Feedlots short ?

[WiltonRanch]

This barley shortage has been a long time coming. Ever since the cwb finally died the necessity for farmers to grow barley for a means of cash flow, while waiting for the board to take delivery and provide full payment for wheat isn’t there. Besides, canola acres come at the expense of barley acres as we tighten rotations. I like growing barley for its benefit to the soil and versatility when on a mixed farm. Early price signals are not indicative of wanting you to grow a lot of barley most years vs the other crops. Outside of that central Alberta corridor yields are not as great and freight rates make it less competitive to send to the feedlots. Elevators as of late can pay a decent price for export and you get paid. Hence why so much gets exported. I am just rambling here with word soup but I hope you get the gist.

[Blaithin]

I was under the impression that most dryland/drought prone cattle farmers do ( or did) routinely stockpile a year of more of feed. Straw and grain specifically, or hay if it rains enough.

Around here where rain almost always bails us out, we tend to be more hand to mouth, then get really offended when mother nature doesn't cooperate.

Cow calf guys more often than not try and have some. Ideally a year or more, although maybe not always as successfully as they’d like.

But a feedlot… they’ll usually have multiple years worth of silage, yeah; of course they don’t use all that much silage once animals are on full feed. But they can require obscene amounts of grain and straw. I’ve never seen even a small lot that has a years worth of either sitting just in case. Straw/hay is actually probably more frequently a problem for many of them to source than grain is. I’ve always wondered when these straw plants are proposed in such close proximity to feedlot alley. That’s a lot of direct competition right there.

[WiltonRanch]

Cow calf guys more often than not try and have some. Ideally a year or more, although maybe not always as successfully as they’d like.

But a feedlot… they’ll usually have multiple years worth of silage, yeah; of course they don’t use all that much silage once animals are on full feed. But they can require obscene amounts of grain and straw. I’ve never seen even a small lot that has a years worth of either sitting just in case. Straw/hay is actually probably more frequently a problem for many of them to source than grain is. I’ve always wondered when these straw plants are proposed in such close proximity to feedlot alley. That’s a lot of direct competition right there.

Straw plants lol. Finding the right glue is like perfecting cold fusion.

So glad we hoarded lots of straw. Been stretching our poor greenfeed and hay supply with grain and straw. A bale yard full of straw and bins full of grain keeps a lot longer than hay or greenfeed if you don’t do sileage.

Is high moisture barley still done anymore or a thing of the past? Was a thing here years ago at local feedlots and some ranches.

[Dirtfarmer1]

12.00 for no. 1 wheat P and H watrous,SK today. Dont know why I passed up $13 a month ago, havnt sold a bushel yet.

[furrowtickler]

There was lots of feed maybe some miles would
Have been involved but there needed to be some
actual dollars And some foresight involved to acknowledge
The situation. No non livestock producer is going let
Anyone cut their barley or oats for the shit
Price per bushel that crop insurance was at.
If there was a top up lots of acres could have been
Cut.

But our at minister barely wanted to acknowledge
The drought at all. When the feds asked if help
Was needed there was no reply.

This could be a major disaster unfolding.
There are some yo-yo guys around that have
Thin cows at the best of time I doubt those
Animals will fair very good now for sure is another
Issue.

One thing as well was the fact that many acres simply could not be given up for feed . Every acre was needed to be harvested to cover contracts as much as possible. The buy outs were way more than being short on a contract . That was the case on probably 80% of the farms in many many areas .
Also there was virtually no straw even worth while bailing after combines rolled

[farming101]

G3 12.20 Feb

[errolanderson]

Corn appears rolling into southern Alberta via CP at a better clip. This has been a full-court press to get feed into cattle country. DDG's are higher protein, but smaller train lengths, whereas corn appears coming in on 100-unit cars.

Definitely, this has been a struggle for feeders and grain brokers and the railroad. Many problems related to weather and covid issues and labor problems that have contributed to these delays. But it appears corn supplies are now rolling in. The reduced U.S. corn export program to China couldn't have come at a better time for western Canada. China corn purchases are well down from year ago.

These are unprecedented amounts of U.S. corn rescuing our feeding industry. This year hopefully, supplies normalize and barley will be back in rations in the fall.

I feel for the cattle feeders and the issues that they have had to deal with. This is one tough group, but economics have to make sense. Ongoing red ink across the feeding industry is a concern.

[hedgehog]

back in 1985 when most of the hay in scotland was wasted by weeks of rain, hay was imported in containers from canada at a big price.
maybe we could send some back?
what weight of bale is $300?

[riders2010]

back in 1985 when most of the hay in scotland was wasted by weeks of rain, hay was imported in containers from canada at a big price.
maybe we could send some back?
what weight of bale is $300?

Anything that’s round. It’s quite a rip job

[riders2010]

Cow calf guys more often than not try and have some. Ideally a year or more, although maybe not always as successfully as they’d like.

But a feedlot… they’ll usually have multiple years worth of silage, yeah; of course they don’t use all that much silage once animals are on full feed. But they can require obscene amounts of grain and straw. I’ve never seen even a small lot that has a years worth of either sitting just in case. Straw/hay is actually probably more frequently a problem for many of them to source than grain is. I’ve always wondered when these straw plants are proposed in such close proximity to feedlot alley. That’s a lot of direct competition right there.

Guys here were dried out year before so had
Very little Carry over if any and then this year
Were feeding in July again.

[AlbertaFarmer5]

back in 1985 when most of the hay in scotland was wasted by weeks of rain, hay was imported in containers from canada at a big price.
maybe we could send some back?
what weight of bale is $300?

I hadn't heard about that. And thank you for the suggestion.
But I have to ask. How is it that there was only one year where Scotland's hay was ruined by rain? From what I know about Scotland it rains almost everyday, and is cloudy and overcast and humid on the rare days when it isn't raining. Is there really such a thing as dry hay? I assumed it was all silage or baleage.
Must be more climate zones than what the tourists typically see?

[Sheepwheat]

Anything that’s round. It’s quite a rip job

I am hoping that next year I finally have excess hay, I’m always just getting enough or slightly short. There is no way I would extort a guy in need asking 300 bucks. That’s insane. Brutal. And cruel.

I swear, if I have extra hay, I would not screw ppl in dire need. I don’t get it. Cruel.