Anyone hittin their stride with hay?

[5030]

A horse is like a boat. A hole you pour money into.

 

[dragoneggs]

A horse is like a boat. A hole you pour money into.

I still want a boat though. I can go farther and do more things than with a horse.

 

[Hay Dude]

A horse is like a boat. A hole you pour money into.

Yes! Makes a Harley or a boat look cheap. When horse people cry about money to me I just laugh at them. :talktothehand:

 

[5030]

Don't sell to horsey owner anymore. Don't miss them either. I got tired of the picky-ninny attitude and the having to chase my payment or bounced checks. Haven't did that crap for 5 years now. Don't miss it either.

 

[Hay Dude]

Don't sell to horsey owner anymore. Don't miss them either. I got tired of the picky-ninny attitude and the having to chase my payment or bounced checks. Haven't did that crap for 5 years now. Don't miss it either.

Ive had 3 good horse hay customers now for years and they have been good so far. The trick for me was to tell them up front my hay is NOT: replanted every year, sprayed with broad leaf herbicide, or otherwise any kind of award winning hay. I tell them it’s pretty much naturally growing hay. That way if they see a weed or a tree leaf, they were told UP FRONT to expect that. I do take extra care to make sure the hay is lower than 14% moisture and store bales inside. I also pride myself on timely deliveries and customer communication.
Also, I do not sell to any fancy pants horse operations and I do not charge fancy hay prices, either. That has eliminated all the overly high expectations.
I have found that so far, this has lowered the hassles tremendously with horse people.
I have a few cattle customers, too. They tend to buy a lot more quantity and are a little less worried about quality.

 

[5030]

All I run is cattle hay now, well rodeo hay. Have one customer buys it all and he raises bucking bulls and puts on Rodeo's. Mine does get sprayed and fertilized. This year we will spray with 2-4-D (B). Got some broadleaf going on. 2-4-D (b) won't harm mature alfalfa whereas 2-4-D will kill it. No second cut, not enough precip so 2 cuts only. I'll make another in mid to late august.

 

[mred2]

I am one of the horse guys. My hay guy bales 3 types of hay. 3 prices. Ground cover, cow hay and horse hay. All is good hay. If any get wet before it is put in the barn, it goes to ground cover. He sales a lot of it to road companies. They keep enclosed trailers at his place and he fills, they pay and they pick up as needed. Horse hay is the better hay. He spot sprays everything and fertilizes everything. He also has 6 chicken houses. He requests cash only for payment, no checks. If you don't like it, don't buy it. He only bails round bales for me and one other customer. Every thing else is square. Has equipment to handle the squares and never touch them by hand. He gets 3 or 4 cuttings a year. The first cut is rye grass. The others will be coastal. Never leaves hay in the field. Is always sold out before the end of the year. The best part is, he is only 2 miles away. This will not be a great year due to too much rain.

 

[riptides]

There are horse people and there are horse people.

The reality is some people are just difficult. And they can be buyer, seller and/or the farmer.

 

[5030]

I pride myself on being hard to deal with actually. Just ask my wife, she knows.

I never worry about hay. It's 100% sold before I make a bale.

 

[Hay Dude]

There are horse people and there are horse people.

The reality is some people are just difficult. And they can be buyer, seller and/or the farmer.

Yeah....maybe... I find horse people to be real difficult most of the time.
The realistic ones that understand horses can eat an occasional weed without dying, I値l tolerate a little teeny bit of whining from and they benefit from my lower prices.