Straw and fodder shortages hit producers as prices climb

Straw merchants have warned of tight straw supplies this year, with yields back following a dry spring and summer.

Recent rainfall helped soften the blow across some regions, although for many it was too little too late, with crops having already suffered well ahead of any downpours.

Straw is not the only input in short supply, with a dearth of silage and haylage creating some concerns for livestock producers.

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The dry weather has also left livestock farmers having to feed more on farm, using up vital rations which would normally be kept until later in the year.

Recent heatwaves have affected grass and maize growth, and in areas with limited rainfall there is growing concern about winter forage shortages.

This combination of scarce supplies and strong demand from livestock producers has led to straw prices climbing.

Ex-farm prices for big square-baled wheat straw ranged from £70/t in the South East to £95/t in the South West, according to the British Hay and Straw Merchants Association.

The association noted that overall yields were average, although wheat straw had been variable.

Oliver Pearse of Hertfordshire-based straw merchants Pearse and Sons, which supplies straw throughout the South West and Wales, said it had been a pretty painful harvest and a poor year for straw yields.

He said: “We have been travelling the same amount of distance and getting half the amount of straw.

“We are barely getting two bales to the acre, the crops are so short, they died off early and the weather forecast can’t make its mind up.”

Mr Pearse added that the hot weather earlier in July had helped with baling, but the current weather was making bales denser due to the moisture.

“What you find in a year like this is that a lot of people will offer silly money for straw, but it needs to be priced at fairly similar levels as your customers need to be able to afford to buy it to feed their cattle.”

Andrew Templeton, auctioneer with Harrison and Hetherington, had noticed a shortage of straw leading to lower volumes coming to market in the past month at Borderway Mart in Carlisle.

Mr Templeton said trade had been very quiet recently, with much less straw available.

He added: “There is a big demand for it because people are thinking they are going to be scarce, so they are going to have to get some sooner rather than later.”

Harvest data collected by the Andersons Centre in partnership with AHDB show that straw yields have been highly variable across the country, with some noticeably short crops due to the prolonged warm and dry weather.

David Jones, head of agency at consultancy firm Robinson & Hall, said: “Crops drilled into sodden ground are dying on their feet from a lack of water and the grass has not grown.

“It is an early harvest, hopefully with low drying costs, but yields will be unremarkable. Straw and fodder will be in short supply.”

Standing straw

Standing straw values lifted at auction this year at Market Drayton, with winter wheat trading at £101/acre and winter barley averaging £130/acre.

Land agents and consultancy firm Sunderlands sold more than 5,000 acres of standing straw  across Wales and the Midlands with wheat straw averaging £138/acre.

Auctioneer Gareth Wall inferred that higher prices were a result of less straw in the marketplace and farmers having depleted straw stocks for feed and bedding.