big herd of 4 at the minute might do damage lol

Say my name

mengele wrote: »

The problem is what does spring involve? Is it plenty of mild weather, snow or rain

Usually southerly or southwesterly or even westerly weather or maybe even northerly or perhaps even easterly winds.

I won't patronize or misinform.

The charts are on here.

https://www.theweatheroutlook.com/

I know farmers as a whole are famous for looking for handouts. But this ain't primary school anymore.

(Benefits of above is that the charts often show different forecasts/outcomes than what online celebrity shock jock end of the world types are forecasting).

Timmaay

Mooooo did you dry off everything after? I still got 19 stale milking oad to get the liquid bonus here.

Mooooo

Timmaay wrote: »

Mooooo did you dry off everything after? I still got 19 stale milking oad to get the liquid bonus here.

I did. Dried off Dec 22 I think. Good share of April calvers were 1st calvers so will benefit from longer dry period. Sold the empty cows first week of Jan and they made more than what I would have gotten milking them and the April calvers on for Jan. Felt strange drying off those cow's but did focus the mind in terms of importance of compact calving for spring if you want the 3 weeks off

Mortelaro

Say my name wrote: »

Nobody knows.

Plan for worst. Hope for the best.

memorystick

Just saw a lad pay €45 for a 4*4 bale of good hay for horses! He bought 3 and wants 10 more.

Never wrestle with pigs

Had 3 lads call into me today looking for fodder. I've plenty but have any extra promised to a lad near me. Everyone saying the same thing cow's flying trough silage. If you think your short start looking because it seems that lads are starting to realise it now.

RedPeppers

Never wrestle with pigs wrote: »

Had 3 lads call into me today looking for fodder. I've plenty but have any extra promised to a lad near me. Everyone saying the same thing cow's flying trough silage. If you think your short start looking because it seems that lads are starting to realise it now.

Local paper full of ads with silage for sale seems any amount of it available around here .guess we weren’t affected like a lot with the drought

buffalobilly

how much would good quality bales of silage
77.4 dmd 29.2% dm be making ?

Mad_maxx

Never wrestle with pigs wrote: »

Had 3 lads call into me today looking for fodder. I've plenty but have any extra promised to a lad near me. Everyone saying the same thing cow's flying trough silage. If you think your short start looking because it seems that lads are starting to realise it now.

Tonnes of it out there

Wildsurfer

Tonnes of it in Donegal, Roscommon, Sligo, Galway etc. Come down to Tipp and Cork and see how much you'll find

Never wrestle with pigs

Mad_maxx wrote: »

Tonnes of it out there

Not around here anyway. Anything that goes up is snapped up in a few minutes. Different areas affected differently.