Ulster farmers must act to avoid forage crisis
© AdobeStock/MRallen Immediate steps to ensure sufficient winter forage supply need to be taken by Northern Irish farmers facing unprecedented cost escalation, say farm advisers responding to stark findings of a survey.
More than one in 10 Ulster farms in a survey of 807 businesses admitted forage concerns going into next winter.
Survey organisers AgriSearch and Ulster Farmers’ Union (UFU) say this follows a 160% increase in fertiliser prices and a 33% lift in concentrate prices, with further increases expected.
More than 20% of farms were concerned “a lot” or “a great deal” about producing enough forage this summer.
The figures were released at the Balmoral Show this week (11 May).
They come amid industry attention on grassland and mixed farming cost challenges and a week after the UFU called on retailers, particularly Tesco, for breakeven prices in the pig sector.
See also: AN fertiliser price drop welcome but still unaffordable for many
Resources
- A series of farm meetings in June will discuss cost control for beef and sheep farmers – to be organised by AgriSearch and the College of Agriculture Food and Rural Enterprise (Cafre)
- CloverCheck is being developed alongside GrassCheck to monitor forage production
- Detailed discussions on fertiliser plans for dairy and beef can be found by searching on YouTube for “Fertiliser Planning Webinar” by Cafre, AgriSearch and the Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute
Stark findings
Almost half of beef and sheep farmers surveyed had not bought fertiliser this year and about a third of farms said they had no forage carryover from last winter.
Of those that had bought fertiliser, 17.2% of dairy farms and 14.5% of beef and sheep farms required additional overdrafts or loans to help with purchases.
AgriSearch’s general manager, Jason Rankin, said the options farmers had in the past for dealing with fodder shortage would either not be available at all this year or would be at an exorbitant rate.
Mr Rankin underlined the folly some respondents had shown cutting fertiliser spend before reviewing concentrate buying, because, even with elevated fertiliser prices, fertiliser was still three to four times more cost-effective than concentrate.
He added: “There appears to be a mismatch between fertiliser application rates, silage reserves, and the amounts of concentrates being fed on the one hand and stocking rates on the other.
“Only 45% of farmers are planning to reduce stocking rates.”
He said farms should plan now by doing a winter forage budget and assess whether stock needed to be sold before winter.
Taking control
When asked how they planned to increase fodder production, farmers responded with the following:
- 39% Soil testing
- 29% Improve grassland management by moving from set stocking to rotational grazing
- 18.3% Increase days at grass/increase grazing platform
- 10.82% Buy in forage
- 9.81% Import organic manures/digestate
- 6.49% Add cereals for combining or whole cropping
- 3.61% Grow brassicas or other catch crop for winter grazing
- 2.02% Home-grow protein crops.
However, 25% of farmers were taking none of these steps.
The numbers
- 10%Increase in cost of intensively grazed grass production due to doubling of fertiliser price to £600/t in a year
- £9,347 Extra cost for a 40ha (99 acre) dairy cow grazing platform due to increase in fert cost
- 26% Proportion of dairy farmers surveyed that said milk production would be 5% or more down on last year, with 3.5% expecting a 15% drop
- 1/3 Proportion of growers who had applied 20% less fertiliser to winter crops than normal
Source: AgriSearch
Case study: ‘I’ve culled sheep hard and bought fewer calves’
James Henderson had already tightened his belt going into 2022.
The dairy and beef heifer calf rearer and finisher, who also runs 300 lowland ewes, has taken steps to manage cost volatility on his Country Down farm near Kilkeel.
Short-term measures
Looked to cut fertiliser use by 15-20%
In the dry summer of 2021, silage was fed on the farm, which has light, loamy soils.
Forage stocks were already tight because, in 2020, the farm grew 9.7t/ha of dry matter (DM) compared with 11.4t/ha DM in 2019.
This means there was no silage carryover, so bigger reductions in fertiliser use were seen as too risky.
Bought fewer calves
The farm runs 180 cattle in total, and usually buys 90 calves each autumn. In 2021, only 75 calves were bought to limit fertiliser spend when prices started climbing.
Made the most of strong cull ewe trade by culling hard
No second chances for lameness or lambing issues have been given to sheep. The Rouge cross Texels have been making £170-£220 at market in recent weeks.
Long-term measures
Three-cut silage and rotational grazing
Aiming for silage quality of 11-12MJ/kg of metabolisable energy (ME), rather than bulky cuts, has reduced feed costs by tens of thousands of pounds (50-70t of meal is saved each year).
The cattle operation saves about 700-800kg of bought-in feed for every finished animal.
Use more clover
More red and white clover will be introduced to leys to fix nitrogen in the soil and provide home-grown protein.
Some leys have 25% red clover and are used to feed young cattle in their first winter and reduce soya use. Herbal leys have also been introduced this year.
Genetic flock gain
Weight recording and selective breeding replacements since 2015 have cut days to slaughter by 30%.
Mixed farm
Growing about 35t of winter barley from 5ha (12 acres) each year avoids dealing in market prices for cereal.
Mr Henderson says: “I think, regardless of policy and science, the pressure to be efficient is greater than ever.
“If I am more efficient, I lower my carbon footprint, improve the methane efficiency of the animals and I make more profit in return.
“Farmers have been blamed for climate change and have felt like second-class citizens, but this awful conflict in Ukraine means there could be a food crisis somewhere and farmers might come back into favour.
“However, consumers can’t afford to pay more for protein than they already are.”