Energy plants threat to horn-corn balance
While store cattle and sheep producers are hoping that the recent return of rain will restore confidence amongst finishers as the major sales approach, concerns are being voiced that increases in the areas of land and by-products being used to feed bio-digester and other energy plants are aggravating the effects of the recent drought and upsetting the traditional horn/corn balance.
With the “perfect storm” of concerns over the lack of grass and winter fodder combining with a slide in the price of finished stock, store ring prices took a considerable knock across Scotland during July.
The impact was keenly felt at store sales in the middle of the month when lack of keep meant that the number of cattle offered for sale doubled compared with the previous year.
Together with the hesitancy of buyers concerned about soaring fodder and straw costs, the oversupply of cattle saw prices fall dramatically.
“Smaller cattle for longer keep were hit hardest of all while bigger cattle over 480kg with good fleshing fared better,” said Aberdeen and Northern Mart’s head of livestock, John Angus.
He said that the lack of grass had forced many farmers to sell while potential buyers had considerable concerns about the availability and cost of fodder for later in the year.
But while Angus hoped that the recent rain would transform grass growth and attitudes to buying, he
expressed concerns about the large areas being lost to food production and being used to grow rye for the growing number of anaerobic digestion plants in Scotland.
“This is becoming a real problem for the livestock industry and has taken thousands of acres out of food production,” he said.
“The price of straw has gone through the roof and farmers are forced to compete with an industry which enjoys a double subsidy – an area payment to produce the feedstock for the AD plant and the feedin-tariff for the electricity produced.” l The Scottish Tenant Farms Association has written to rural economy secretary, Fergus Ewing expressing its fears over the same issue.
“Traditionally, in times of fodder scarcity, we were able to utilise arable byproducts such as straw, carrots potatoes etc and supplement with concentrates or distillery by products such as draff and pot ale syrup,” said STFA chairman Christopher Nicholson.
However these alternative feeds were now difficult and prohibitively expensive to source:
“The situation is being exacerbated by tens of thousands of acres of crop as well as tons of distillery by-products being diverted towards the renewable energy sector in supplying AD plants and biomass boilers.”
He said that while the dry weather had meant that AD plants were also suffering from lighter than expected rye crops.