KW Feedcast Episode 18 - 19 October 2021

This episode of Feedcast is brought to you by Chris Davidson and James Barker, and they don’t want to go over the same material again but the headline is you need to secure your winter ration now or risk running out on farm.

First they foray in to fibre, where it is not a pretty picture at the moment. British Sugarbeet 1st price has been withdrawn, with no sign of a second price at the moment, and with gas prices where they are will they continue to dry it? Imported Sugarbeet prices look high and demand is set to keep them there. 

Soya hulls likewise are struggling due to logistics issues and lack of imports, resulting in on farm prices of £220 - £230. It is hard to see any improvement in sight here, while the US soya harvest has almost finished the majority of UK soya hulls comes from Argentina. They are just planting now for a harvest in April and while forward summer prices may be lower, it is not a guarantee.

Proteins are a similar story with soya still the best cost per unit of protein produced and summer prices are looking favourable at £320-£330 on farm. However we are starting to see increased purchase of NovaPro as a result of pressure to remove soya from the diets coming down from the processors. 

Sustainability and carbon footprinting is something we are beginning to hear more and more, with James & Chris spending some time discussing the implications of different Soya certification and ways of tackling the issue.

The main message today is availability is tight on most products and logistics problems are causing issues on getting feed to farms, so order with as much time as possible. While prices are high, it is worth covering now to reduce your risk of running out on farm or prices going even higher.