Maize 2023

[som farmer]

Has anyone heard any standing maize prices this year or seen any sold at auction?

have heard £1,000 ac from the big dairies that are short of fodder again, but only 'gossip'.

Maize is a bulk forage crop, and in a bad/dry year, l would take bulk, over quality, you can add starch, cheaper than buying bulk. Ideally, you get both.

Quality fodder, is the key to profitable milk production, but only if you have enough quantity.

No. However @ no point would @Jdunn55 have a freshly calved potential 50 litre cow and decide just to leave the calf on her and not milk her for the first 10 days.

I know the spring was tricky but he had a field ready for maize and just did not drill it until very late.

The two things are the same if you ask me. The maize is probably the more risky.

over enthusiasm, is not a fault, age tempers that.

and we have all made mistakes early in our farming lives, and we learn from them, and that's just life. I think he's actually done a pretty good job to get as far as he has, l definitely wouldn't have gone straight into top pedigree genetics, but that was his choice, and good luck to him.

As a new farmer, in an area, he has to fit in with the existing pattern the contractors have, anything like around here, you are bottom of the list, unless you owe them money, they come quickly, on the promise of a cheque !

@Jdunn55 like the rest of us, especially in our early days, will find things are not as easy as we thought they would be, and cash flow really is king.
That's just life, and we have to negotiate a haphazard path through the those early years.

l, for one, wish him all the best, and hope his dream, isn't knocked to hard.

 

[vantage]

I’m not saying you’re wrong but cutting dates don’t really mean very much. I could cut ours tomorrow if I wanted…actually I probably couldn’t because my father would shoot me

Local place harvested 200 acres two weeks ago. With a wholecrop header. Not good.

 

[Enry]

60 days from tasseling in summer, max 90 days for this stuff

Why is it so far behind?

 

[Tim1989]

have heard £1,000 ac from the big dairies that are short of fodder again, but only 'gossip'.

Maize is a bulk forage crop, and in a bad/dry year, l would take bulk, over quality, you can add starch, cheaper than buying bulk. Ideally, you get both.

Quality fodder, is the key to profitable milk production, but only if you have enough quantity.

over enthusiasm, is not a fault, age tempers that.

and we have all made mistakes early in our farming lives, and we learn from them, and that's just life. I think he's actually done a pretty good job to get as far as he has, l definitely wouldn't have gone straight into top pedigree genetics, but that was his choice, and good luck to him.

As a new farmer, in an area, he has to fit in with the existing pattern the contractors have, anything like around here, you are bottom of the list, unless you owe them money, they come quickly, on the promise of a cheque !

@Jdunn55 like the rest of us, especially in our early days, will find things are not as easy as we thought they would be, and cash flow really is king.
That's just life, and we have to negotiate a haphazard path through the those early years.

l, for one, wish him all the best, and hope his dream, isn't knocked to hard.

Who are the big dairy’s paying £1000ac? They can buy mine

 

[DairyNerd]

Has anyone heard any standing maize prices this year or seen any sold at auction?

Looked for sales round here, doesn't seem much about, East Devon. I would quite like 5-10 acres to pit mainly for buffer next summer and winter but not too fussed and only at the right price.

 

[Will Blackburn]

Looked for sales round here, doesn't seem much about, East Devon. I would quite like 5-10 acres to pit mainly for buffer next summer and winter but not too fussed and only at the right price.

What’s the right price? Begins with a 5 for me.

 

[Beef farmer]

have heard £1,000 ac from the big dairies that are short of fodder again, but only 'gossip'.

Maize is a bulk forage crop, and in a bad/dry year, l would take bulk, over quality, you can add starch, cheaper than buying bulk. Ideally, you get both.

Quality fodder, is the key to profitable milk production, but only if you have enough quantity.

over enthusiasm, is not a fault, age tempers that.

and we have all made mistakes early in our farming lives, and we learn from them, and that's just life. I think he's actually done a pretty good job to get as far as he has, l definitely wouldn't have gone straight into top pedigree genetics, but that was his choice, and good luck to him.

As a new farmer, in an area, he has to fit in with the existing pattern the contractors have, anything like around here, you are bottom of the list, unless you owe them money, they come quickly, on the promise of a cheque !

@Jdunn55 like the rest of us, especially in our early days, will find things are not as easy as we thought they would be, and cash flow really is king.
That's just life, and we have to negotiate a haphazard path through the those early years.

l, for one, wish him all the best, and hope his dream, isn't knocked to hard.

Or not turn up until the cheque has cleared

 

[pappuller]

Has anyone heard any standing maize prices this year or seen any sold at auction?

£650 upwards seems to be the goss

 

[ollie989898]

What’s the right price? Begins with a 5 for me.

I doubt much maize has changed hands for that kind of money around here in a long time.

 

[ollie989898]

I was reading an advisor says cutting it green still brings the best balance between still getting energy from the green and starch from the cob. Plus when it goes too dead you run the risk of mycotoxins?

I've known some farms make sizable quantities of silage from just harvesting the cobs with a picker header. I wonder how they combat this.

 

[som farmer]

some of those dairies, on the south coast, have had some rough years recently, from our own position, of having to buy fodder in, tiny compared to them, it certainly eats into the profit.

We sorted it, by reducing numbers, easier said than done, especially from the borrowing angle, you are geared up for that number. Pro-rata, its not a lot of difference.

But l can't help thinking, easing back, and having a less stressful life, because labour is a big problem as well, would be preferential.

And a lot of places, that grew for them, no longer do. And big competition from the digestors, for acreage doesn't help.

 

[som farmer]

I've known some farms make sizable quantities of silage from just harvesting the cobs with a picker header. I wonder how they combat this.

there's a big beef unit down on the coast, that harvests 300 acres of sweet corn, after the cobs have gone. Not the best of fodder, needs a lot of extra's added, but the bulk is for the cost of harvesting it.

 

[Headless chicken]

£650 upwards seems to be the goss

£650 upwards seems to be the goss

On fag packet maths I’d make it needing to clear around this standing to make a reasonable return

 

[Enry]

Who are the big dairy’s paying £1000ac? They can buy mine

£650 upwards seems to be the goss

Have heard £650-780, but very good crops. Maize generally looking excellent. Growing costs have nudged up a fair way in 3 years, and with rents of £300+ being paid, those prices look about what I'd expect. Could be some crops struggle to find a home though - AD plants want to pay peanuts per acre, but charge top dollar per ton when selling any surplus. Clamps filling nicely with grass and big maize crops, and cashflow will limit number of buyers Id say.

 

[goodevans]

some of those dairies, on the south coast, have had some rough years recently, from our own position, of having to buy fodder in, tiny compared to them, it certainly eats into the profit.

We sorted it, by reducing numbers, easier said than done, especially from the borrowing angle, you are geared up for that number. Pro-rata, its not a lot of difference.

But l can't help thinking, easing back, and having a less stressful life, because labour is a big problem as well, would be preferential.

And a lot of places, that grew for them, no longer do. And big competition from the digestors, for acreage doesn't help.

Surely lessening numbers would help from the borrowing angle and may be preferable, even though it would feel like a backward step

 

[Scholsey]

maize has got to be nudging 700+ acre to grow now considering you could rent the ground out to someone else for £250+ to grow it. Seed £100/ac muck £100 sprays £100 cultivations/drilling £150 fert????

 

[Will Blackburn]

If muck is £100 then fert should only be £30.

 

[som farmer]

l have been looking at the game cover crops sown here.
drill the maize as normal, 4th june this year, and drilled sorghum millet mix straight into it.

The maize is a very good crop, 7/8 foot tall, well cobbed, the sorghum/millet underneath it, is solid 4ft high, and thick, just coming into seed now. Shaded the kale and sunflowers right out.

But, the combination of maize/millet/sorghum, if we were to cut it for silage, would be 22 ton +. And no sprays used on it, nor fert.

Both sorghum and millet, are used for dairy cows USA and other countries, often cut green, or hayed. Watched one vid, of sorghum hay, 70 acres, 374 five foot round bales, some cut it twice.

With the increasingly warmer drier summers, we can grow different crops, just thinking that the two, could act as a companion crop to maize, pretty certain 1 game crop, is going to be a bit shorter this year, see what it yields like.

Anyone come across similar ? Obviously it needs to be sensible feed value, but could we be missing out ? Cheaper on the harvesting too.

Could well be a mkt for it, with the digestor boys. Our contractor, who grows rye/maize for one, is certainly interested in seeing what's actually there.

 

[Sailorsam]

picking started here Friday. rain today will delay a little. a lot of the local corn is still green.

 

[DairyNerd]

How quick can you feed maize after clamping? I guess straight away if you have to but what is recommended?