Farmers with dwindling feed options should act now to take advantage of an abundance of feed in other areas. Southland farm consultant Ivan Lines says there has never been a better time to take up share- farming deals with the meat companies or with other operators. Alliance livestock services manager Andrew Mackie says farmers should not wait until the lamb condition starts to drop because it takes too long to recover when they do finally move to quality feed reports Country-wide. "They are like a wet facecloth. All the goodness has gone out of them and takes a long time to soak up again." Silver Fern Farms' Lambplan is offering $2.40/kg liveweight gained. Alliance is offering $2.20kg LW, but the farmer shares the profit with grazier. With the surplus of feed in Southland there is a stand-off between graziers and dairy farmers over prices. When brassica crops went in the ground the expectation was for prices well above $30/head/week. Graziers believe at $5/kg MS the price should be still closer to $30. Last year the situation was reversed. Just prior to sending their cows away to grazing, a number of dairy farmers were told by graziers the price had gone up from $24/cow/week to $30-34. It was a "take it or leave it" situation. He says grazing prices have certainly fallen from $30-32/cow/week earlier on. They are now about $28/cow and dropping. South Canterbury farm consultant Rob Phiskie says farmers with grazing should be still expecting 26-30c/kg DM. Silage is selling for about 17c/kg and it costs 5-6c/kg DM to replace nutrients.
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