Grass enough, cattle farmer dares to wait

Due to the relatively high nutritional value of grass around this time, there is not (yet) great interest in additional products. Yet the demand for by-products and residual products remains fairly stable. The demand for spent grains even seems to be increasing slightly. The DCA Indicative Price remains the same as last week at €2,65 per percent dry matter.

Feed potatoes are difficult to obtain. Everything that is still in the cell is sold to the potato processor, according to the forage trade. The DCA Indication Price remains at €42,50 as long as there is supply.

Demand for silage maize has yet to pick up
Silage maize is not traded much at the moment. Livestock farmers prefer to feed more grass and, if necessary, settle for slightly less milk than buying expensive corn now. If the nutritional value of the grass decreases during the summer, the demand for silage maize may increase. A price drop is therefore not expected in the short term. The DCA Indicative Price this week is €70 per tonne.

Due to the good grass harvest, there is little demand for silage. Certainly the more extensive companies have been able to significantly replenish the stock of silage grass and with the current weather the grass continues to grow well. The DCA Indicative Price remains at €60 per tonne.

Hay enough
Meadow hay is quite common on the market. In the Netherlands, mainly small packages or foil bales have been pressed in recent weeks. For the large bales of hay, a longer period of steady weather is actually required. The harvest of coarse hay from nature reserves or the Eifel, for example, has yet to get underway. Prices for meadow hay remain around €180 per tonne.

There is not much trade in straw. There is not much available and what is available is quite expensive. Livestock farmers who still have straw in the shed are waiting for the new harvest. The expectation is that if the grain harvest gets underway and the weather cooperates a bit, prices will quickly drop to a more 'normal' level. The first winter barley straw will be quite expensive. There is little change in the prices that are now mentioned. Both wheat and geste straw remain at €155 per tonne.

Season almost done
The grass seed hay trade is virtually over. Here too, it is mainly a matter of waiting for the new harvest. What the price will do is still very uncertain. Several traders believe there may be less interest in grass seed hay this year compared to recent years. The first cut was mown late in many places, so they expect there to be less need for structural products in the ration. Nevertheless, the DCA Indicative Price does not change and remains at €150 per tonne, but with the comment: very little trade.