Cheap Ration for Suckler Cows

pakalasa

I saw 40 Kg bags of rolled barley recently for sale for €8 each. Thats €200 per tonne.
This was in Ennis mart so looked like good value. Just wondering what would I need to add to this to balance it & make it more palitable. Like a lot of people I want to stretch out the baled silage I have.

Can I feed it direct?

vanderbadger

bought 1/2 ton bags rolled barley for 75 euro each, they could be 80 now as price was going up, feeding to year and halfs with silage, they didnt seem keen initially but are going mad for it now although not giving them too much to begin with, the guy selling it suggested citrus pulp would be great along with the barley to bring up protein levels,I suppose if a bit of meal was mixed in with it it would be v good also?

locky76

vanderbadger wrote: »

bought 1/2 ton bags rolled barley for 75 euro each, they could be 80 now as price was going up, feeding to year and halfs with silage, they didnt seem keen initially but are going mad for it now although not giving them too much to begin with, the guy selling it suggested citrus pulp would be great along with the barley to bring up protein levels,I suppose if a bit of meal was mixed in with it it would be v good also?

Would you have a number for the fella selling this vanderbadger?
I'm getting an IBC of molasses in the next week or two, that and the barley should stretch out my silage, long winter ahead of us!

St James

I can't understand this.

Barley was selling ex farm for €85/90 per tonne. If you bought your own roller would your not be better buing fomr a local farmer and rolling your own?

Rujib1

pakalasa wrote: »

I saw 40 Kg bags of rolled barley recently for sale for €8 each. Thats €200 per tonne.
This was in Ennis mart so looked like good value. Just wondering what would I need to add to this to balance it & make it more palitable. Like a lot of people I want to stretch out the baled silage I have.

Can I feed it direct?

Was in Ennis myself with a few weanlings, and saw the barley. However I do not think it really great value considering he does not give you receit for tax man AND considering you can get a ton of beef ration down the road at Dan McInerneys for exactly €200 a ton and you get a proper invoice. Also Roche's Limerick will deliver a beef ration to you in bags for €215 a ton.

R1

Casinoking

St James wrote: »

I can't understand this.

Barley was selling ex farm for €85/90 per tonne. If you bought your own roller would your not be better buing fomr a local farmer and rolling your own?

Not too hard to understand. If you buy barley from your local farmer at €90/tonne it will be coming off the combine at an average of say 20% moisture. If you want to keep it for the winter you'll have to either dry it or treat it with acid, either of which will cost you roughly €25-€30 per tonne. Then you'll have to roll it, if you haven't your own roller this will cost another €14-€15 per tonne. You're up to €130 euro per tonne there already. If you have your own roller you have to put some kind of cost on the time and labour involved in rolling yourself, a small PTO driven roller will get through 1 - 1.5 tonnes per hour. If you don't own your own roller I'm sure you wouldn't buy much for less than €1500 - €2000, which means you'd want to be rolling over 100 tonnes before it will pay for itself. All-in-all I think €150 per tonne is good value, at least you know exactly what you're getting

Sam Kade

Casinoking wrote: »

Not too hard to understand. If you buy barley from your local farmer at €90/tonne it will be coming off the combine at an average of say 20% moisture. If you want to keep it for the winter you'll have to either dry it or treat it with acid, either of which will cost you roughly €25-€30 per tonne. Then you'll have to roll it, if you haven't your own roller this will cost another €14-€15 per tonne. You're up to €130 euro per tonne there already. If you have your own roller you have to put some kind of cost on the time and labour involved in rolling yourself, a small PTO driven roller will get through 1 - 1.5 tonnes per hour. If you don't own your own roller I'm sure you wouldn't buy much for less than €1500 - €2000, which means you'd want to be rolling over 100 tonnes before it will pay for itself. All-in-all I think €150 per tonne is good value, at least you know exactly what you're getting

You also forgot to mention that after you dry it or treat it with acid that the original tonne for €90 now weighs less which would mean that a tonne after drying costs €96.

pakalasa

Rujib1 wrote: »

Was in Ennis myself with a few weanlings, and saw the barley. However I do not think it really great value considering he does not give you receit for tax man AND considering you can get a ton of beef ration down the road at Dan McInerneys for exactly €200 a ton and you get a proper invoice. Also Roche's Limerick will deliver a beef ration to you in bags for €215 a ton.
R1

I'm using Dan McInerneys my self at the moment for the weanlings. It comes from 'Crecora Mills' in Limerick. Incidently it's the same price from them direct.

Nobody mentioned the cost of storage and delivery in all of this. There is little if any grain grown in the west so delivery costs are significant.

My understanding was that barley was the most expensive ingredient in a ration so at €200 for a small user like myself is good value.

Casinoking

The drying cost would include the loss of weight, you won't lose any weight treating with acid though.

Casinoking

pakalasa wrote: »

I'm using Dan McInerneys my self at the moment for the weanlings. It comes from 'Crecora Mills' in Limerick. Incidently it's the same price from them direct.

Nobody mentioned the cost of storage and delivery in all of this. There is little if any grain grown in the west so delivery costs are significant.

My understanding was that barley was the most expensive ingredient in a ration so at €200 for a small user like myself is good value.

If anyone is interested in rolled barley or oats I could get you prices for delivery, either bulk or in half tonne bags. Just let me know where in the country you are and how much you want.

Sam Kade

Casinoking wrote: »

The drying cost would include the loss of weight, you won't lose any weight treating with acid though.

Maybe not but the extra weight is excess water.

pakalasa

Guys,
How did ye store the 1/2 Tonne Bags of Rolled Barley.

Do you have a container for it?

I imagine that the rodents would have a field-day if I left it lying around just in the bag.
How long would a bag like that keep?

vanderbadger

in my case i got them into a hayshed alongside some round bales, they are v close to cattle as leanto is slatted, anyway was worried about the rodent issue but so far no problem, have a heap of cats some of which sleep over in the hay, the stuff is staying dry so its seems to be fine

leg wax

barley and citrus blown in a house for 140euros

pakalasa

Rolled Barley
I priced 1/2 Tonne bags at €155 per Tonne from O'Neills in Castleconnell, limerick colected at their yard.

From another place, I also priced 20Kg bags at €6 per bag , thats €300 per Tonne, some difference.

Legwax, do you know what the recommended ratio is for Barley to Citrus Pulp is ? I'm feeding suckler cows to stretch out baled silage.

vanderbadger

leg wax wrote: »

barley and citrus blown in a house for 140euros

who delivered the barley and citrus legwax?

Casinoking

I know of rolled barley in half-tonne bags at €150/tonne collected near Thurles, delivery extra. Also available in bulk by the trailer load.

leg wax

vanderbadger wrote: »

who delivered the barley and citrus legwax?

glanbia

Casinoking

What was the mix between the barley and citrus?

leg wax

pakalasa wrote: »

Rolled Barley
I priced 1/2 Tonne bags at €155 per Tonne from O'Neills in Castleconnell, limerick colected at their yard.

From another place, I also priced 20Kg bags at €6 per bag , thats €300 per Tonne, some difference.

Legwax, do you know what the recommended ratio is for Barley to Citrus Pulp is ? I'm feeding suckler cows to stretch out baled silage.

well i am feeding it to sucklers as well , i got 4 tons of barley and 3 tons of citrus as they would only bring in 3 ton lots or bigger, i think the right ratio is around 60% barley 40% citrus.

Casinoking

Was it €140/tonne for the whole lot or was that the average? Citrus is making around €120/tonne at the minute

leg wax

barley 140 citrus 135

reilig

Barley, Citrus and Soya 3 way mix with added minerals blown into the shed for €160 per ton if you take half a lorry load. You couldn't mix your own at that price. Available from any of the feed suppliers to the North West - Connacht Gold, Stewarts, Kiernan's, Pattons, etc.

Got 12 ton last week. A lot cheaper than 100 bales of silage and will go much further.

vanderbadger

got quoted 254/ton for soya rape barley mix from kerryagri, they had some other mix that was slightly cheaper, seems a lot dearer than some of the prices quoted here,

pakalasa

This is an extract from the Farmers Journal. Click on the bottom of the page for the *.pdf version. It's dated sept 2008 (higher prices) but gives some good info on cattle feed rations.

http://www.farmersjournal.ie/2008/0927/farmmanagement/beef/feature.shtml

Some good points as follows;

- "Remember this simple rule: protein is required for growing animals, and energy is required for finishing animals."
- "For weanlings, there is no need to go above 14%" (protein).

- Energy = barley, wheat, maize
Protein = soya, rapeseed, distillers
Fibre = citrus pulp, soya hulls, beet pulp
plus minerals & vitamins

So a simple Barley/Citrus mix would not be suitable for weanlings as protein is low. On the other hand it would be fine for maintaining adult cattle.

vanderbadger

pakalsa, was it you that was sying you deal with mcinerneys for for meal etc, how do you find them?

pakalasa

Ya, I got Beef Ration from them. It was €5.30 per 25Kg bag, the last time. Up from €5.00 the time before.
This was labelled "Barley Beef Ration 15%". This is fine for weanlings. It is made by Crecora Mills, in Crecora Limerick. You might be able to buy it in bulk, cheaper direct from Crecora Mills. I use very little myself as I only kept a few weanlings.

To answer your question, I find McInerneys fine. They seem cheaper for most things compared to the larger COOP stores. They have cheaper Diesel too.:D

Sam Kade

Dairygold are doing a coarse mixed ration for €158/tonne.
I enquired about it today you must buy 8 tonnes or more to get it for that price. I partly guessed Dairygold would have some snag with it.

Casinoking

Sam Kade wrote: »

Dairygold are doing a coarse mixed ration for €158/tonne.
I enquired about it today you must buy 8 tonnes or more to get it for that price. I partly guessed Dairygold would have some snag with it.

What's it made up of?

Sam Kade

Casinoking wrote: »

What's it made up of?

I don't know they sent out a letter about it 2 days ago and I enquired about it at my local dairygold outlet today but they didn't know anything about it other than you have to buy 8 tonnes or more to get it for that price.

vanderbadger

barley citrus and gluten 3 way mix, 160 a ton, roches feeds, kerry same price

dasheriff

I know you can get half tonne bags of barley, wheat etc. in liscarroll in half toone bags at €150 tonne.
My advice for anyone buying beef ration down these parts is direct from roches feeds or crecora mills, they have very competitive prices and top quality feed.
I find dairygold feed shows very poor results and is costly enough too and i wouldn`t rate kerry great either, Iv tried them all and find roches and cecora the best for weanlings and finishers.

Rujib1

dasheriff wrote: »

I know you can get half tonne bags of barley, wheat etc. in liscarroll in half toone bags at €150 tonne.
My advice for anyone buying beef ration down these parts is direct from roches feeds or crecora mills, they have very competitive prices and top quality feed.
I find dairygold feed shows very poor results and is costly enough too and i wouldn`t rate kerry great either, Iv tried them all and find roches and cecora the best for weanlings and finishers.

Spot on there. I changed this year from Kerry to Crecora meals for weanlings. Not alone is the crecora stuff a lot cheaper, but results were miles ahead.

Never, ever again buy Kerry stuff. Cant speak for Dairygold.

deltawarrior

Cant agree more, Crecora stuff an awful ot cheaper and way better performance for weanlings and beef cattle. Dairy nuts are good too.

sh1tstirrer

When I read this thread I was wondering how the price of barley and ration had dropped

bbam

sh1tstirrer wrote: »

When I read this thread I was wondering how the price of barley and ration had dropped

Brother rang two stores yesterday and couldn't get rolled barley any less than €220 a ton collected.

Rovi

[MOD] The vast bulk of this thread is 2 years old, and the prices quoted are well out of date.
In order to avoid further confusion, THREAD CLOSED.

Feel free to start a new one discussing current pricing. [/MOD]