Fodder Shortage 2018

Standing maize on contract will be expensive

Not necessarily I think,
Depends how you do it,
Any one wants to grow maize on our land, rents the field, they pay for seed drilling etc, all the risk is then with the renter, if they (the renter) is using a contractor to do that it's a fixed cost, + rent,
None of this paying by the trailer load or not wanting it of its a bad season,

Edit - I'm not trying to say it will cheap,, but the grower will know his cost before he starts,
 
Not necessarily I think,
Depends how you do it,
Any one wants to grow maize on our land, rents the field, they pay for seed drilling etc, all the risk is then with the renter, if they (the renter) is using a contractor to do that it's a fixed cost, + rent,
None of this paying by the trailer load or not wanting it of its a bad season,

Edit - I'm not trying to say it will cheap,, but the grower will know his cost before he starts,
If want rent land for extra fodder i.e. Silage that isn't getting any cheaper
 
Not really,a fair amount on the Fylde and south lancs,a lot is shipped in from York direction.

We grew it from 93 to 98,1 in 10 it's decent and 3 in 10 will be a waste of time bothering the rest is average,a normal year were a great grass area,mostly struggle getting on to harvest it.
So I assume more whole crop is grown then,
 
My fodder beet man rang to say it's going up to £45/t and it's near gone.

I did my usual and asked for 2 loads next week to see me into March.
Next door had to give £29 per bale for silage last week, big square hay was up to £50 per bale, quadrant size I guess. Straw trade was very flat, couldn't get £10 for wheat in rounds.
 
Fodder crisis seems well and truly over here by us, with basically the most ideal of winters we could ever hope for, decent growth whole way through, and perfect grazing conditions. An easy 2months fulltime feed still left here in the pits, would take us up to end of March, however there will be plenty of grazing meanwhile (even if the rain comes ground conditions will take plenty of water), and most farms have an afc of 1000+ which is basically another full month of feed in the paddocks. I'm not going to get complacent tho, will grow extra maize this year and trying to secure a standing crop of 1st cut silage early enough to help build back up pit reserves.
 
Next door had to give £29 per bale for silage last week, big square hay was up to £50 per bale, quadrant size I guess. Straw trade was very flat, couldn't get £10 for wheat in rounds.
£92/t for wheat straw here,thinking of clamping some as alkastraw.
 
Fodder crisis seems well and truly over here by us, with basically the most ideal of winters we could ever hope for, decent growth whole way through, and perfect grazing conditions. An easy 2months fulltime feed still left here in the pits, would take us up to end of March, however there will be plenty of grazing meanwhile (even if the rain comes ground conditions will take plenty of water), and most farms have an afc of 1000+ which is basically another full month of feed in the paddocks. I'm not going to get complacent tho, will grow extra maize this year and trying to secure a standing crop of 1st cut silage early enough to help build back up pit reserves.
Been a dry winter for us but amazing how wet the land is,lots of winter left to come and we've time for February fill-dike.

I'm about halfway through my clamps but i always like a reserve this year will be a challenge.
 
Good supplies of silage around home. Interesting to drive up the N4 from home and see loads of bales going East and towards the south. 9 out of 10 years it goes the opposite way.

Tight in Galway. Thought I had a lot of silage and did. Kept a few extra heads because prices were low. Had baled silage from the 8th of june. It was very dry when we baled it up and I thought it would go far, but they ate through it very fast. I'm not complaining, they did well on it and I fed very little meal over the winter. . Got some urea spread at the weekend. Thought i might get a better response if it was spread into grass rather than grazing first and then spreading on bare ground. Hope to start letting them go next weekend. I have good grass all round, but will plan to spread into grass a week ahead of them grazing it which will hopefully lead to a better regrowth.
 
I'm up in the northwest between 25-27 a bale. I'm selling some no big demand anyway. Seems to be a good few bales about.
 
I had three lads call this past fortnight looking for any spare bales E 25 -E 35 collected - delivered and quality depending they are hearing .
 
Heard of people looking for them alright tight myself but lucky enough to have beet tops to graze and that is stretching it a good bit
 
I won't be short myself. There are a few loads of bales starting to move but nothing to get excited about yet. It is only just past the middle of Feb and it's a long way to April. Anyone thinking the winter is over would be very foolish. I've seen early grass vanish and not make a comeback for some time in the past. The cold frosty spring of 2013 isn't so long ago that I've forgotten it.
 
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