Official Forage Statistics

[George from SJM Planning]

I know the number of bales per acre is like how long is a piece of string but I need to justify the need for a new agricultural building for a client. The main need is for the storage of hay/haylage cut from 17 acres plus an area for implement storage.

When I recently applied for one for livestock housing it was easy to justify using 'head per square metre' statistics and I was hoping to find statistics online to support this application.

 

[theboytheboy]

We aim for about 100 conventional bales an acre. Don't necessarily achieve it though.

 

[Formatted]

John Nix probably has a figure in it you can reference https://www.thepocketbook.co.uk/

 

[Sid]

Some have lots of implements...some have few. Again how long is a piece of string.
I would like a shed big enough to park all my machinery in, with out the need to move anything to get at another.
So lets say 50 feet wide by 150 long. Then there is the hay........

Don't forget haylage can be stored outside so stick to the "hay" definition if the size of the shed is key.

 

[Still Farming]

Get a nice 60x40 x16 ft portal building up be enough and plenty.

 

[Goweresque]

I'm guessing you're tying to justify the size of a building to the planners, rather than trying to work out how big it needs to be for the clients own purposes?

If so there's not going to be any 'official' stats that you can quote to justify - 17 acres of grass could produce perhaps one cut of 40-50 small bales/acre of hay if old grasses and unfertilised, but 2 cuts totalling 200 bales/acre if a modern ryegrass ley with plenty of fertiliser added. So the amount of storage space required could vary by a factor of 4.

I would try and get some production figure for rye leys from one of the grass seed producers (@Great In Grass) and go from there, that will produce the maximum volume of hay, which will allow the client to have the biggest shed possible. For machinery, work out what machines the client could possibly legitimately have on the ground for hay making and maintenance (which would be quite a list) and get some dimensions off the manufacturers websites, and work out floor space required to park them under cover.

 

[Princess Pooper]

I know the number of bales per acre is like how long is a piece of string but I need to justify the need for a new agricultural building for a client. The main need is for the storage of hay/haylage cut from 17 acres plus an area for implement storage.

When I recently applied for one for livestock housing it was easy to justify using 'head per square metre' statistics and I was hoping to find statistics online to support this application.

Other than stating it is needed for forage and machinery storage, do you need to provide justification? I know neighbours who have got sheds through without going into that much detail, as long as the size is not completely out of proportion to the holding. But even if you do want to put figures, if they have livestock they will need winter forage even if they made no hay themselves, so can you just work on the number of bales they require for feeding irrespective of what they actually need? Depends whether they store and sell surplus hay.

 

[George from SJM Planning]

Thank you for all the advice.

It is for a Prior Notification application on a total holding of under 25ac.

We have had guidance from multiple Local Authorities in the South East stating that the 'need' for new agricultural buildings will have to be proven and assessed. Too many excessive buildings went up in the early days of PD and the council's are now reigning them in.
We have had four applications for agricultural buildings since the turn of the year, in three different authorities and they have all consulted an external rural consultant who has each time asked for further information regarding the need.
I asked one of the planning officers how much weight this consultant has on the decision and they basically said, "if he says no then we say no, we don't know the agricultural sector well enough to make an informed decision"

 

[CornishRanger]

Round bales would take up more room, especially if you are only able to stack them 3 high.... Guess it all depends how big a shed your after!