This spring, when it comes to outdoor work, you can do almost whatever you want. The manure and/or fertilizer is on time and the cattle can go outside without any problems. Now that we have had some rain in many places and the temperature does not drop as much at night, the grass is growing. Partly because of this, there is not much unrest in the forage trade.
The roughage market is reasonably balanced. Most of the action is in the by-products, but even there it has been crazier around this time of year. Wheat yeast concentrate is generally well available, while some suppliers are a bit meager in the potato by-products. Feed potatoes are widely available. Not only is there a supply of sorted potatoes, but also of potatoes that have been rejected by the processing industry. The DCA Indicative Price for feed potatoes remains unchanged at €50 per tonne.
There are some differences between suppliers in brewers' grains. One has a large supply and indicates that it has to go to the bin to give everything a place, while the other has a tighter supply and moves some around to be able to serve everyone. All in all, brewers' grains are fairly stable. The price also remains unchanged compared to last week at €3,30 per percent dry matter.
A few weeks ago it seemed that the straw that was still there was largely sealed. In the meantime, several traders indicate that availability is better. "Everywhere smaller and larger batches of straw are appearing and that is a good thing, because otherwise we would have run out quickly", according to a trader. Although demand is somewhat quieter compared to other years due to the favourable spring in which cows and sheep can go outside early, the market is certainly not oversupplied. Because the necessary straw has to come from further away, the costs for transport are relatively high in the price. A price drop in the short term is not obvious according to insiders. The DCA Indicative Price for both wheat and barley straw is €185 per tonne.
More meadow hay than expected
There is limited trade in grass seed hay. There is little demand but there is also hardly any supply. The DCA Indicative Price for grass seed hay remains stable at €165 per ton. Meadow hay, like straw, appears to be in greater supply than previously expected. Of course, it will take a while before hay can be made again, but some traders are noticing that there is a bit more supply from farmers who want to empty their storage. There is not much extra demand. The DCA Indicative Price for meadow hay takes a step back to €185 per ton.
There is and will continue to be good demand for silage maize. According to a trader, livestock farmers are not economizing on maize, partly due to a good milk price. However, the supply of good maize is not overflowing. Various traders then obtain maize from further away in Germany and Belgium and, as with straw, transport costs weigh heavily. The DCA Indicative Price for maize is rising this week by €5 to €90 per tonne. In silage, demand is very region-dependent, but overall demand has dropped somewhat. The DCA Indicative Price for silage grass is €80 per tonne, but the range is quite wide.