Chronicles of a Stable Owner: Hay Business

​Chronicles of a Stable Owner are real-life stories about caring for horses and their people
Written by Dr. Gwen Donohoe, Owner/Manager at Sagehill Stables

​I was out in the field on a warm sunny morning, helping my dad change some section knives on the haybine.  Something we've done many times before, but I sill wouldn't be able to tell you what size wrench was needed...  Skills and knowledge that I hope is going to stay retained in my brain somewhere until one day when I have to do it on my own.

After spending 6 hours doing maintenance on the haybine and baler, including running to the dealership to buy $500+ worth of extra parts and lubricants, I started thinking about how there are lots of aspects to every business that people just don't understand how much work it actually is.  The same is true for the horse business as it is the hay business.  

Hay is a big deal for stables, in terms of horse health and is second only to labour in terms of biggest costs of production. I would say having to buy hay has been one of the most challenging and frustrating aspects of being a stable owner.  However, making hay can be equally frustrating, something I think many barn owners and managers don't understand and don't have sympathy for when making hay purchases.  As someone who has been on both sides of the fence, I have some important points to ponder when making hay purchases:

• Equipment is expensive.  Purchasing a baler and a haybine, even used, would likely cost in the 20 to 50 thousand dollar range.  A tractor big enough to run this kind of equipment and also pick the bales off the field is necessary, or many hands on deck or a bale picker for small squares.  And where are you going to store this hay before you sell it or use it?  There is a huge investment in equipment and facilities in order to make horse quality hay
• Remember that there are many labour hours and additional costs behind the scenes that you will never appreciate or understand in order to maintain the haying equipment.  And where are you going to store this equipment?
• Fields of hay don't just magically appear when you own land.  They take substantial financial investment to be seeded and fertilized.  The first year after seeding a hay field, your lucky if your crop stand is <50% thistles and dandelions.  Years two and three get a bit better... Year four you should have a well established crop.  Hopefully the stand holds out for 8 to 10 years with adequate fertilization but then you might need to start over again...
• Fertilizer is expensive.  We are talking hundreds of dollars per acre to either spread commercial fertilizer or hundreds of dollars in labour and equipment to spread manure
• Hopefully by year four your field hasn't been invaded by foxtail... This has become a serious problem here in southern Manitoba.  There is pretty much nothing you can do about it but try to cut it early before it heads out and reseeds itself.  If you are not able to cut early (like on a year like this year) your whole field might be ruined.  You can try to till some bad spots in, maybe try burning it.  It can make your investment in your land worthless...
• Let's hope that sweet clover doesn't pop up bi-annually randomly from your soils seed bank - a clover that can also make your entire years crop relatively worthless...
• Oh and then lets hope that your cut hay doesn't get rained on - it takes typically 5 to 7 days to cure hay.  This summer can you think of any weeks that we haven't gotten rain?  I can't...  One rain can ruin horse quality hay...

There's probably more that I could say but I'll leave it at that... Would you rather the stress of making hay or buying hay? 

Many stable owners and managers do buy hay, so here are some things you can check for before you by hay.

1. Always always always go in person to look at the hay before you buy it
2. Repeat #1, but make sure you don't just see 1 or 2 bales when you arrive, look at it all
3. Ask the farmer these important questions below and then verify them by looking it yourself.  Sometimes what a farmer thinks is a little bit of foxtail or sweet clover, or just a little bit of dust, might be too much for you.  

• What species are in these bales and the percentages? Each horse owner may be looking for a different mix depending on their horse(s) and how much work they are in
• When was it cut/baled (so you can tell if was young or mature stand of hay - important for those looking for low sugar content hay). 
• Was it first, second or third cut hay? If you are not looking for high percentages of alfalfa, 2nd and 3rd cut hay may not be for you
• Did it get rained on? This will tell you how dusty the hay may be
• Does it have foxtail?
• Did you have sweet-clover this year?
• Ask for a hay test - note most farmers will not have paid additional fees for a non-structural carbohydrate (or water soluble carbohydrate) equine evaluation - if this is important to you, you might want to do it yourself before you commit to purchasing a large quantity)
• Ask how heavy they are (i.e. can your equipment handle them and get them off the trailer)
• Ask about delivery.  Can they deliver as you need or does have to be all at once (i.e. do you have the storage capacity for an all at once delivery?). If you arrange delivery, will they load the bales on the truck for you

The quantity you are buying in makes a difference.  It can be easy to find a dozen or two dozen good quality bales for someone who has a couple horses in their back yard.  When you are buying in large quantities (hundreds of bales), you really have be diligent and make good connections in the community with local farmers, especially in years where quality and/or quantity might be lacking.  How do you do this? 

• Make sure you pay your bills on time.
• Have more than one hay supplier - everyone can have bad years, plus it's good to have a variety of types of hay for the variety of horses you have and the storage facilities you may have
• Inspect the hay yourself and don't complain if you get bad bales - you were the one who went and looked at it, so that is on you if they are not to your liking.  Sell them and look for new ones if you need to. 
• Don't go back to a producer that doesn't understand the quality you need, but don't bad mouth them, just find a new one
• Be loyal. If the price goes up, don't try to find someone offering 1 cent a pound cheaper - a good hay connection is valuable and can be worth it, especially on years when hay is scarce. Maybe compromise and don't buy as much from that hay supplier but keep your good connection if they are working well for you otherwise

​
As we finished up our maintenance on the haying equipment, literally using a grinder to get off rusty bolts and having a heck of time getting the new parts to fit, we questioned whether it was really worth it making our own this year.  After three years of drought I jumped at the opportunity of potentially having some cheaper hay and hopefully better quality hay... But it was going to rain the next day, again, and the likelihood of getting a second cut now is looking dimmer and dimmer... The longer the hay stands the more foxtail seems to be maturing and popping up in places I didn't see it before...  I think I will end up having to sell a lot of they hay I make and buy horse quality hay.  But that's the hay business...