The spreading season is slowly coming to an end, increasing pressure on dairy farmers in particular to dispose of manure. Now that the grain harvest is almost complete in the north, additional space is becoming available for disposal. Nevertheless, there remains a net mismatch between supply and disposal opportunities.
Thanks to the sunny weather, wheat and barley have also been harvested in the north, giving arable farmers room to spread manure and thus boost their meager income. However, these volumes have already been factored in, so this hardly relieves the pressure on the manure market. Moreover, some of the manure comes from storage facilities that were not emptied earlier this season.
Market is moving up a bit
There is therefore no sign of a price drop in the last major spreading round of this year. In fact, DCA collection fees are increasing this week, especially for cattle manure. Pig manure and chicken manure remain more stable. The ample supply of cattle manure continues, partly because dairy farmers want to enter the winter with empty pits. Insiders expect that not all manure can be spread before the mid-September deadline. Moreover, much of the available space has already been filled due to the introduction of NV areas. Unlike previous years, nitrogen, not phosphate, is now the limiting factor.
It's striking that arable farmers are increasingly opting for solid manure instead of liquid manure, according to reports. In the Flevopolder, for example, solid goat manure yields €10 per cubic meter on the headland, with the added benefit of a positive effect on soil organic matter content. Elsewhere, the picture is sometimes different. In Zeeland, for example, these prices are lower.
No spectacle
No major fluctuations are expected for the final weeks of the spreading season. The upward trend in cattle manure prices is likely to continue for a while, although intermediaries no longer expect a significant increase. After all, storage facilities need to be replenished during the autumn and winter months, which will naturally lead to a revival in demand. Nevertheless, prices do tend to rise historically.
Manure prices DCA
The DCA collection fee for pig manure in the South of the Netherlands is €31 per ton this week. In Central Netherlands, it is €34,83. The collection fee for cattle manure in the South of the Netherlands is €28,33 this week. In Central Netherlands, it is €32,17.
Click here to view prices by region.