The wet but mild spring so far is attracting the attention of livestock farmers. As a result, food disappears a bit from the picture. What needs to be done is of course simply done, but it seems to be lost on some livestock farmers that it is worthwhile to critically examine the ration. There are considerable shifts in single raw materials and by-products.
The grass is growing early and can benefit from nitrogen fertilization, but there are hardly any opportunities to go out into the meadow with the drag hose, liquid manure tank or even the fertilizer spreader. Change is coming and the weather reports predict a dry period. It is certainly not said that we will have an early spring - it would not be the first time that frost will occur at the end of March - but livestock farmers who are on the short side of roughage are already making some advance on this.
Some people seem to think that buying more expensive roughage can be done later. Trade in silage grass and silage maize is therefore fairly quiet, according to several traders. The intensive companies continue to buy, but other buyers keep a low profile. Good silage grass is not exactly easy to pick up. The DCA Indicative Price for silage has risen slightly this week to €100 per tonne. Silage maize remains the same at €100 per tonne.
By-product market adrift
There is more movement in the by-products. Potato by-products from the chip industry are widely available, spent grains are almost being peddled and the drop in wheat on the Matif last week is seeping into flows such as wheat yeast concentrates. "Power feed, whatever we sell, drops in price much less quickly compared to single feed raw materials and residual flows," says a supplier. "With such products you can save serious money as a livestock farmer." Price differences in spent grain between different suppliers are large. For a livestock farmer who has the space (and financial resources) to build a pit and purchases serious volume, there is quite a bit of room for negotiation, suppliers hint. The DCA Indicative Price for spent grain is €3,55 per percent dry matter. The extremes, both up and down, have been excluded from the indicative price. Feed potatoes are and remain difficult to obtain. The DCA Indicative Price remains the same at €60 per tonne.
It bounces along in hay and straw. It is not very busy, but the market is certainly not flooded with good hay and straw. The DCA Indicative Price for both wheat and barley straw is €140 per tonne. For delivery in the Northern Netherlands, €5 or €10 will quickly be added, while in the Southern Netherlands (French) wheat straw can be delivered somewhat cheaper. Meadow hay remains stable at €200 per tonne. There is little trade in grass seed hay. "If you manage to get hold of a few loads, you can easily lose them," said a forage trader. The DCA Indicative Price for grass seed hay amounts to €170 per tonne without significant distinction between varieties.