We’ve had an unprecedented tonnage put into grain stores and straw barns this year, which is fantastic. However, due to the uncharacteristically late harvest this year, we find ourselves with a back-log of bale collections building around the pre-cereal harvest runs into the power station.
After starting collections over eight weeks later than ‘normal’we now find that we have over 7,000 tonnes of product in stores that must be emptied before cereal harvest. We will only be able to clear around 4,500 tonnes of this before the end of August.
There are a number of possible options if you find yourself in this situation:
1. Move the bales into a yard or an outside stack. Terravesta will endeavour to collect these as soon as physically possible. No barn bonuses will be lost. Old bales can be utilised as ‘caps’ for the stack
2. Hold on to the bales in the barn or another barn until October. There is a £2/t barn bonus for this effort
3. If you cannot do either of the above and you are desperate for the bales to be collected before cereal harvest, you may be subject to an increased haulage cost due to haulier availability and general workload
We understand this will be frustrating for some, however Terravesta always try to ensure people who put in the extra effort to maintain bale quality are rewarded. To this end, the early movement requests for April, May & June will be increasing again starting in 2017/18.
There have also been a couple of loads rejected this week due to missing strings on bales. Please ensure you do not load any bales with strings missing. As you load the vehicle, put all of the bales with strings missing to one side. These can be hand tied using a ratchet for tension prior to the arrival of the final collection vehicle.
Please remember that any vehicle loading time that exceeds one hour will face additional haulage cost for time wastage. It’s sensible to organise bales ready for vehicle loading before it arrives, stacked in threes, with strings facing out (4’x4′ hesstons).
It’s vital that the collections are managed as efficiently as possible as Terravesta tries to limit haulage costs to growers and in turn, maximise profits.
We will try to keep all growers updated as much as possible on this matter, and encourage you to keep us informed as much as you can.
If you have any questions or would like to discuss any of the above, please call Alex Robinson direct on 01522 731873 or 07901520130
