The trade is not crazy busy, but getting everything to the customer before the Christmas holidays will take some time, according to several traders. In addition, there are livestock farmers who are still pushing forward so that the bill can continue into the 2023 financial year.
There are hardly any shifts in the by-products this week. Various traders/transporters have a minimum occupancy in the week between Christmas and New Year's Eve. That means things are busy on that front. Several factories also have a stop during that week. The demand for spent grain remains good. "We can serve our regular customers well, but we don't go to the farm," said a trader. The DCA Indicative Price for spent grain remains the same as last week at €4,10 per percent dry matter. Feed potatoes are in short supply. It is not easy to get hold of something that still looks a bit like potatoes, according to traders. The DCA Indicative Price is €60 per tonne, but there is little trade.
Trade in silage maize is slowly but surely picking up. The weeks when almost nothing happened after the harvest are behind us. If something is sold that needs to be delivered quickly before New Year's Eve, it quickly becomes busy. The DCA Indicative Price for silage maize has taken a step up and amounts to €95 per tonne.
Quality
There is plenty of silage available. Grass on which the cows produce milk is a completely different story. That's just hard to get. Livestock farmers keep silage with good feed values themselves and what they offer is more young cattle quality. The DCA Indicative Price for silage remains the same at €100 per tonne. The regular work continues in hay and straw. The DCA Indicative Price for straw remains stable at €140 per tonne, but with large differences between the North and South of the Netherlands. Meadow hay works out at €190 per tonne. There is very little trade in grass seed hay due to a lack of supply. Prices are around €170 per tonne with little or no difference between the varieties.