DESPITE the fluctuations in the Aussie dollar, the larger crop size and the apparent lack of current export interest in feed grain, domestic prices for wheat and barley are holding up.
Wheat for the key stockfeed millers in Melbourne is quoted at $215a tonne delivered this week.
The quality of wheat trading into these markets is either an ASW or General Purpose standard.
Some wheat recently harvested between Lismore and Hamilton has been described as shot and sprung. This wheat will be graded below the GP standard as it has a low falling number, high screenings between 8 and 15 per cent and low test weights of 66 to 68kg per hectolitre.
This lower-quality feed wheat is yet to test the market but initial ideas from buyers suggest that prices will be $20 below the current $215 stockfeed price.
Perhaps the new NIR energy tests suited to pig and poultry feeding can determine the best estimation of the animal performance of these wheat parcels.
Although wheat is the most dominant cereal grain produced in Australia, oats remain an important grain with some favourable returns for those growers who achieve milling quality. Unfortunately, it has been difficult this season for oat growers to achieve the sought-after grain density of oats for human consumption milling.
The heat blast in November hit the late-maturing oat crops in southern Victoria.
Consequently, oat kernels did not fill.
Oat grain density in most western Victorian crops has struggled to reach 52kg per hectolitre, a critical threshold for millers. Following the November heat, few oat crops escaped the rains that stained the hull.
Although field fungi discoloured the hull, there have been no reports of staining of oat kernels.
Oat buyers have observed that once oats are machine dressed and clipped, the appearance of the sample lifts.
Some astute farmers are cleaning oats to remove some of the lighter trash in the sample. In this process the test weight of the grain is improved to meet the milling requirement.
Our price tables outline prices for feed and milling oats. Depending on freight to particular markets, there is a general premium of $30 a tonne for milling oats over the feed price.
