d prices are well below their peak of about one year ago, it is sobering to note that they are 87, 76 and 97 per cent higher, respectively, for cattle/calf, pigs and poultry rations than at the start of 2006, writes Jackie Linden.In the latest quarter for which data are available - October to December 2013 - the average price per tonne for cattle/calf feed was £238, while pig feed averaged £260 and poultry feed cost £274, according to Animal Feed Statistics for Great Britain from the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra).
The cattle/calf feed price excludes calf milk substitutes and the poultry feed price is an average weighted by production from feed compounders, excluding output from integrators.
The graph below shows the average price of a tonne of compound feed for cattle, pigs and poultry in the UK from the first quarter of 2006 to fourth quarter of 2013.
Peak prices for all species were reached in the first half of 2013; poultry feed prices peaked at £311 per tonne, pig feeds at £291 and cattle feed at £253.
