Livestock rations look set to escape a price hike for September, although the general outlook for the winter is that the latest price freeze will be short-lived.

Grain markets remain volatile, with imported barley and maize costing close to £300/t earlier this week. Feed mills are also being hit with soaring energy costs, with some businesses indicating the cost of producing pelleted rations is up £25/t to £30/t in recent weeks. As such, feed mills indicate increases to ration prices are inevitable and likely to come into effect for October.

This will come as a blow to livestock farmers who will have been hoping for some respite this winter.

Steady price

With ration prices currently unchanged, beef finisher blends are trading around £350/t for a product with a high cereal content. Pelleted feeds are costing upwards on £380/t for finishing rations. General purpose cattle rations at 16% protein are priced at similar levels, with discounts available on bulk orders.

Price quotes for dairy rations are hugely variable and farmers are advised to pay attention to the products included.

Blends at 18% protein range from £340/t to £360/t, rising towards £390/t for a 20% product, with pelleted feeds trading above £400/t.

Straights

Spot markets for grain have seen prices rising on the back of the latest estimates for the European maize harvest, which have been cut from 65.8mt to 59.3mt. US forecasts are also being revised downwards.

Imported barley was trading around £295/t earlier this week. With handling charges and operating margins factored in, barley purchased at this level would cost close to £330/t on farm.Maize is trading at similar levels while spot prices for soya are in the region of £520/t on farm. Distillers is priced around £340/t, with soya hulls £10 to £20/t below this level.

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