Fodder Crisis

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.

kevthegaff

There was a lot of under performing cows killed in the back end, weather played ball also. If people react fast things normally work out. When was the proper fodder crisis a few years ago, now that was a fodder shortage

Mooooo

kevthegaff wrote: »

There was a lot of under performing cows killed in the back end, weather played ball also. If people react fast things normally work out. When was the proper fodder crisis a few years ago, now that was a fodder shortage

2012/2013. Yeah hit hard as summer of 12 was pure ****e didn't stop raining and spring 13 came cold. Lads that were effected worst by drought last year prob did best that year and vice versa

Dunedin

Keepgrowing wrote: »

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. .

What do you put the cost of production at?

older by the day

Brown Podzol wrote: »

Keepgrowing wrote: »

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.

Every extra acre I farm that doesn’t allow me to milk an extra cow is costing me money. I can get my heifers contract reared cheaper than I can rear them and I can buy silage cheaper than I can grow it myself.

It's nice to have a bit of room, i see the lessons of April 18, has been lost on some. A bit of a pit of silage left over or a bit of grass going strong may not be profitable but it can give peace of mind. HURRAY UP and milk loads of cows, pay loads of tax, stay running, if that is what life is about

Never wrestle with pigs

Bass Reeves wrote: »

I would not be of that opinion of heifer rearing. First off when it started Teagasc was quoting figures of about 110-120c/day. Some Dory farmers were of the opinion it should be arounf or sub an euro a day. I costed it on this forum at 140-160c/day. At present is it around the 140c/day??. Even at that I would not heifer rear for a dairy farmer for much less than 2 euro/day.

Priced it a few years ago and cost price was coming in the same as yours, around the, 1:50 a day. You would want to at a retail price to your silage also, why would you sell it for cost price or less to them. Say you have a hundred Heifers would you not be worth 50 euro a day? That's all your getting if you charge 2 a day. No doses or vaccines. It's a very silly system for anyone charging less than 2:20/2:50 a day. Other than that let it out or just sell silage and no looking after someone else's stock.

blue5000

Mod Note I've pulled out a few posts to form a new thread on contract rearing as I think the subject deserves it's own thread, here

https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057968919#

Sheep breeder

There was a fodder crisis in certain parts of the country and farmers managed in time to avoid in getting out of control. In our case we left the sucklers out longer than normal and bought extra straw as a reserve to feed, introduced meal to all cattle at housing at higher rates than normal to save silage.
The biggest factor it was a very easy winter on man and beast and if the weather turns wrong now for a while now and grass stops growing what will all this slurry talk about no fodder crisis will soon be out the window.
Ireland has different types land and weather and anybody says there was no fodder crisis is only talking slurry.

valtra2

There was a fodder crisis in the east but we took action and solved it. (Unlike the farmers in the West every other year). Bye.

Never wrestle with pigs

valtra2 wrote: »

There was a fodder crisis in the east but we took action and solved it. (Unlike the farmers in the West every other year). Bye.

Lol, did the boys in the west send any free bales back the other direction? 😂😂

valtra2

Never wrestle with pigs wrote: »

Lol, did the boys in the west send any free bales back the other direction? 😂😂

Not even a bad one.

charolais0153

Haha.. Ye sow kale/ redstart. Knock a month off your already 2 months shorter winter. When we sown rape, sheep were up to their knees nevermind cattle. Buy a bale of straw,its double the price here.

farisfat

valtra2 wrote: »

There was a fodder crisis in the east but we took action and solved it. (Unlike the farmers in the West every other year). Bye.

The weather solved it.....no drought here in the west

valtra2

charolais0153 wrote: »

Haha.. Ye sow kale/ redstart. Knock a month off your already 2 months shorter winter. When we sown rape, sheep were up to their knees nevermind cattle. Buy a bale of straw,its double the price here.

Ah no we are just better farmers

J.O. Farmer

valtra2 wrote: »

Not even a bad one.

Count your blessings. Some of the muck I saw come west last year instead of easing pressure it would have just created more work disposing of the silage when the cattle didn't eat it.

Danzy

valtra2 wrote: »

There was a fodder crisis in the east but we took action and solved it. (Unlike the farmers in the West every other year). Bye.

Dildo alert.

lab man

There is a reason why no farmer from the east came west to farm, they'd starve.

cute geoge

The old crowd used to say if a big farmer had a small farm he would starve and if a small farmer had a big farm he would kill himself with work

jaymla627

Growth has stalled here, the past week, with a very hash April been given they’re will be a nice bit of silage feed yet, it’s the ground frosts at night that’s doing the real damage

Say my name

jaymla627 wrote: »

Growth has stalled here, the past week, with a very hash April been given they’re will be a nice bit of silage feed yet, it’s the ground frosts at night that’s doing the real damage

It's nearly the same every spring.
Any ground with a bit of good cover will power away.
Any ground skint with regrowths ate stalls and turns purple.

older by the day

valtra2 wrote: »

There was a fodder crisis in the east but we took action and solved it. (Unlike the farmers in the West every other year). Bye.

There are people who are holocaust deniers, but there are some on here denying that spring 18 never happened. The west have long winters every year, but the lads in the dry ground can't cope with any bit of stress, drought my aass. Crying to minister creed, importing nuts made of grass lol

Keepgrowing

Just did cover.
890 afc
Growth 42
Second round started 5 days.
100 units of N out
12 units of S out
Moving away from compounds/blends to straights seems to be paying off

visatorro

Keepgrowing wrote: »

Just did cover.
890 afc
Growth 42
Second round started 5 days.
100 units of N out
12 units of S out
Moving away from compounds/blends to straights seems to be paying off

Neighbours discussion group are doing the same. All happy enough apparently,

whelan2

Is there a fodder crisis looming?

Timmaay

whelan2 wrote: »

Is there a fodder crisis looming?

Yes, officially every time the growth drops under 30 a state of emergency is declared in the country and supplies of alfalfa are airlifted straight in from the USA to help us deal with this traumatic time . But nay who knows, running short on grass in early April is far from unusual, we could be all growing 80 in 2wks time.

mahoney_j

Timmaay wrote: »

Yes, officially every time the growth drops under 30 a state of emergency is declared in the country and supplies of alfalfa are airlifted straight in from the USA to help us deal with this traumatic time . But nay who knows, running short on grass in early April is far from unusual, we could be all growing 80 in 2wks time.

If the weather comes as forecast ,rain then heat then your right ,afc 605 st 4.1 farm perfectly primed

Danzy

Growth is posed to explode. 17 degree days and damp ground.

Till be rotting in fields I tell ya.

Timmaay

mahoney_j wrote: »

If the weather comes as forecast ,rain then heat then your right ,afc 605 st 4.1 farm perfectly primed

The rain part is what's lacking on my forecast though. East Wicklow hasn't got a patch on the rain of down the country over the last 2months. I'm absolutely not moaning at the minute but could well be in a month ha.

BENDYBINN

whelan2 wrote: »

Is there a fodder crisis looming?

In any other business a company would always have an adequate reserve of a scarce raw material.................farmers on the other hand........as sure it’ll be grand.

Odelay

BENDYBINN wrote: »

In any other business a company would always have an adequate reserve of a scarce raw material.................farmers on the other hand........as sure it’ll be grand.

Few business would have a 6 month supply stored. Very few are at the whim of nature.

charolais0153

Odelay wrote: »

Few business would have a 6 month supply stored. Very few are at the whim of nature.

A 6 month supply of what. A six month supply for a six month wintwr isnt going to cut it. 6 month supply for a 3 month winter will