All of these conditions brought their own challenges for beef and dairy producers around the country.
Looking to 2023, as always, it is hard to predict the markets for our produce exactly.
However, milk price is predicted to be circa 15% below 2022 levels. Bearing in mind that despite a record price in 2022, there were plenty of challenges for dairy producers on the input cost side. If costs, as expected, rise slightly, then the prospects for dairy in 2023 look promising as long as we don’t experience weather which curtails the growth of crops and grass – or prevents access to grass.
On the beef side, a price rise is expected into the spring, with prices to stabilise later in the year as an increased supply of cattle comes onstream. Again, margins will be determined by input costs and where they end up.
In both beef and dairy production systems, input costs have taken a big hike over the last 18 months, and many farmers are now looking at alternative ways of feeding their animals.
In many cases, this involves becoming more self-sufficient through growing their own crops or sourcing them locally to try and eliminate unexpected jumps in price of on-the-spot purchases of feed which are so influenced by world markets.
So many groups and individuals have in the past forward purchased feedstuff, but in the current climate with such volatility, this strategy is proving more difficult.
A significant proportion of my clients who are not growing maize, whole crop, or beet, are now considering these options. These are options that shouldn’t be dismissed without proper teasing out and crunching the numbers.
Buyers are talking down the price of cereals to the grower for 2023, but remember that the world markets will ultimately dictate what we all get for our produce at the farm-gate.
Your plan for 2023
The new year is a good time to review your plans for 2023.
The same questions regarding your business need to be asked each year. A review of your herd performance will help you to make changes for the coming year.
Did you change any input this year, and how did it perform? This may be a new forage, a change in concentrates, a new dosing regime etc. How did the changes work out? Were the changes purely economic? Did you buy inputs totally based on price and compromise on quality?
There are many questions for you to consider regarding your production system, and I have listed some of them on this week’s Herd Management page.
Each year brings new challenges meaning that what works in one year may not work in subsequent years.
