value of straw?

[dfarms11]

What does everyone feel straw is worth now? I hear experts saying everything from $30/t to still just a benefit to remove from the field! I have neighbours wanting to buy some but they can't afford $30/tonne. Can I afford to let it go for less? Its a tough call this year.

[jensend]

why not bunch the straw and chaff with something like that whole buncher (no i don't sell them)? that way you don't lose the benefit of the straw and he can have better feed at a reasonable cost. doesn't take long to string a few miles of temp. electric wire. we're working that deal with a neighbour this year for some dry cows.

[dfarms11]

well they all want it for bedding actually, so that wouldn't work. With that said, I have been interested in getting one of those bunchers. Do you know where/ who sells them?

[jensend]

www.thewholebuncher.com

ordered one today. we don't crop but we'll put it on the neighbour's machine. salesman said some guys are building their whole cow feeding program around it. have to supplement below 0 F. or hope there's enough barley coming over the back.

[TOM4CWB]

dfarms11,

We used to figure (3-5yrs ago) our wheat straw was worth $15/t fertiliser value (1t/ac removal of straw)... plus at least that much more from a soil conditioning/moisture sealant perspective.

Helping the neighbour out is fine... it is your long term capital that they are getting...

1 year of 4 or 5 does not cause a huge problem... but the long term cost of straw removal cannot be denied.

P205 and K20 are not likely to get cheap any time soon... so I hope this is a gift you can afford and they actually appreciate the value of what they are getting... $40/t fertiliser value can't be far off.

Anyone else take a shot at this... I would be interested in other opinions on these values!

[boarderbloke]

TOM4CWB, i agree with your approach, roughly 10yrs ago an oil company had a fire spread out across my field from a pit flare. it had been direct seeded for a few years already so had a nice trash cover. to the oil company, it was no big deal! it was just a little straw! it didn't hurt any crop(after harvest)! it didn't hurt the soil! and they had no intention to pay anything. i went to work looking up what my three years previous yields were, and what the nutrient content was in the straw of the various crops that had been grown. i then converted the nutrient content to fertilizer and established a value. i also added a value to fiber lost, and presto! i had hard numbers to put infront of the oil company. no argument then! nutrient value for the straw of various crops at different yields are widely available.

[dfarms11]

jensend, are you paying your neighbour for any of it yet, or do you guys feel that leaving the manure on the field is good enough? In this situation, the cows should be removing some of the weed seeds too. That would be worth something.

[jensend]

we're paying a daily rate per cow. we're definitely getting a benefit and the straw is production that the farmer can sell without losing the nutrient value. the farmer also benefits by having the straw and chaff broken down faster. some weed seeds will go through whole so it's not necessarily a great weed control measure.

[melvill]

Two articles on the AB Ag web site putting a value on straw based on its soil nutrient value:

http://www1.agric.gov.ab.ca/$department/deptdocs.nsf/all/faq7514

http://www1.agric.gov.ab.ca/$department/newslett.nsf/all/agnw13758

[Burbert]

Keep your straw, work it in, it's worth money to you. Cowguys always want the stuff cheap, leaving twine all over the place, don't remove the bales quick enough, and generally screw the crop guy up, with their ongoing antics. Straw is not worth selling, unless you have too much of it on the ground, left over from a huge, huge crop and can't get it worked in, or spread around good enough. Your choice though!