Straw prices are generally holding as the back gets broken on baling of crops. With spring barley and winter wheat weeks ahead of normal years, fields of bales are visible all over the country as the middle of August approaches.
There is no doubt that demand is back on last year, when shortages were feared. There is straw left in sheds after the early spring, and there are fewer suckler and beef cattle in the country. In addition, straw agents say many sheds in the west of Ireland are full of hay, with no room for straw before Christmas.
That said, cereal growers are showing no appetite to lower their asking prices.
The mood seems to be that with grain prices so low, and meat and dairy prices so good, that livestock farmers can well afford the asking price. That price starts at €20-22 for 4x4 round bales of barley straw in Wexford. Prices of €25-30 are being got in the likes of Laois and Kildare, with €35 being demanded in predominantly grassland areas.
Big square bales are making broadly pro-rata prices, with 8x4x3 barley bales fetching from €60 in Cork, Tipperary and Offaly, with Wexford lagging a fiver behind that figure.
Baled wheaten straw, underpinned by demand from mushroom composters, is running from the high forties up to €55 for 8x4x4 bales.
It’s quite likely that a good share of the crops to be harvested are entered into the Straw Incorporation Measure, which attracted 66,000ha of cropping area, and accepted the lot.
Straw quality is uniformly good, which helps the argument of sellers in holding prices.
Straw prices are generally holding as the back gets broken on baling of crops. With spring barley and winter wheat weeks ahead of normal years, fields of bales are visible all over the country as the middle of August approaches.
There is no doubt that demand is back on last year, when shortages were feared. There is straw left in sheds after the early spring, and there are fewer suckler and beef cattle in the country. In addition, straw agents say many sheds in the west of Ireland are full of hay, with no room for straw before Christmas.
That said, cereal growers are showing no appetite to lower their asking prices.
The mood seems to be that with grain prices so low, and meat and dairy prices so good, that livestock farmers can well afford the asking price. That price starts at €20-22 for 4x4 round bales of barley straw in Wexford. Prices of €25-30 are being got in the likes of Laois and Kildare, with €35 being demanded in predominantly grassland areas.
Big square bales are making broadly pro-rata prices, with 8x4x3 barley bales fetching from €60 in Cork, Tipperary and Offaly, with Wexford lagging a fiver behind that figure.
Baled wheaten straw, underpinned by demand from mushroom composters, is running from the high forties up to €55 for 8x4x4 bales.
It’s quite likely that a good share of the crops to be harvested are entered into the Straw Incorporation Measure, which attracted 66,000ha of cropping area, and accepted the lot.
Straw quality is uniformly good, which helps the argument of sellers in holding prices.
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