Straw

Sylvia · Post by **Sylvia** » Fri Sep 12, 2008 4:26 pm

Will straw be the new gold/oil this Autumn? It has always been expensive in this neck of the woods because most of it is brought in from England but I've heard that this year it will be in short supply everywhere.

Also, does anyone know where sugar beet shreds are available as they seem to have disappeared and no news of further deliveries ? In the local store this was blamed on it being used for bio-fuel rather than the weather.

davidw · Post by **davidw** » Mon Sep 15, 2008 5:33 pm

Unfortunately, I think you are right. Lots of straw is being chopped and those wheat farmers who might have saved it will be under the gun to reseed as soon as they manage to get the harvest in so they will chop it to save time.

Post by **Mark Bowles** » Mon Sep 15, 2008 5:40 pm

I have just agreed to pay £8.50 per round bale of wheat straw, got and stored under cover when it was good in early august. I still have to fetch it from 1/2 mile down the road. Was i ripped off?

Duncan MacIntyre · Post by **Duncan MacIntyre** » Mon Sep 15, 2008 5:59 pm

What is this "straw" everyone is talking about?

(I think only one farmer on Bute has managed to get all his barley so far, some not even started)

Duncan

Sylvia · Post by **Sylvia** » Mon Sep 15, 2008 6:06 pm

How many round bales do you get to the ton, Mark? When we can get it it is always in the large (oblong) bales and I think it was about £47 a ton for wheat and £62 a ton for barley last year. This was for a double load only, not individual bales. I haven't dared ask this year.

domsmith · Post by **domsmith** » Mon Sep 15, 2008 8:39 pm

our last delivery of last years barley straw was £65, in july, and it was rubbish, full of hay.(57 bales and 11 ton in weight)

they are quoting £80 + to me at the moment they are always keen to over price at the beginning of the season. it will drop back if straw is not in short supply. we will have to see

dom

ann · Post by **ann** » Mon Sep 15, 2008 8:52 pm

I think we can expect straw to be like gold dust this year, if you can buy clean straw locally then I would as even if you end up with some left I'm sure you will be able to resell it. Around here there are still 1000's of acres to cut and the wheat is sprouting in the ears and the straw is breaking up. We have just brought in half ton bales for £50 ton plus delivery. Let hope when they arrive they are dry other wise its going to be one long tough winter.

ngr2804 · Post by **ngr2804** » Tue Sep 16, 2008 8:28 am

Sugar beet often runs out or is hard to obtain in late
summer. I believe the crop doesn't get harvested
until about now in a normal year and supplies
usually start coming through in late September.

Nick

Rutherford · Post by **Rutherford** » Tue Sep 16, 2008 11:28 am

I have just gratefully taken delivery of 100 small bales at £2.50 a bale. I am not geared in terms of handling or even storage to use big bales. I had been searching for weeks for anything at any price, and where I was occasionally lucky it was at £3 or more a bale. Harvest in Devon is almost nil. My advice is buy if you can find it, I can’t see it becoming plentiful this season, and I don’t know of a satisfactory alternative. I was consoled when I was informed that the bales were almost twice the weight of last years; small bales these days are seldom sold by weight, and it can hide big differences in price.
Beryl (Woodmagic)

Post by **Mark Bowles** » Tue Sep 16, 2008 1:34 pm

Beryl you are talking about straw at £2.50 per small bale.
If you get 10 -12 small bales in a big round bale thats up to £30, now that is a rip off!

Rutherford · Post by **Rutherford** » Tue Sep 16, 2008 4:19 pm

Mark, I am aware of the comparisons, but you try coming down to this area and attempting to buy small bales. These had actually been transported from the Eastern Counties to Cornwall and then back to me in Devon. Apologies to any horse owners, but that is what puts the price up to us lesser mortals, mostly they will pay regardlerss.
Beryl (Woodmagic)

davidw · Post by **davidw** » Tue Sep 16, 2008 6:10 pm

I'm a bit of a hybrid. A Dexter owner, a farm machinery engineer who used to design balers and my family had a hay and straw business. Round straw bales usually weigh about 150 - 200 kg. Actual weight depends on how tight the operator makes the bale.
There are less and less farmers who are prepared to bale in small bales because of the amount of labour needed. Even with flat 8's and stuff, you are still handling small units. So people who can't handle the big bales are competing for a scarce commodity. Then of course there is the East - West divide. Most straw is produced in the east and the highest demand is in the west. Its expensive stuff to transport because you can only get about 6 - 8 tons of small bales on a truck. Most farmers try to chop it at the back of the combine just to get rid of the stuff - leaves livestock owners seething and in my opinion its a huge waste of energy.

Edited By davidw on 1221585049

Duncan MacIntyre · Post by **Duncan MacIntyre** » Tue Sep 16, 2008 6:21 pm

Sadly what davidw says about small bales is all too true, especially if you have to transport them over a hundred miles and a ferry journey. The time taken to handle them compared to big bales is huge, and if they are going on a lorry for any distance the loads are hand built and hand unloaded. I have had 19 tons delivered last month, it took myself, the driver and one casual worker 4 hours to unload, just stacking it beside the road. Then I have to get it built into the shed. The hauliers who bring it had two flatbeds with trailers doing it till this year, have cut down to one and would like to avoid small bales altogether. The drivers who are willing to build these loads are fewer and fewer, and because most of their mates refuse to do it they get landed with all the small bale jobs, so they don't like it.

But those of us who have not got the facilities to deal with big bales would find it very difficult to make the necessary changes. It is not only the cost of handling equipment, it is the mess which handling and feeding big bales to outwintered stock on fragile ground which bothers me - I can walk up the field with a small bale, open it in a different place every day, and there is very little impact on the ground. The moment I start driving in with a tractor and loader a sea of mud is created, and the big bale feeders will also be surrounded by mud. So I feel I am stuck with expensive small bales, though there has to be a limit to what can be spent on them somewhere.

Duncan

Saffy · Post by **Saffy** » Tue Sep 16, 2008 9:04 pm

This year I made small bale hay for the first time in nearly 20 years and in much smaller quantities - a 4 acre and a 1 acre field! I wondered where on earth I would find someone to bale it and asked around. A young lad traveled for miles with a 1970s Massey Fergie tractor and a 50 year old baler!!! I held my breath until it was all baled but he did a sterling job on a shoe string as he is trying to get started and thinks that small bales are perhaps making a bit of a come back. He could be right. The baler and sledge cost him £100 but needed a bit of TLC. :D It is fantastic to see a youngster like him willing to have a go.

Back to the straw shortage - I had ordered some from a neighbour for bedding and he has done virtually no combining as yet so I am thinking of finding out the price of a part load of wood shavings. Does anyone know the price of wood shavings in bulk?

Stephanie

Kathy Millar · Post by **Kathy Millar** » Wed Sep 17, 2008 5:22 am

Our straw here has to come from Alberta or Washington State so it costs a fortune (50-60 lb. bales for around $11.00 last year; don't know what it will be this year). Prices have gone up everywhere because of the cost of fuel going way up. We usually bed with sawdust/shavings but because of sawmill closures, I am told it could take 6 weeks to get delivery and of course, it costs more now! Yes, the horse people will pay anything so hay and sawdust are expensive. If a farm sells here, it usually goes to horse people now. Bye, bye food production!