What’s the point in straw merchants?

[Derrick Hughes]

Blooming heck that’s not good ! It’s dear enough but poor quality as well ! Not on .

You say its dear but then farmers are going to Auctions and paying up to £200 ton for it and still got to get it home

 

[ARW]

A few years back I took a cut of hay from a field that nobody wanted, agreed a price per bale, I baled it and stored it then it rained for about 3 or 4 weeks. Me and the land owner agreed for us to do the same next year and we would graze the grass as well
I gave a fair price per bale and sold them to a neighbour for the going rate that winter which was strong, he asked where it was from as it was great stuff!
Then it’s gets to spring and the landowner rang to say he has been offered £15 a bale out the field by somebody (the man I sold it to in winter) and had taken the deal.
So I thought well that’s fine, we had a deal but feck it, it’s only 10 acre of grass.
Then it’s a wet time, it gets to late July and no hay making weather has come, the man then goes back on his word and says he doesn’t want it the crop now because it’s such a wet time, so I get a phone call asking if I could cut this field again and buy the crop by the bale again!
the landowner thinks I won the lottery by cutting, tedding and baling his field the first year, and the buyer thinks he has been fleeced and paid to much
They think they will cut out the contractor and both gain
A wet time comes and suddenly nobody wants this field of dead wet grass

 

[ollie989898]

A few years back I took a cut of hay from a field that nobody wanted, agreed a price per bale, I baled it and stored it then it rained for about 3 or 4 weeks. Me and the land owner agreed for us to do the same next year and we would graze the grass as well
I gave a fair price per bale and sold them to a neighbour for the going rate that winter which was strong, he asked where it was from as it was great stuff!
Then it’s gets to spring and the landowner rang to say he has been offered £15 a bale out the field by somebody (the man I sold it to in winter) and had taken the deal.
So I thought well that’s fine, we had a deal but feck it, it’s only 10 acre of grass.
Then it’s a wet time, it gets to late July and no hay making weather has come, the man then goes back on his word and says he doesn’t want it the crop now because it’s such a wet time, so I get a phone call asking if I could cut this field again and buy the crop by the bale again!
the landowner thinks I won the lottery by cutting, tedding and baling his field the first year, and the buyer thinks he has been fleeced and paid to much
They think they will cut out the contractor and both gain
A wet time comes and suddenly nobody wants this field of dead wet grass

And how do you think I get on with my 4000 acres of corn? Dry year no fudger wants it, wet year half the South West are ringing on my door bell. Nearly enough to make you say stuff it and put the chopper on!

 

[Hilly]

You say its dear but then farmers are going to Auctions and paying up to £200 ton for it and still got to get it home

That’s even dearer ! The other fellas is dear because it’s of poor quality wouldn’t you agree ?

 

[DieselRob]

1 of my straw traders also used to buy quite a bit of my fodder beet, didn’t run his own tippers so got on with a firm hauling aggregate or tarmac as they were often looking for backloads up country again, 1 of the drivers has his own sheep and cattle so asked if he could buy a load or 2 but cut out the middle man, no problem, loaded him up and wrote me a cheque each load for 4 load, next load I say don’t bother with the cheque we’ll just group it all up monthly and pay on invoice, as it turned out he only had 1 more load off me and it took 10 effing months to get paid for that last load, the merchant would’ve still paid me on 30 days and he could’ve chased the barsteward for the money instead. That was only 1 load but there’s another farm locally that got strung out for 6 or more artic loads at £30+/t, I think he was getting rather twitchy waiting for that money!

 

[jackp]

Discuss that?

We are occasional straw sellers depending on price. If we can achieve £70/t and over we will bale and sell. If it’s less we chop it. Normally we’d sell to a merchant for ease. However this year we’ve sold direct to end users mainly because they are coming direct to us. They’ve been asking merchant truck drivers where stuffs been collected from and then googled for contact details. They’ll pay up front and arrange their own collection. Everybody is happy because we get the price we want but the buyer has cut out the merchants profit on the transport cost as well as the profit on the straw sale.

Well if they were not needed they wouldn’t be there , pretty much same as any one else providing a service

 

[Derrick Hughes]

I know where my local butcher buys his turkeys but would not dream of going direct. Lowest of the low dirty trick

 

[MR CASE]

We run a wagon delivering our own straw, Averaging 5 loads a week from November done six loads this week already. Built up a loyal customer base, know some great farmers made some good friends and contacts. Get paid on delivery & have bit natter. No need for the middle men i say.

 

[bobk]

Straw dealers , and any dealer exists for people who can't be arsed to market their own goods
It's a bigger problem than most folk realise

 

[Chickcatcher]

Time is a great leveller I am very small in arable farming and have sold straw to hear and there. I somehow find it far more difficult to sell too end users. Just had a load go 180 odd miles new customer who bought back in September and was concerned if it would be up to his expectations, he was happy with it when it turned up.
Already sold 50% of 2021 harvest expected production, retainer paid, just got too make sure we get enough.
Main buyer of this years production has well exceeded expectations.
I would class him as a dealer.

 

[Chickcatcher]

at least I now know " I cant be arsed"

 

[7610 super q]

Selling straw to livestock farmers is a lot like selling snow to an Eskimo who's cat has just died.
I'd not want to be a straw merchant.

 

[egbert]

Discuss that?

We are occasional straw sellers depending on price. If we can achieve £70/t and over we will bale and sell. If it’s less we chop it. Normally we’d sell to a merchant for ease. However this year we’ve sold direct to end users mainly because they are coming direct to us. They’ve been asking merchant truck drivers where stuffs been collected from and then googled for contact details. They’ll pay up front and arrange their own collection. Everybody is happy because we get the price we want but the buyer has cut out the merchants profit on the transport cost as well as the profit on the straw sale.

What a niggardly attitude.
Do you think i'm going to chase such a low value product 100 miles plus from my yard gate, when there's a queue of traders ready to do that for me?
why would I expect them to work for nothing?
There's nothing stopping you buying a wagon and taking their cut yourself is there?

As it happens, I run a flatbed lorry for one of my diversifications, but I couldn't get anywhere near viability fetching it myself.

I seldom begrudge a trading partner a living, and despair of farmers- or anyone- who do.
It makes them look pathetic.

 

[bobk]

What a niggardly attitude.
Do you think i'm going to chase such a low value product 100 miles plus from my yard gate, when there's a queue of traders ready to do that for me?
why would I expect them to work for nothing?
There's nothing stopping you buying a wagon and taking their cut yourself is there?

As it happens, I run a flatbed lorry for one of my diversifications, but I couldn't get anywhere near viability fetching it myself.

I seldom begrudge a trading partner a living, and despair of farmers- or anyone- who do.
It makes them look pathetic.

You're clearly a very successful individual .

 

[roscoe erf]

Selling straw to livestock farmers is a lot like selling snow to an Eskimo who's cat has just died.
I'd not want to be a straw merchant.

I went to an Eskimo restaurant and asked the waiter about the specials.

He said: 'We've got whale meat, or whale meat, or whale meat... Or we've got the Vera Lynn.'

I said 'What's the Vera Lynn?'

He said 'Whale meat again.....

 

[ARW]

I make about 30-50 acres of hay a year, nothing crazy, I always ring our local merchant for a price out the field out of interest and store some, then in winter I always use our merchant, we get the same wagon and drags, the same drivers, always get paid and sort any problems, yes I may get a few more quid selling direct but it’s a tiny part of my business and I want it gone at a decent rate at a time that suits me and I can have it all loaded abs gone in 1 or 2 days.
I deal with enough awkward slow paying farmers expecting everything for nothing

 

[4course]

We run a wagon delivering our own straw, Averaging 5 loads a week from November done six loads this week already. Built up a loyal customer base, know some great farmers made some good friends and contacts. Get paid on delivery & have bit natter. No need for the middle men i say.

and when your supplies get low will you try and help your customers i.e become by default a straw dealer of whom the ones I know are just facilitating a trade and making a margin as are we all trying to do

 

[Sid]

All I will say is buy direct and then try and find a haulier with a lorry and drag! Artic is easier but carries less. Access can then be an issue.

Issues then with a load of possibly not such good quality straw turning up, wet bales, wedges like cardboard. What do you do then? Send it back?

You could use an "agent" to sort all this for you, lets call him a "merchant"

 

[egbert]

You're clearly a very successful individual .

I wish

 

[MR CASE]

and when your supplies get low will you try and help your customers i.e become by default a straw dealer of whom the ones I know are just facilitating a trade and making a margin as are we all trying to do

I give them plenty notice when i am getting low, I will give them contacts of other growers who may have straw to sell. Its no different to selling the grain we grow, when its gone its gone.