Steady sunny weather with pleasant temperatures and a soft drying breeze from the north/northeast. You couldn't wish for much better conditions at the end of April to bring in the first cut of grass. It is therefore not surprising that livestock farmers seem to be busier with the grass than with the fodder trade.
Despite the fact that it has been on the cool side and dry this spring, there is now quite nice grass on many plots. If the conditions are also good: why wait with mowing and silage of the first cut, is the reasoning of many livestock farmers. The fact that farmers are now busier on the land is also noticeable in the feed trade.
In silage grass there is a mismatch between what is in demand and what is being offered. Supply mainly consists of silage grass from the previous harvest and often the quality of what selling livestock farmers want to get rid of is also not 'up to par'. Buyers are mainly in the market for good quality silage grass, whether or not from the new harvest. The result is that there is little trade in silage grass. The DCA Indicative Price for silage grass from the 2024 harvest will be €80 per tonne this week. Traders do indicate that they expect prices to drop when more grass from this season becomes available.
By-products
There are few shifts in the by-products this week. The market is and remains reasonably balanced. There are some differences between what traders have available. This is clearly reflected in brewers' grains. One is a bit tighter and is trying to slow down sales, while others say they have ample supply. Prices that are mentioned range from €3 to €3,50 per percent dry matter. The DCA Indicative Price this week comes out at €3,30 per percent dry matter.
Feed potatoes
The supply of feed potatoes is becoming wider. It is all sorts of things that end up in the feed, from leftover seed potatoes, undersized or sorted potatoes for export to rejected potatoes for chips. Because feed potatoes are widely available, the price is under pressure. The DCA Indicative Price for feed potatoes has fallen to €40 per tonne this week.
Silage corn, hay and straw
There remains a fair amount of demand for silage maize. 'It's going smoothly', according to a trader. In the Netherlands, however, there is not a great deal of silage maize available. Quite a lot comes from Germany and Belgium. The DCA Indicative Price remains stable at €90 per tonne.
Hay and straw are quiet this week. There appears to be more of both meadow hay and straw than previously thought. Some traders are dropping the price a bit to get some extra trade going while others are keeping their prices stable. 'You can ask less for meadow hay but that means you don't sell anything anymore,' says a trader. The DCA Indicative Price for meadow hay is €185 per tonne this week. The average DCA Indicative Price for straw is €185 but €175 is also included. There is no trade at all in grass seed hay. Customers are no longer asking for it according to traders. The DCA Indicative Price remains stable at €165 per tonne, if you can still get some at least.