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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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lab man

Bullocks wrote:

Two lads I met today are looking for hay /silage. Anything they had worth eating is ate and no big growth yet they reckon.

I've a load of bales here for sale south Clare

Timmaay

whelan2 wrote: »

If it doesn't rain soon there might be a drought....

Only talking to a neighbour about that there afew hrs ago. Last year we at least got a 1st cut in before the drought hit, here in East Wicklow where we regularly enough get large dips in growth during the mid summer and early autumn we really need to grow as much grass as we can during April and May, so bit of rain now definitely wouldn't go astray, but nothing on the forecast.

awaywithyou

Timmaay wrote: »

Only talking to a neighbour about that there afew hrs ago. Last year we at least got a 1st cut in before the drought hit, here in East Wicklow where we regularly enough get large dips in growth during the mid summer and early autumn we really need to grow as much grass as we can during April and May, so bit of rain now definitely wouldn't go astray, but nothing on the forecast.

its supposed to get very cold next week particularly next weekend..... down to zero and possibly below it.....

blackdog1

awaywithyou wrote:

its supposed to get very cold next week particularly next weekend..... down to zero and possibly below it.....

As long as its dry and cows have a bit of grass I don't mind. Last year taught me cows still produce with good solids with lighter covers while buffered with quality silage

davidk1394

blackdog1 wrote: »

As long as its dry and cows have a bit of grass I don't mind. Last year taught me cows still produce with good solids with lighter covers while buffered with quality silage

A lot of farmers learned that lesson aswell. Ground is in fabulous condition. I hope it remembers to rain between now and May

Markcheese

I think the drought opened cracks down deep in soil, and really improved the drainage,

whelan2

Markcheese wrote: »

I think the drought opened cracks down deep in soil, and really improved the drainage,

Ye noticed that here

Bass Reeves

Markcheese wrote: »

I think the drought opened cracks down deep in soil, and really improved the drainage,

You need a really sunny hot summer every 5-8 years to break open ground especial;ly ground that is in permenant pasture. It breaks open ground and takes away compaction. As well it brings residual N back up to ground level where grass can use it again. Farm is like it got 50-60 units of N last Autumn

Lady Haywire

davidk1394 wrote: »

A lot of farmers learned that lesson aswell. Ground is in fabulous condition. I hope it remembers to rain between now and May

Ah no, you're grand there! :pac:

Reggie.

Lady Haywire wrote: »

Ah no, you're grand there! :pac:

I concur

jaymla627

Reggie. wrote: »

I concur

Was spreading silage ground that was swimming same time last year and not leaving a mark, if ground like that is dry I’d reckon lads on dry farms will be needing rain in the next 7-10 days to keep growth going, all this March silage been made could be feed out in April yet

charolais0153

Jesus christ. Its been a week,a week since it last rained. And its still march.

dh1985

charolais0153 wrote: »

Jesus christ. Its been a week,a week since it last rained. And its still march.

A week since it rained more than the rest of the wiinter

Gawddawggonnit

So far it’s been the worst year for grass since I came here. Cold at night with a NE wind during the day.
Gladly I’ve a spread of forage crops.
Will anyone bother to use crops other than 100% grass?
Spread the risk? Or depend on the Gov for a bailout if a poor grass year happens again...?
Genuine questions!

Timmaay

Gawddawggonnit wrote: »

So far it’s been the worst year for grass since I came here. Cold at night with a NE wind during the day.
Gladly I’ve a spread of forage crops.
Will anyone bother to use crops other than 100% grass?
Spread the risk? Or depend on the Gov for a bailout if a poor grass year happens again...?
Genuine questions!

Any recommendations for something that can be grazed easily? Bumping up the maize area by 40/50% this year.

Mooooo

Gawddawggonnit wrote: »

So far it’s been the worst year for grass since I came here. Cold at night with a NE wind during the day.
Gladly I’ve a spread of forage crops.
Will anyone bother to use crops other than 100% grass?
Spread the risk? Or depend on the Gov for a bailout if a poor grass year happens again...?
Genuine questions!

Cancelled maize I buy annually here as have enough left over. I'm not saying it won't happen again but last year was the first time ever drought slowed things here, and with heavier ground once the rain came back it took off again. Prolonged Wet weather has been more of an issue. Everyone has to learn for their own farm, in terms of fodder etc. What is required.

Bass Reeves

jaymla627 wrote: »

Was spreading silage ground that was swimming same time last year and not leaving a mark, if ground like that is dry I’d reckon lads on dry farms will be needing rain in the next 7-10 days to keep growth going, all this March silage been made could be feed out in April yet

No plenty of moisture still in the ground. Will be spraeding Urea as N for silage next week. Days are not long enough or heat too hot for moisture to be an issue for another 4-6 weeks

BENDYBINN

Bass Reeves wrote: »

No plenty of moisture still in the ground. Will be spraeding Urea as N for silage next week. Days are not long enough or heat too hot for moisture to be an issue for another 4-6 weeks

You’ve never experienced a dry hard April?

alps

Gawddawggonnit wrote: »

So far it’s been the worst year for grass since I came here. Cold at night with a NE wind during the day.
Gladly I’ve a spread of forage crops.
Will anyone bother to use crops other than 100% grass?
Spread the risk? Or depend on the Gov for a bailout if a poor grass year happens again...?
Genuine questions!

Your risk at evens, and our risk at 7/1 are 2 different propositions.

At our levels of risk, what's a useful forage crop to use, and if we get a normal year, how much yield will we be down on that Ha?

Danzy

Gawddawggonnit wrote: »

So far it’s been the worst year for grass since I came here. Cold at night with a NE wind during the day.
Gladly I’ve a spread of forage crops.
Will anyone bother to use crops other than 100% grass?
Spread the risk? Or depend on the Gov for a bailout if a poor grass year happens again...?
Genuine questions!

Looks like silage will be cut here the first week of May,looking like a heavy crop, fields that were strip grazed in January are well placed, grass wise.

Every place and part of the country is different.

More grass grew the first 3 week of this year than the first 4 months of last year.

Around here in North Cork, forage crops are not going to help.

Gawddawggonnit

Timmaay wrote: »

Any recommendations for something that can be grazed easily? Bumping up the maize area by 40/50% this year.

Cocksfoot, plantains, fescue etc.?
Kale, rape?

Gawddawggonnit

alps wrote: »

Your risk at evens, and our risk at 7/1 are 2 different propositions.

How’d you come up with those odds?
I’d like to take a position, if you’re on for it?

Keepgrowing

As I’ve said here before, there was and is no fodder crisis. Farm organisations cry out and like sheep all follow suit. Imported forage last spring fed the national herd for 10 hours. Ifa cutting the airports for silage pure photo op.

I was accused on this thread of arrogance for posting that silage can be bought for less than cost of production. That was the case, is the case and will continue to be the case while we as farmers get paid to be gardeners ie. keep the place looking well to get our BPS.

We have 40% of next winters feedbought at 90% of the cost of production. There are fields of kale and other catch crops gone to seed. Fields of Westerwoulds being mown, bales and stacked on headlands with no buyers to get in grain crops.

Hardly remotely close to a crisis. A little less hysteria and following the crowd is called for.

The one exception is straw was expensive this year but has returned to more realistic price of late. Guys out for a killing with straw and silage not in as strong a position as they thought. Those who sold throughout winter, much cuter.

Buford T. Justice XIX

Gawddawggonnit wrote: »

So far it’s been the worst year for grass since I came here. Cold at night with a NE wind during the day.
Gladly I’ve a spread of forage crops.
Will anyone bother to use crops other than 100% grass?
Spread the risk? Or depend on the Gov for a bailout if a poor grass year happens again...?
Genuine questions!

Out of curiosity, Dawg, what crop would you sow that would be able to tolerate 6 months of rain and still be utilisable when the rain stopped and would tolerate 3 months of drought and still fully recover to produce a utilisable crop with excellent feed values in both cases?

I won't be hanging my system. I still have a month of silage left in the pit after buying early last year when my ground wouldn't grow much of anything never mind some exotic crops which I have no interest or experience in.

And that mystery crop would only complicate my simple system of grass+silage+ration and probably require more investment in machinery to grow, harvest and feed it.

No thanks, I'll be grand, tbh.

Gawddawggonnit

Buford T. Justice V wrote: »

Out of curiosity, Dawg, what crop would you sow that would be able to tolerate 6 months of rain and still be utilisable when the rain stopped and would tolerate 3 months of drought and still fully recover to produce a utilisable crop with excellent feed values in both cases?

I won't be hanging my system. I still have a month of silage left in the pit after buying early last year when my ground wouldn't grow much of anything never mind some exotic crops which I have no interest or experience in.

And that mystery crop would only complicate my simple system of grass+silage+ration and probably require more investment in machinery to grow, harvest and feed it.

No thanks, I'll be grand, tbh.

Close the thread Chief.

There never was a crisis...and never will be.

GrasstoMilk

Gawddawggonnit wrote: »

Close the thread Chief.

There never was a crisis...and never will be.

We ate 75% of our first cut silage in june/July, bought 800kgs more meal per cow for the year.
That's all extra we bought.

And at the end of it all we have silage left.

Wont be changing anything yet any way

If all farmers actually treated grass as a crop like maize or barley there would never be a fodder deficit in this country

tanko

The good grazing conditions last Autumn/early Winter, dry winter and dry Spring saved the day.
It would have been a very different story if the weather had been bad last Autumn and/or this spring.
There was no fodder crisis but it could be said thats down to pure luck.

Danzy

Gawddawggonnit wrote: »

Close the thread Chief.

There never was a crisis...and never will be.

Dealing with all the grass grown this spring is a challenge at the moment, yet you have never seen worse growth.

5 miles East of here, heavy cattle were out a month ago, grain is a month ahead.

5 miles west of here, there are still cattle in sheds.

Hell, there is as much variability in sight than many countries have in a province.

Fodder crops are not an option here, a glorified green manure, all too often.

What is right or appropriate in one place can be a disaster in others.

Danzy

tanko wrote: »

The good grazing conditions last Autumn/early Winter, dry winter and dry Spring saved the day.
It would have been a very different story if the weather had been bad last Autumn and/or this spring.
There was no fodder crisis but it could be said thats down to pure luck.

It was, cattle in late, out early and some only in for 7 weeks.

Add in the weather so mild they didn't fly through feed.

A normal winter would have caused problems for people.

Buford T. Justice XIX

Gawddawggonnit wrote: »

Close the thread Chief.

There never was a crisis...and never will be.

That's the thing, though, Dawg.

We were told all last year that we had too many cattle in the country as there wasn't feed growing for them.

Are we now suffering from too few cattle as we have a huge surplus of grass available atm and farmers are struggling to manage it productively?

Social media is a pox in this regards as there's no middle ground allowed, everything is an utter disaster and mankind is doomed, DOOMED i TELLS YA!

The truth is there will always be blips in feed growth, availability and usage. This years surplus is as much of a blip as last years shortage. The best course might be to ignore the talking heads and hysterical commentators and focus on what's under a farmers control to manage and keep a reserve of fodder from the good times to help tide over in times of shortages.

Just like farmers have always done, tbh.