Grass

evster

Hi,

Does anyone know who would be best to talk to about exporting 100+ tonnes of grass from Ireland to countries in Europe? Do haulage companies cover this kind of thing?

Thanks

reilig

evster wrote: »

Hi,

Does anyone know who would be best to talk to about exporting 100+ tonnes of grass from Ireland to countries in Europe? Do haulage companies cover this kind of thing?

Thanks

Artic Lorries with bulk trailers should be able to bring 25 ton at a time. Contact any haulier that does international transport.

Can I ask why?

Would it not be like exporting ice to the eskimos???

evster

Thanks for the quick response reilig.

Are there any export or customs or legal issues that would stop me doing it do you know? Emailed a few haulage companies now for inforamation and prices.

I know it's a strange request but someone in work is quite interested in this and i know farms which can supply so if it's doable i'll try help them both...

djmc

What kind of grass if its the kind you smoke you might have trouble at the port:D
If its the kind cows eat would it leave a profit or a loss ?

reilig

evster wrote: »

Thanks for the quick response reilig.

Are there any export or customs or legal issues that would stop me doing it do you know? Emailed a few haulage companies now for inforamation and prices.

I know it's a strange request but someone in work is quite interested in this and i know farms which can supply so if it's doable i'll try help them both...

Europe is a free Market so there would be no customs. However, seeing as grass is a food, you would have to meet the same regulations and standards as any other food being exported. You'd need to check with the Dep of Ag.

Another thing to think about is that if you cut grass, load it into a trailer and transport it over land for 2 or 3 days, it will heat in the lorry trailer and upon removing it from the lorry, the majority of it might be rotton.
To prevent this, you have 2 options: 1. Dry it and save it into hay or 2. make it into silage.

Tora Bora

Strange request indeed. With all the water and effluent run off, coming from grass as it settles and ferments, I expect you would need a trailer which would contain the juice, 100% from any potential leakage whilst in transit. How could it be in any way cost effective

reilig

Tora Bora wrote: »

Strange request indeed. With all the water and effluent run off, coming from grass as it settles and ferments, I expect you would need a trailer which would contain the juice, 100% from any potential leakage whilst in transit. How could it be in any way cost effective

Agreed!

It would be cheaper to grow the grass close to the point of sale, and irrigate it if necessary. The cost of transport would be huge and would be multiples of the cost of growing each trailer of grass!!!

evster

reilig wrote: »

Europe is a free Market so there would be no customs. However, seeing as grass is a food, you would have to meet the same regulations and standards as any other food being exported. You'd need to check with the Dep of Ag.

Another thing to think about is that if you cut grass, load it into a trailer and transport it over land for 2 or 3 days, it will heat in the lorry trailer and upon removing it from the lorry, the majority of it might be rotton.
To prevent this, you have 2 options: 1. Dry it and save it into hay or 2. make it into silage.

The Dep of Ag is what I was worried about, or something similar stopping the loads going over after arranging the haulage, would be a lot of hassle if it was stopped and had to head back down the country at the port. Anyone have a link to the regulations involved with the food export part?

The farmers i know said round/square bales would be suitable for transport like this to europe, so hopefully wouldn't have those problems like runoff. Must ask him about the fermenting problem though!

I'm hoping if there's demand it'll be worth it, both sides seem quite interested

JohnBoy

Not as far fetched as ye might think lads.

serious fodder shortage predicted on the continent this year.

I'd imagine wrapped big square bales of haylage would be the way to go.


There's people importing hay from canada for the uk horse market!

Tora Bora

JohnBoy wrote: »

Not as far fetched as ye might think lads.

serious fodder shortage predicted on the continent this year.

I'd imagine wrapped big square bales of haylage would be the way to go.


There's people importing hay from canada for the uk horse market!

Yesh, but the people importing hay from Canada, for horses, are in a different league alltogether to commodity food producers from meat to milk.
It's one thing to transport dried refined grain for farm animal fodder, around the world, given you get a lot of feed value per ton weight or per cubic meter volume, compared to say grass.
Shifting grass / silage (of hard to control quality) around the world, is quite simply daft, daft, daft. Total madness:eek::eek:

JohnBoy

Try telling that to french farmers.

http://gain.fas.usda.gov/Recent%20GAIN%20Publications/France%20facing%20most%20severe%20drought%20in%2050%20years_Paris_France_6-1-2011.pdf


Like I say, it's not nearly as daft as it may seem. curtainsider full of haylage could be worth a lot of money in france this year.

I read somewhere else (but cant find it now) that extra freight trains are being run in france to move forages to the worst effected regions.

what does it cost to get a truck to france?

Pacoa

"Who's taking the horse to france" will have to be changed to "who's taking the hay to france".