Straw Prices

Aye well thats a problem alright. No-one wants his silage drawn X amount down the road to weigh it but eventually I do think it's going to end up been charged by the weight. Farming is fast becoming automated whether farmers like it or not I think. Just look back 20 years at the machinery and technology used if ye disagree and then think 20 or 50 years into the future.


But even with the improvements in machinery there was more money back then
 
Don't know about silage by the tonne but I do reckon straw should be as it is every where else in the world, modern balers both round and square can pack, all straw should be moisture tested

It is where it's traded by merchants, or in large quantities, but even in the UK does one farmer pay his neighbour by the tonne for the ten or twenty bales he gets every year? And if so what are the logistics involved? Maybe some of the UK lads can shed some light on it?
 
So the silage is being picked up in the field behind the yard, but the farmer has to pay to have it drawn 5 miles down the road and back again? Can't see it catching on! If the likes of the JD Greenstar system was reliable enough you could probably weigh the crop going through the harvester, but I think they're a bit away yet. [MENTION=3698]Spanner[/MENTION] would have similar ideas I think. That doesn't do anything for the bale situation either though, the man doing the baling has to have extra gear on the road to draw bales that he normally wouldn't bother with.

Latest version of the JD Greenstar has an infa red sensor on the chute that can analyse the forage dry matter, in conjunction with a potentiometer on the feed rolls it can calculate tonnes of material and % dm and create yield maps, be a good thing to have if you were selling maize or grass silage. Earlier versions had to be re-calibrated as the day opened up to compensate for drying conditions.
 
Well maybe nearer 30 years ago now in fairness. I'm not been smart or anything but give it another 30 years. Farming and machinery will be unrecognaisable.

I don't know. The basics of farming haven't changed much in 30 years, and people were embracing new technology back then too. There are always those who move with the times and those who don't, GPS and auto-steer and ISOBUS are cutting-edge now and big advances on 20 years ago, but how widespread are they? The vast majority of farmers have nothing to do with them. They might be everywhere in 20 years, but by then they'll be 20 years out of date.
 
I don't know. The basics of farming haven't changed much in 30 years, and people were embracing new technology back then too. There are always those who move with the times and those who don't, GPS and auto-steer and ISOBUS are cutting-edge now and big advances on 20 years ago, but how widespread are they? The vast majority of farmers have nothing to do with them. They might be everywhere in 20 years, but by then they'll be 20 years out of date.

Hmm what you say might well be 100% in fairness but costs nowadays are vastly different to 20 0r 30 years ago. Every round of the field with a fert spreader is costing hundreds now and driving to wide or narrow is a costly mistake.
 
Many farmers are running small farms often part time, any suggested change, i think they would be wary, it would need to be done nationally, backed by the media and the farming organisations as a fairer way to trade for everyone involved. A simple weigh system on a loader might be a good staring point, a few bales could be weighed and get an average weight per bale multiplied by the number of bales. €2000+ would buy a weigh system. I would have no problem selling straw by weight.
 
Hmm what you say might well be 100% in fairness but costs nowadays are vastly different to 20 0r 30 years ago. Every round of the field with a fert spreader is costing hundreds now and driving to wide or narrow is a costly mistake.

True, but there's still an awful lot of farmers out there who can't even set a spreader up properly on the tractor, let alone drive straight. The ones who appreciate accuracy are either investing in the equipment themselves or getting contractors in. That's the direction I see things going in, dairy farmers in particular will go back to using contractors for the majority of their machinery work and concentrate on animal husbandry themselves.
 
Many farmers are running small farms often part time, any suggested change, i think they would be wary, it would need to be done nationally, backed by the media and the farming organisations as a fairer way to trade for everyone involved. A simple weigh system on a loader might be a good staring point, a few bales could be weighed and get an average weight per bale multiplied by the number of bales. €2000+ would buy a weigh system. I would have no problem selling straw by weight.

I'd agree with you, I'd have no problem getting paid per tonne for baling silage either, I already pack the bales as tight as the baler will let me. Farmers are by nature a suspicious bunch though, and any change in a system is invariably viewed as a potential new way to be screwed. On the other hand, €2000 for a weigh system on a loader is handy money if you're using it every day of the week but it's hard to justify for a man selling a couple of hundred bales of hay or straw a year so how widespread can it be?
 
Many farmers are running small farms often part time, any suggested change, i think they would be wary, it would need to be done nationally, backed by the media and the farming organisations as a fairer way to trade for everyone involved. A simple weigh system on a loader might be a good staring point, a few bales could be weighed and get an average weight per bale multiplied by the number of bales. €2000+ would buy a weigh system. I would have no problem selling straw by weight.

With weigh cells being standard on a diet feeder now,
Another way would be to say weigh 5 bales and base it on the average weight?
 
Those Cantone bales would be half price!

You'd laugh but it's surprising the number of enquiries you'd get off lads when they see a square baler standing in a field. Although I freely admit that this year might well be the last of the Cantone, simply because of the hardship of squares. Help is needed with them but hard to come by.
 
Anyone with any wheat straw in Kildare/Meath that they want cleared quickly, don't be afraid to get in touch!

I was always under the impression that here in north Kildare we were one of the main wheat growing areas, but there seems to be less this year than ever.


Wheat straw is scarce and hard come buy I am buying a bit to fill a contract but it's at a good price as I am getting a good price , buying per bale as it's fairer for everyone .
 
So how much is a 4x4 round bale in Wexford making? This thread went straight sideways!!! Just back from d pub and d last 2 pages just ran through me like d last pint....
 
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