Cake Price Tracker

som farmer

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
somerset
surprising how 2kg rolled barley has knocked the straights usage back, been eking it out, by using a blend, minus rolled corn. Should last till feb. And reduced the bills.
having cut cow numbers, we have 18 acres w wheat in, and some spring barley to go in. The wheat should be a good break, after red clover leys.
Despite what the feed reps say, we have always found home mix, produces a better result, there's certainly no crap in it.
However, experience has told me, home mix doesn't like the parlour feeders.
Nor do we feed it to baby calves, the reps are right on that, each cube, contains a bit of everything.
Protein and fert, are expensive commodities, especially at the moment, we don't really know what amount/type of protein, if any, to replace soya etc, which we can grow on farm, and, of course, our climate is warming up !
 
Last edited:

Serup

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Denmark
How do you know when it is the cheapest time?
I don’t. If i did, i wouldn’t waste my time milking cows 😄
But it is rare that the best time to buy everything in a blend is at the same time.
I pay for a service to get market recommendations from a few companies, who specialices in this particular thing. They help me buy diesel, fertilizer, protein and grain, when to convert loans and sell grain and osr. They hit the best times much better than i can, but noone can hit the top or bottom everytime. If i can hit within the optimum 25% in 90% of the deals i make i am very happy.
 

EmmaQ

Member
Livestock Farmer
We can take arctic loads tipped, can store 90ton in each bay and have 4 bays.....
Still have cake blown. Its simplicity is blissful
Would you have the ability to pay to fill those bays? Artic load of protein isn't far short of 10K at the moment.
I don’t. If i did, i wouldn’t waste my time milking cows 😄
But it is rare that the best time to buy everything in a blend is at the same time.
I pay for a service to get market recommendations from a few companies, who specialices in this particular thing. They help me buy diesel, fertilizer, protein and grain, when to convert loans and sell grain and osr. They hit the best times much better than i can, but noone can hit the top or bottom everytime. If i can hit within the optimum 25% in 90% of the deals i make i am very happy.
Yes, if we had a crystal ball we would be very rich indeed.
The last couple of years has been good for buying forward and forecasters all look clever. The commodity markets will turn and then the people you pay for recommendations will be advising when to buy on a falling market and they will really earn their money.
I understand what you mean about not buying everything at the same time but also we all see how manipulated feed commodities are now. They all tend to track each other at a relative value to Soya, Wheat and Maize so rarely is there a cheap buy on the markets.
 

Serup

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Denmark
Would you have the ability to pay to fill those bays? Artic load of protein isn't far short of 10K at the moment.

Yes, if we had a crystal ball we would be very rich indeed.
The last couple of years has been good for buying forward and forecasters all look clever. The commodity markets will turn and then the people you pay for recommendations will be advising when to buy on a falling market and they will really earn their money.
I understand what you mean about not buying everything at the same time but also we all see how manipulated feed commodities are now. They all tend to track each other at a relative value to Soya, Wheat and Maize so rarely is there a cheap buy on the markets.
Here artic loads are 36 metric tons. So a load of non-gm soya including vat is over £20k. But that is a cash-flow issue. If you can’t make the best possible deals because of cash-flow issues, you have bigger problems than buying at the right time in my opinion.

i understand that it’s difficult to advice when to stop buying forward in the current market, because when, not if, but when it turns, it’s best not to have too much bought forward.
But as an example, i bought all my fertilizer for next year early, and saved about 50%, so i have some headroom to make mistakes before i’m behind again.
 
Would you have the ability to pay to fill those bays? Artic load of protein isn't far short of 10K at the moment.

Yes, if we had a crystal ball we would be very rich indeed.
The last couple of years has been good for buying forward and forecasters all look clever. The commodity markets will turn and then the people you pay for recommendations will be advising when to buy on a falling market and they will really earn their money.
I understand what you mean about not buying everything at the same time but also we all see how manipulated feed commodities are now. They all tend to track each other at a relative value to Soya, Wheat and Maize so rarely is there a cheap buy on the markets.
Yes thank you. But don't buy arctic loads of protien. Will buy an arctic load or 6 of maize gluten if you have them
 

EmmaQ

Member
Livestock Farmer
Here artic loads are 36 metric tons. So a load of non-gm soya including vat is over £20k. But that is a cash-flow issue. If you can’t make the best possible deals because of cash-flow issues, you have bigger problems than buying at the right time in my opinion.

i understand that it’s difficult to advice when to stop buying forward in the current market, because when, not if, but when it turns, it’s best not to have too much bought forward.
But as an example, i bought all my fertilizer for next year early, and saved about 50%, so i have some headroom to make mistakes before i’m behind again.
Does your milk price adequality reflect the premiums you have to pay for non gm soya? In the UK it didnt and then it was dropped.
 

som farmer

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
somerset
Does your milk price adequality reflect the premiums you have to pay for non gm soya? In the UK it didnt and then it was dropped.
farming is a business, you have to rely on yourself, to make the right decisions, every day, some small, some big. Success is achieved by getting more right, than wrong. Anyone saying they always get it right, is a liar.
The trouble with farming, is cash flow, major purchases, like fert, straights, or even cows, are serious money now, £21,000 for a load of fert, for example, and many simply do not have the cash to fork out those sums, in one hit, without some sought of 'spread'.
We have returned to growing some arable, to feed the stock, saves a lot of money going out ! As we have some 'spare' ground, we can, even when costed out, agin cake/straights, it is still cheaper, and all good, no cheap fillers, like some cake !
 
Location
cumbria
Horses for courses,
Some folk seem to like having 10 different ingredients,000's of £ tied up, then parp about in a loader all day filling it.
Others value just getting on with it and chucking a couple buckets of cake in the Keenan and using that cash elsewhere.

Compounders also mitigate risk somewhat with 24mth buying deals.
 

EmmaQ

Member
Livestock Farmer
Horses for courses,
Some folk seem to like having 10 different ingredients,000's of £ tied up, then parp about in a loader all day filling it.
Others value just getting on with it and chucking a couple buckets of cake in the Keenan and using that cash elsewhere.

Compounders also mitigate risk somewhat with 24mth buying deals.
They take the volatility about by removing the troughs!
 

Serup

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Denmark
Horses for courses,
Some folk seem to like having 10 different ingredients,000's of £ tied up, then parp about in a loader all day filling it.
Others value just getting on with it and chucking a couple buckets of cake in the Keenan and using that cash elsewhere.

Compounders also mitigate risk somewhat with 24mth buying deals.
It’s all in the eye of the beholder. I save about 2-2,5 dkr/cow/day. I have 400 cows. That is about £35.000 per year for 20 minuttes extra work per day.
 
Last edited:

Serup

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Denmark
Most of the highest yielding/producing cows in the world have never seen "cake"
None so gullible as a spendthrift
What have they seen then? The highest yielding herd in dk is somewhere between 16 and 17.000 liters on 600 cows, and i don’t think there is much they haven’t seen 🤔
And how much yield is enough to qualify to the group you mention?
 

SFI - What % were you taking out of production?

  • 0 %

    Votes: 79 42.5%
  • Up to 25%

    Votes: 65 34.9%
  • 25-50%

    Votes: 30 16.1%
  • 50-75%

    Votes: 3 1.6%
  • 75-100%

    Votes: 3 1.6%
  • 100% I’ve had enough of farming!

    Votes: 6 3.2%

Red Tractor drops launch of green farming scheme amid anger from farmers

  • 1,287
  • 1
As reported in Independent


quote: “Red Tractor has confirmed it is dropping plans to launch its green farming assurance standard in April“

read the TFF thread here: https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/gfc-was-to-go-ahead-now-not-going-ahead.405234/
Top