The wet spring remains the theme at the feed market. Getting the first cut of grass neatly inside was quite a challenge, not all the corn has been sown yet and you can hardly go outside with the cows without causing damage to the pasture. All in all, the transition to a summer ration is taking just too long for several livestock farmers.
The far from flawless start to the grazing and growing season is certainly not doing any good to livestock farmers' confidence in the quality of the feed. The first cut of grass has not received the full fertilizer dose everywhere and several insiders have doubts about the levels in the first cut.
June is too late to sow corn and before the seed is properly in the ground there are already concerns about whether it will produce a good cob. An early variety helps, but it must be available and the growing season must be good. The demand for silage maize from the old harvest is relatively high, according to traders. Some livestock farmers are forced to stick to the winter ration longer. The DCA Indicative Price remains the same at €100 per tonne.
By-products become tighter
The demand for by-products is good, while the supply of various flows is declining somewhat. Potatoes for the chip industry are expensive and processors are slowly preparing for the summer break. To keep the market in balance, various suppliers are implementing price increases for, for example, potato steam peels or chips. Due to the shortage on the potato market, the supply of feed potatoes is very limited. The DCA Indicative Price remains the same at €60 per tonne, but you have to be lucky if you want to be able to buy a load.
Wheat-related products also tend to increase somewhat in the wake of the Matif. In spent grain there are relatively large differences between suppliers. There are some that are still very popular with livestock farmers who want to build up a summer stock. At the other end of the spectrum, there are suppliers who have already accommodated the large bulk of the peak at the breweries for the European Football Championship and who are cautiously increasing prices, partly due to good demand. The DCA Indicative Price this week amounts to €3 per percent of dry matter.
Interest in pressed pulp was generally good. In the north of the country the growing season is less extreme and the demand for pressed pulp there was slightly less than last season, according to insiders. In the center and south, farmers have yet to see that everything will turn out well with the grass and corn and there was more demand. Customers who waited a long time to register for the presale have not been able to secure everything with some suppliers.
Venom is at the tail end of the straw season
The straw season is coming to an end but there is no shortage of interest. Offer is on the meager side. Regular customers are the priority for several forage traders. It is difficult for real price buyers to succeed. "We know our Pappenheimers and we have to be able to make some money from them or we prefer to hold on to the straw for customers where we can go even when things are slow," says a trader. The DCA Indicative Price for both wheat and barley straw takes a step up and amounts to €155 per tonne.
It is a bit quieter in silage grass and hay. There is some supply in silage, but you have to pay close attention to what they offer according to a trader. Often it is less grass that sellers want to get rid of. The DCA Indicative Price for good silage grass is €80 per tonne. It is still early for meadow hay from the new harvest and the weather is certainly not hay weather. Hay from the old harvest is still available, especially in Germany, but transport is a bit difficult and on the expensive side. The DCA Indicative Price remains stable at €200 per tonne. There is very little trade in grass seed hay. The DCA Indicative Price remains unchanged at €185 per tonne.