Barley and wheat crops poor, combine vs bales?

[poorboy]

I have barley and wheat fields eligible for crop ins write off. Contacted local cattle guys and they have enough acres of bad crop to bale already and are not interested.

I don’t have cattle, could swath it and hire the baling done, but is there a market for the bales? Crop is thin and short, so the swathing and baling costs will be respectively higher per bale than normal. Going to be grain bales more so than greenfeed.

Have most cattle guys got enough feed for the year already? If not start running ads on kijiji and social media that you are looking for poor barley and wheat crops to bale. Ideally if you can swath and bale it yourself, it will appeal to more to the grain farmer.

[GDR]

I have barley and wheat fields eligible for crop ins write off. Contacted local cattle guys and they have enough acres of bad crop to bale already and are not interested.

I don’t have cattle, could swath it and hire the baling done, but is there a market for the bales? Crop is thin and short, so the swathing and baling costs will be respectively higher per bale than normal. Going to be grain bales more so than greenfeed.

Have most cattle guys got enough feed for the year already? If not start running ads on kijiji and social media that you are looking for poor barley and wheat crops to bale. Ideally if you can swath and bale it yourself, it will appeal to more to the grain farmer.

Would have been better greener but I still dont think youd have trouble selling it this year. Awn type might be a factor also. Where are you at? The AB program will just translate to higher feed prices. Even if you dont get rich might help to remove the trash and reduce the volunteers for next year.

[poorboy]

I am south of Drumheller. Actually thought I had a 30 bushel barley crop. Surprised at how many heads never made kernels. Neighbor says combine yield monitor under 5 bus/ac and I thought his crops were better than mine.

Now considering other options. Gov’t program should help cover some of the freight to bring feed from the grain areas into the cattle areas.

[Herc]

We baled the barley ourselves. Sold no problem. If crop insurance is writing it off under the revised low yield numbers, expect close to a bale an acre.

[TSIPP]

Something needs to be done with the barley, I’d swath it just to make sure it doesn’t go down, I’m sure someone will show up with a baler and a flat deck, how many acres

[Blaithin]

I know of people out by Hanna hunting for feed and go east past Youngstown gets bad. South of Drum you’re probably even close enough for the feedlots who need roughage. They don’t mind trucking.

Put a Kijiji ad up just to gauge interest and book some people in. You’ll probably get lots of messages.

[Oliver88]

What is the going rate for barley bales now?

[jazz]

poorboy, if that was me and I would probably just nip the heads and leave as much standing stubble as I could to catch snow and then some OM back in for seeding.

[TOM4CWB]

poorboy, if that was me and I would probably just nip the heads and leave as much standing stubble as I could to catch snow and then some OM back in for seeding.

Even light Barley is needed for livestock feed rations as hotter grain need to be balanced with fibre.

If a decent volume becomes available… then viable rations are created… discounted prices can be reduced significantly when barley is in short supply.

Cheers

[furrowtickler]

Even light Barley is needed for livestock feed rations as hotter grain need to be balanced with fibre.

If a decent volume becomes available… then viable rations are created… discounted prices can be reduced significantly when barley is in short supply.

Cheers

Question is can one even afford the fuel , depreciation, wear and tear and parts on trying to harvest less than 15 bus / ac barley ?
Not many land roll all their barley , so cutting the ground becomes very costly on headers and combines .
Combines and headers cost a lot to run nowadays. Repairs are astronomical now as well .
Not fun either way