The manure placement space for after the grain harvest will take some time, but there is a lot of information about every available hectare. Some fertilizer buyers only look at who offers the most per hectare. On the other hand, livestock farmers have difficulty getting rid of their full cellars. Whether they want to sell large or small volumes, it mainly remains with a limited number of loads.
The spreading of manure in the south of our country has barely been completed when the first grain plots, and barley in particular, are already offering themselves up for fertilization. This means that the period during which contractors and transporters mainly drive to the warehouses is short this year, provided the weather permits in the coming weeks of course. By the way, there is now plenty of manure being driven to the storage facilities. Several manure transporters indicate that they are busy and that the supply remains high.
Some of them have not emptied their manure stores this spring, which means that less manure can be purchased from livestock farmers. In addition, the manure that was driven into the storage facilities last winter mainly entered storage at much lower rates. That loss must be made up for somewhere else.
The above-average full manure cellars and storages and the uncertain course of the market ensure that mainly limited volumes are collected from the livestock farmer. These are often a few loads, allowing the livestock farmer to continue for a while. On the other hand, there are also livestock farmers who indicate that there is simply no longer enough in the current account to have the entire manure stock removed. Something that, according to manure transporters, has become increasingly common in recent months.
Competition
Arable farmers and others who have space for liquid manure are now being approached to sell as much manure as possible. This is sometimes accompanied by competition, with contractors and manure transporters in some cases outbidding each other to secure space for this autumn. In addition to the high supply, this further pushes up collection contributions. The prices that arable farmers receive vary considerably per region and depend on the area and transport.
DCA MI's fertilizer quotations continue to increase slightly this week (week 27). In recent weeks, fattening pig slurry has increased on average more per tonne than cattle slurry, which is due to the fact that manure transporters and contractors find it more difficult to sell this. Just like at the beginning of 2024, cattle slurry simply yields more per hectare. The spread is large and has to do with distance and region, which means that between €32 and €39 per tonne is paid for pig slurry. The average collection contribution is now approximately €35 per tonne. Cattle slurry averages around €31 per tonne.