The rain of the past few weeks has done grass and corn good. This effect is now also trickling down to the forage trade. We are certainly not talking about giveaway prices, but we do seem to have passed the provisional peak.
It has sometimes been busier in the forage in the first weeks of August. "It's going in fits and starts, but the worst has happened when it comes to the shortage of roughage," according to a trader. This is noticeable, for example, in the supply of silage maize. A month ago it was really hard to get hold of something, but now there is more supply available. This does not mean that the market is oversupplied. The DCA Indicative Price nevertheless remains the same as last week at €110 per tonne.
Be careful
It is stealing between showers, but the necessary straw has been pressed again in recent days. Quality is a point of attention. Straw that has sometimes been in the swath for a few weeks is also pressed up and suppliers try to conceal it among wheat straw that has been threshed in the past week. The color of the straw that has recently been threshed has lost a bit, but other than that there is nothing wrong with it and it goes dry in the pack. "At least you no longer have to wait until the green buttons are removed," said a trader. The price range in straw is wide. This partly has to do with the quality, but also with the availability of (cheap) return cars from Northern France. The DCA Indicative Price for both wheat and barley straw averages €130 per tonne. Some traders charge €115 for straw that is unloaded directly from the field to the customer, while others charge €135 to €140 per tonne.
The market for by-products remains fairly stable. The potato processing industry is starting up slowly and therefore the supply of, for example, steam peels on chips remains limited. Feed potatoes are practically impossible to obtain. The DCA Indicative Price remains the same at €60 per tonne. For spent grain, demand remains relatively equal to supply for the time being. Since the nutritional value of autumn grass generally declines somewhat, the demand for spent grains may increase somewhat, according to an insider. The DCA Indicative Price this week is €3,80 per percent dry matter.
Not much nice hay
You have to look for nice stuff in both meadow and grass seed hay. Most of the good grass seed hay is in the shed and if some is offered off the land, you should pay close attention. The DCA Indicative Price for grass seed hay is €150 per tonne, but it must be noted that there is little trade. The supply of meadow hay is also faltering due to the changeable weather. Livestock farmers are hardly in the market for this. Most of it is intended for riding schools. The DCA Indicative Price is €190 per tonne.
Silage grass remains a special market. There is still hardly any supply of good grass. Customers seem to have become accustomed to the fact that it is very difficult to obtain grass silage and some traders note that less information is now available. The fact that the grass is now growing well also helps, of course. It is therefore not easy to provide a good representation of the market. The DCA Indicative Price for grass silage suitable for dairy goats is €100 per tonne delivered loose in the slot silo. Good silage bales are above that per tonne, while a mediocre autumn silage from the previous season suitable for young or fattening cattle is just a few tens of euros below that.