just get out, you wont regret it belive me!
2022 Sugar beet price not enough
- Thread starter Laggard
- Start date
dont do it!
Everyone else manages with a contractor, I hope @carbonfibre farmer doesnt mind but he’s a smaller grower and manages ok…..
- Location
- Lincolnshire
Yeah contractors. So what's the rate, £60 per acre? Does that include carting to heap and cleaner loading onto lorries? What puts me off is I have seen some real disasters in this neck of the woods with heaps ending up in a complete morass and fields left with ruts you could drive a small car down. A few years ago mind. What I have seen this year looks OK but its been a kinder autumn.
I have no hard standing to tip 14 ton trailers. My own 8 ton dump ag dump trailer just tips in our shed which is the only bit of concrete on the place. So I had kind of ruled contractors out but maybe I'm wrong.
I have no hard standing to tip 14 ton trailers. My own 8 ton dump ag dump trailer just tips in our shed which is the only bit of concrete on the place. So I had kind of ruled contractors out but maybe I'm wrong.
- Location
- Lincolnshire
Arrive here after the end of November with a big harvester and you want to make sure you are wearing a life jacket.
alomy75
Member
More like 80. They will harvest and provide a tractor/trailer to leave it in a heap. Just have the heap in the field
That's not farming though is it?
- Location
- south norfolk, uk
Thanks @Flat 10
Its basically about working it to your advantage. We won't ever be big enough to stamp our feet and demand the contractor turns up. So what suits us?
We are prepared to gamble on late lifting. On kind land so reckon to get away with it 4 yrs out of 5. Also contractor base is about 4miles away so on the door step. If the weather is right they can be here quickly. But we try to fit in to. If they are going to be lifting 20miles away they won't be doing ours anytime soon! And except that is the case.
By the time they come to the end of the campaign the contractor generally has his own to do and us
- Location
- Lincolnshire
Heaps in fields have had very mixed fortunes in this locality. Can't quite believe it can be loaded cleanly without leaving quite a mess or a lot of compaction. I have always wanted and outdoor concrete pad.More like 80. They will harvest and provide a tractor/trailer to leave it in a heap. Just have the heap in the field
Get one laid then, you'll be surprised how much you use it.
We grow 45ac or thereabouts, 1300t contract (at one time it was 2000)
All operations in house except contractor to harvest it, usually in three goes to suit fields.
We used to run our own trucks and still have a good cleaner which helps keep the rate sensible. BS trying to get rid of me with one hand (feedback too honest, distance too great) and then offer me more cte with the other.
They don't care too hoots about growers or loyalty, just want cheap beet. One season (the current one) viewpoint maximum at any time.
We're far enough north not to have much virus pressure and can average 32t ac without throwing the kitchen sink at it, and it's less hassle than osr, but I'm sick of being a punch bag for BS.
Attitudes need to change. The alarm bells are ringing, but the ivory tower is sound proofed
alomy75
Member
In a good year it’s tight where the clamp goes and 2 years ago it was like the Somme and soul (along with soil) destroying. Maus clamps aren’t too bad if your haulier has access to one. Beet does make a mockery as I’m pushing for direct drilling throughout the rest of the rotation and then doing the worst possible thing to the soil with the beet
but BUT…it’s the best paying break crop on this farm and helps an awful lot with blackgrass control.Cleaner loading into lorries is less than I can do it for myself
alomy75
Member
My haulier loads and hauls it for exactly the haulage allowance.
- Location
- Lincolnshire
It’s a heck of a dilemma.
Can’t really push that old harvester through another year or myself sat on it with no cab.
We lie too wet to risk a contractor, loading out the field etc. I’m on my own from October to March.
Indeed I might well be £2000 worse off in a good beet year but it’s a lot of work, risk and heartache and not always as good as this year.
I really need to catch up on other jobs during the winter and do some draining and training etc.
So for us, here in our personal circumstances it’s finally no.
But don’t let me put others off. If you have the infrastructure and scale I can see it can make sense as a break crop.
The price, as ever, could be better and really ought to be considering the work, risk and capital outlay involved either for farmers or contractors compared to other crops.
I’m pretty sure I could get more for fodder beet than the factory price if I drive a hard bargain, but I’m not bothering with it either unless the sheep return. Says it all really.
Can’t really push that old harvester through another year or myself sat on it with no cab.
We lie too wet to risk a contractor, loading out the field etc. I’m on my own from October to March.
Indeed I might well be £2000 worse off in a good beet year but it’s a lot of work, risk and heartache and not always as good as this year.
I really need to catch up on other jobs during the winter and do some draining and training etc.
So for us, here in our personal circumstances it’s finally no.
But don’t let me put others off. If you have the infrastructure and scale I can see it can make sense as a break crop.
The price, as ever, could be better and really ought to be considering the work, risk and capital outlay involved either for farmers or contractors compared to other crops.
I’m pretty sure I could get more for fodder beet than the factory price if I drive a hard bargain, but I’m not bothering with it either unless the sheep return. Says it all really.
- Location
- Lincolnshire
The thing is @spin cycle , when beet was over £30 a ton, lambs were making just over £30 a head and half of that was with £15 subsidy.
Lambs are now £90 a head and beet is going to £27 a ton ish.
Whatever BS might say, and maybe they genuinely can’t offer any more, there is no denying that the beet price has fallen seriously behind compared to other produce. Common factor seems to be BS are a monopoly customer where as anything where there is even some competition or semblance of an open market has improved. Lesson to us all about the wisdom of allowing monopolies to dominate markets.
Lambs are now £90 a head and beet is going to £27 a ton ish.
Whatever BS might say, and maybe they genuinely can’t offer any more, there is no denying that the beet price has fallen seriously behind compared to other produce. Common factor seems to be BS are a monopoly customer where as anything where there is even some competition or semblance of an open market has improved. Lesson to us all about the wisdom of allowing monopolies to dominate markets.
- Location
- Lincolnshire
There is a fine line between being a hero and a victim in this job.
spin cycle
Member
- Location
- north norfolk
that cyclone harvester is 'dragging' you down mentally.....granted the era of cheap s/h tim harvesters are over but i ran one for 8 yrs doinf 25 acres/yr and didn't spend £1000 on repairs total....mind you there was always the chance i'd get a really bad one = gamble
why not take a yr off beet....it doesn't need to be a 'forever' decision ....keep an eye out for another harvester...if you find one
,,,if you don't
......cereal prices are good so it's a good time to have a beet holidayyou don't wanna be packing spuds for someone else just for sake of it...only slight plus of our job is freedom at our own pace
NOW GAS AXE THAT FECKIN CYCLOME
spin cycle
Member
- Location
- north norfolk
£4500 on ebay now....pricey...only single row.....but looks mint
Father always reckoned if you could buy a machine to do your own work for three times the contractor cost, get on with it.
20ac x £75 x3 = £4500 Perfect!
As a metric to work to, it's never far away tbh