May 10, 2013
UK feed producers lift output to record high
Boosted by the demand from farmers raised by a cold spring, at a time when their own grain stocks were sapped by a poor harvest, UK feed producers lifted output to a record high.
While feed output often rises in March, a reflection of a run-down in farmers'' inventories laid down before winter, the increase was especially large this time of 23% from February, according to the UK farm ministry, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA).
Indeed, at 1.12 million tonnes, output reached the highest on record, narrowly eclipsing the previous high set in March 1999.
The increase reflected a bleak start to spring, which forced farmers to keep animals inside rather than turning them out to pasture, a factor evident in milk production which, at 35.4 million litres a day, was running 10.7% lower in late March than a year before.
Production of cattle and calf feed was 13.8% higher during the month than a year before. Sheep feed production soared 26%, as poor weather deterred farmers from turning out ewes and lambs.
The demand for feed was also enhanced by a 5.1% drop, to 4.27 million tonnes, in on-farm stocks of the three main grains barley, oats and wheat - heading into spring, a reflection of last year''s poor harvest, which for wheat saw the worst yields in 20 years, and the lowest bushel weight on record.
The fall came despite farmers keeping on-farm a slightly higher proportion of crops, including wheat which DEFRA said appeared to have been "kept back for animal feed due to the poor quality".
Feed mills themselves turned to corn in record amounts to fill their needs, using 29,000 tonnes during March, a five-year monthly high, and the highest amount of barley in a decade.