Livestock sector faces £5m hit from straw shortage

Scotland’s livestock farmers will require an additional 36,000 tonnes of straw – at an estimated cost of around £5 million – for every extra week stock are housed as a reult of this year’s late spring.

That was the claim made by SAC Consulting in a report produced for the Scottish Government looking at the impact on the industry of last year’s poor growing season and this year’s apparently never-ending winter.

The college estimated that an average 110 cow upland suckler herd was likely to have incurred additional costs of around £8,000 due to a combination of the extended housing period and higher straw prices – leading to a potential reduction of 19 per cent in beef enterprise gross margin.

With spot prices for straw reported to have risen by over £50 a tonne since harvest, the report reveals that straw currently costs in the region of £130 a ton delivered in the Central Belt – with more remote areas in the west and north paying another £15-£20 a ton and the islands more again.

The knock-on effects of the poor silage and straw harvest outlined in the report also include an 0 Little solace: NFUS chief Andrew Mccornick expected loss of livestock condition, reduced lambing and calving rates this spring and reduced livestock growth rates this summer.

The report highlights the fact that wet weather at harvest reduced the quantity of straw that was baled, as it was too wet to bale – and arable farmers had to plough some straw in to complete autumn sowing.

On some livestock farms the farmers decided to harvest the cereal crops whole and chop them for silage – due to their poor grass silage crops – to feed their cattle, removing straw from the market.

The wet weather had also increased potential demand, due to cattle having to be housed much sooner in the late summer in the west of Scotland due to the waterlogged nature of the grass fields, leading to an increased demand for straw for bedding and feeding.

Making silage also became difficult from mid-summer onwards and many farms had a reduced or lower quality stock of silage going in to winter.

The report also warns that additional costs will be required to address waterlogged fields with soil structure damage likely to limit crop yields and require time and costs, in the form of drainage and re-seeding, to rectify these problems.

Rural economy secretary Fergus Ewing said that the additional costs had been widely recognised within the industry but the report, drawn up to inform the expert panel on wet weather, had helped put actual figures to these costs and difficulties.

NFU president Andrew Mccornick said the report was a significant part of the puzzle in terms of how the industry adapted to poor weather and would be useful in the future to help and advise members.

“Unfortunately, it is very little solace currently to members right now, who are battling through tough conditions and are having to spend more and more money just to keep livestock live and well,” he concluded.