Is buying silage instead of making it a viable option?

[Manney]

Long story short we might losing 55 acres that we rent this year. We make silage on 30 acres of it and graze the rest with bulling heifers.

I can graze the hefiers on my own off land but will then be short on silage ground.

We are spring block calving and I think I can make enough good quality silage for the shoulders of the grazing season. I will however need dry cow feed.

I've seen bales advertised from £15 - £25 that could fill the void. Could this actually work out cheaper than renting, fertilizing and making the silage myself? Trouble is it could be expensive in a bad growing year?

Thoughts please.

 

[Werzle]

When fodders dear after a drought etc you realise making more of your own is best for the bank balance and peace of mind imo

 

[fiat100]

I've been buying silage for the last 5 years. When milk price Is good it makes sense but when milk price is down it doesn't pay. Also its hard getting good quality silage that cows will milk well off.

 

[kiwi pom]

I think if you were buying it in you'd need to be buying well in advance to try and smooth out the price and perhaps be buying standing crops and harvesting them yourself. In a year when people have a big surplus and the price is down buy in extra and get a year ahead.
Buying bales on a just in time basis would be a big risk unless you could have some kind of contract in place.

 

[Headless chicken]

Surely you just buy hay and straw in? Bit of blend or cake pre calving job done.

 

[Chae1]

We buy a lot in. Only making £10/bale up here. Just feeding it to dry suckler cows. Was expensive winter 2018/19 but normally works out cheaper.

Farmers enjoy making hay/silage!

I won't put them off.

 

[early riser]

Could this actually work out cheaper than renting, fertilizing and making the silage myself?

Thoughts please.

in a lot of cases, yes.

just be careful what other crap you are potentially buying in i.e. docks, thistles etc etc

 

[Skintagain]

Short term you will be fine. I would buy some now if you can as it’s cheap a dry summer could drive it back up again. You will end up buying weeds in especially when things are tight and you have to find some off randomness

 

[ollie989898]

Better to spend the money on your own land, £30 will pay for an acre of fertiliser. Make sure every scrap of your grass is performing. If you were closer I'd walk it for you myself if it would help.

 

[More to life]

Straw and gluten if perfect for dry cows and heifers

 

[betweenthelines]

Why not stop rearing replacements? Think of all the money tied up in youngstock. If you're going OAD, your replacement rate should drop and you can always get a few in from Ireland if you have trouble sourcing locally.

 

[livestock 1]

We buy a lot in. Only making £10/bale up here. Just feeding it to dry suckler cows. Was expensive winter 2018/19 but normally works out cheaper.

Farmers enjoy making hay/silage!

I won't put them off.

This^^^

 

[Cowabunga]

I reckon that at up to £18/ton for 11me or better silage at 30%DM, it is far cheaper than renting land, fertilizing and paying for the foraging and clamping or baling and wrapping. The trick is finding a consistently good product.

 

[Grassman247]

I’m sorry but I just don’t agree with any of the above. £35/ton for delivered silage. You couldn’t make it for that if you tried. We’ve spent 10 years buying forage. It’s more profitable to graze with as many animals as physically possible and buy in your silage.

Quality and foreign objects is the biggest issue.

A lot of large scale farms work on maximising there own acres and buying in forage, both indoor and outdoor systems.

 

[Cowabunga]

Why not stop rearing replacements? Think of all the money tied up in youngstock. If you're going OAD, your replacement rate should drop and you can always get a few in from Ireland if you have trouble sourcing locally.

If a disease-free closed herd, the risk of importing some really nasty bugs and diseases is really not worth the risk. Even from fairly local herds. I have no BVD, Lepto, Johnes or anything and the increasing emphasis on eradicating these from the national dairy herd means that the risks of buying-in are way too high for me.

I need a good bull or two but I really am afraid of buying them nowadays. They would certainly need to be quarantined until thoroughly tested negative for everything.

I'd buy forage in preference to buying replacements every day of the week.

 

[Manney]

Why not stop rearing replacements? Think of all the money tied up in youngstock. If you're going OAD, your replacement rate should drop and you can always get a few in from Ireland if you have trouble sourcing locally.

Funny you should say this as it was one of my first thoughts. The mrs wasnt so keen on the idea though.

If a disease-free closed herd, the risk of importing some really nasty bugs and diseases is really not worth the risk. Even from fairly local herds. I have no BVD, Lepto, Johnes or anything and the increasing emphasis on eradicating these from the national dairy herd means that the risks of buying-in are way too high for me.

I need a good bull or two but I really am afraid of buying them nowadays. They would certainly need to be quarantined until thoroughly tested negative for everything.

I'd buy forage in preference to buying replacements every day of the week.

The mrs is a vet so all the above was said.

 

[Kiwi Pete]

Yes.

That's likely to be our approach in the future, grass grows grass on our place and we import fertility at or below cost; what's apparent locally is that many farmers undervalue their summer surplus, whereas we can better utilise grass grown on our property by grazing it.
As (I think it was Adam) said farmers love cutting grass and making silage, so there's no real reason not to, we farm mainly cattle and locals farm mostly sheep, there is that early summer period where they are fearful of losing pasture quality.
As @Cowabunga said above there is that Johnes/BVD risk with buying from another cow farm, which could be minimised by buying in from a sheep farm?

 

[ollie989898]

What yield of grass silage would you get in first cut? 10 tonnes freshweight?

 

[jimmer]

Buy it all in manney, and milk a few extra to pay for it
Hay at 60/t is never wrong

 

[Cowabunga]

Funny you should say this as it was one of my first thoughts. The mrs wasnt so keen on the idea though.



The mrs is a vet so all the above was said.

Listen to your mrs!