The scale of the challenge facing farmers in 2022 is stark. Fertiliser prices have increased by two to 2.5 times their cost in recent years, while concentrate costs are upwards of €500/t for specific lamb formulations and between €450/t and €500/t for ewe and lamb rations.

The effects of rising fertiliser prices at farm level are being laid bare at Teagasc sheep farm walks currently taking place nationwide.

A case study showing the increase in costs was presented at a recent farm walk held on the farm of PJ Finnerty, Brideswell, Co Roscommon. Read more here.

The fertiliser purchased on the example farm in 2021 is detailed in Table 1 and came to a cost of €6,800.

If the farmer was to purchase the same fertiliser in 2022 at current prices quoted this would rise to a massive figure of €19,700.

Teagasc B and T adviser Noel Mannion told farmers that such a situation was simply not tenable.

He said that the aim on farms has to be to try to put a plan in place that ensures animals are fed and sufficient winter forage is saved and therefore plans need to be put in place to follow through on this objective.

Such plans have been put in place on some farms but at the Roscommon walk in the region of 50% of farmers had no fertiliser applied.

A similarly stark picture is presented nationally in the latest Teagasc survey, with 72% of drystock farmers planning to cut fertiliser use on grazing ground by 50%, while 57% of farms are planning to reduce the volume of nitrogen applied to silage ground.

Focus in 2022

Noel Mannion and Teagasc researcher Philip Creighton told farmers that a focus should be adopted in 2022 to try to curtail the increase in fertiliser costs while at the same time trying to maximise the volume of nitrogen which can be purchased. This is based on purchasing straight nitrogen fertilisers and moving away, where possible, from applying compound fertilisers for this year.

In the case study used, the farmer switched to purchasing urea/protected urea and limited compound fertilisers to safeguard sward persistency in ground reseeded in 2021.

Philip acknowledged that protected urea is in tight supply this year but highlighted that where it can be purchased, it provides an opportunity to apply year round and is a lower cost per unit of nitrogen to CAN which is also reported as being in tight supply.

Example

Philip used an example of a pasture/cut sward product and protected urea to demonstrate the Teagasc advice.

Some 18kg of the compound product was required to deliver the same units of nitrogen as 11kg protected urea. In the example in Table 1, the farmer will achieve 84% of the level of nitrogen applied in 2021 at a cost of €10,000 to €12,500, depending on when fertiliser was purchased.

For some farmers purchasing fertiliser at the higher cost will not be possible and for these farmers the best option in the challenging situation will be to look at reducing stock numbers. If this is the avenue progressed down, then the focus should be to draft animals with lower production potential so that output won’t be excessively hit and there will be a better chance of building numbers quicker.

Fertiliser or lime

There will be many tough decisions to make in 2022. Even with the above approach the volume of fertiliser available to spread is likely to be much lower on most farms and therefore applications should be prioritised to where it will deliver the best response.

In this regard, Noel Mannion told farmers that the payback from applying fertiliser on low pH soils was questionable given the poor response it is likely to achieve.

Farmers are advised to consider if there is more merit in applying lime to such low pH soils as the long-term aim should be to bring these soils to a level where the soil is in a better position to support crop growth and any nutrients applied are optimally utilised.

“I’m working 40 years or more and the message when I started was lime is the number one thing to get right. We must not have been doing the job right as [a lack of] lime is still the problem. Lime applied at a cost of €30/t to €31/t is better value if soil is deficient compared to fertiliser at €1,200/t”.

“You will see a greening effect in the sward even if you don’t spread any fertiliser after lime. This comes from a huge increase in biological activity, conditions for earthworms and the likes to thrive will be improved and as the old scraw (upper layer of soil/vegetation) starts to rot it releases P and K and nitrogen so you get a spike in nutrient availability”.

In a normal year, applying lime is capable of delivering a five-fold return on investment.

The financial return is now much greater than this with fertiliser costs increasing by 200% to 250%, while the cost of applying lime has risen by about 30%.

Little and often approach

Farmers were also told that a change in the manner in which fertiliser is applied can also deliver benefits.

Noel said: “Bulk spreading has increased in frequency and this has delivered in reducing work but it can also leave the soil going from a feast to famine or vice versa. You are better to go with your Vicon (spreader) this year and a little and often approach. Keep out from hedges, gaps, etc, where animals congregate and spread fertiliser where the animals graze. Every little bit will help given the challenge facing us this year.”

A visual representation showing the volume of fertiliser required to deliver the same level of nitrogen. There is 11kg protected urea in the box on the left and18kg fertiliser in the cut sward / pasture sward product on the right.

Noel highlights that much better utilisation can be achieved on many farms from organic fertilisers.

“The earlier in the season you can get slurry out the better. There will be a much better response and this can also be enhanced by using new technologies such as a dibble bar. A 1,000 gallons will deliver about nine units N if applied with a dribble bar and only six units from a splash plate early in the season. In the summer, this can fall to three units so there is a lot to be gained from better use of slurry.”

Good-quality silage to save costs

Teagasc adviser Sean Mannion emphasised the heightened importance of making good-quality silage given it is likely that concentrate costs could be in excess of €500/t next winter. Sean presented data showing the cost of concentrates relative to silage on a dry matter basis and this is detailed in Table 2 and Table 3.

As can be readily seen, the cost of silage on a dry matter basis is a fraction of the cost of concentrates.

The comparison does not take account of feed quality with the higher feed quality of concentrates improving the relative cost but still not capable of being an economically attractive option to compensate for silage.

The value of farmers making good-quality silage with a dry matter digestibility of 75% DMD in contrast to lower-quality silage of 65% DMD is greatest in late pregnancy.

The cost of silage on a dry matter basis is a fraction of the cost of concentrates

Twin-bearing ewes fed the higher-quality silage can get away with concentrate supplementation of around 15.5kg in late pregnancy compared with 28kg for the poor-quality silage.

Taking a concentrate cost of €500/t, this equates to a saving of €6.25/head or €625 on a 100-ewe flock. This does not take in to account the benefits for ewes housed in mid-pregnancy.

Sean outlined that decisions made now will have the greatest influence on feed costs next winter. He said that in a sheep context there is never generally much of a concern around swards being grazed tight prior to closing. He advised farmers to try to hover around 80 units of nitrogen applied between artificial and organic applications.

With regards the cutting practice itself, he advised farmers to focus on quality over yield and to aim to harvest silage before the seed head appears which is normally around the start of June for most first-cut crops closed in April following grazing.

He said that once the seed head appears the dry matter digestibility will be limited to a maximum figure of about 70% DMD and that this will drop by about one percentage point every two-to-three days that cutting is delayed.

Tedding grass out to wilt will reduce the moisture content, increase the percentage of sugars present and aid optimum preservation.

Sean cautioned that a period of 24 hours is optimum for wilting and that leaving grass intact in the large rows in which they were cut for 36 hours or greater will do nothing to improve the quality of silage.

Conditions must be right for clover

There is much discussion at present about the merit of clover crops in fixing nitrogen.

Philip Creighton says that more farmers will need to look at incorporating clover in to swards in the future.

Lamb performance will be 10g to 15g per day higher equating to reducing days to slaughter by 10 days. The volume of nitrogen applied can be reduced by 40% without affecting sward production with a financial reward in excess of €100/ha.

He cautioned, however, that the conditions must be right and that in the absence of such conditions any attempts to incorporate clover will be a waste of time and money.

Incorporating clover in a full reseed is the most reliable method of establishment but it can also be incorporated in to existing swards providing the opportunity arises for good soil-seed contact and that the sward is managed appropriately to allow clover to compete with the grass plant.

This includes reducing nitrogen allocations, grazing frequently at low covers (7cm grass height or 1,000kg DM/ha) to allow light to the base of the sward and not carrying heavy covers over the winter.

Soil fertility is important with a pH of 6 to 6.5 and index 3 for P and K vital. Any weeds in the sward must be addressed prior to sowing as management post-sowing is complicated by availability of clover-safe sprays.

Seed has to find soil. If a lot of weeds are present, put a plan in place to control weeds first this year and go for clover next year.

Small-leaf clover suits sheep better than medium and large leaf varieties as these have a higher growing point and sheep will graze it out.

Varieties selected should also be approved by the relevant bodies.