What to pay for Salvage Canola Silage

[mhittinger]

In our area it looks like there may be some opportunity to silage canola crops. What is reasonable to pay for the crop itself - silaging costs aside?
What was paid in 02? How much bearing will that have on what is paid this year?

[grassfarmer]

We bought canola/oat silage mixed 3/1 delivered to our yard in the winter 02/03 for $50 ton. That was high dry matter canola silage - only 30% moisture. The mix worked out to 4c/lb of dry matter. It was great feed as the canola was 14% protein but a little low on energy which was balanced out by the oat silage. If I was offered the same deal today I would jump at it.
Playing the uneasy waiting game just now as there isn't any forage on the market just now to speak of. Salvaging crops will be a ways off in this area yet as they are still growing but way behind.

[Ron]

Do you use straw in your ration? Cereals here are 10-12" high with the flag out, probably 24-28" max at harvest. Not much straw to bale for sure.
Canola looks decent (compared to the cereals at least), probably end up being 36" at harvest (depending on frost, combine vs silage).
Does canola straw have feed value or just for bedding? Probably hard to get canola straw bales to weigh up?

[grassfarmer]

Yeah, we generally feed some cereal straw. In a typical year we would feed it at close to 50% along with silage for the cows,1/3 straw as we got closer to calving. Backgrounding calves would only get a little straw. I don't think canola straw would be worth feeding unless it was ground up and mixed with something else(too high cost inconvenient option for me)
We used one load years ago for bedding and it was very poor - 6 ft bales were only 850lbs and it seemed to have 1/2 the absorbency of cereal straw.

[perfecho]

One thing to keep in mind is that AFSC will only pay out crop insurance once the claimed crop is cultivated or sprayed......could lead to less feed on the market!
Any idea how Sask. is handling the situation?

[smcgrath76]

They just announced in SK yesterday that
the entire province qualifies under the
drought program (rather than specific
RMs or Zones). I have posted the press
release below...
MINISTER’S TOUR OF DROUGHT AREA RESULTS
IN FURTHER CROP INSURANCE ENHANCEMENTS

Saskatchewan Crop Insurance Corporation
will implement two further measures
after Agriculture Minister Bob Bjornerud
toured affected parts of west central
and northwest Saskatchewan.
"I have now seen first-hand the impact
the drought is having on this year's
crops and pastures," Bjornerud said.
"These additional measures were
requested by the producers I met with
last week during my tour of the drought
area."
First, Saskatchewan Crop Insurance will
raise the threshold at which a producer
will be eligible for full payment for a
crop loss. Increasing this level means
more producers will be eligible for a
full payout.
There is an established threshold level
per crop. For example, producers with
yields below five bushels/acre of wheat
will be eligible for a full payout, up
from 2.49 bushels/acre previously.
The second measure allows producers to
spray out or till their crop and be
eligible for summerfallow coverage next
year. This must be accomplished before
July 15.
Three other measures were introduced
last week: including extending the
greenfeed seeding deadline from June 30
to July 15; allowing producers who have
Crop Insurance to seed and insure any
cereal greenfeed crop; and an increased
number of producers will now have their
claims processed without field
inspection in order to receive their
payments faster.
For more information on all program
changes, producers should contact their
local Crop Insurance office.