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Knowing Production Costs Helps Set
Prices
Dave Storms, Muscoda, WI, adds up his production costs
each year, doubles the total and uses that figure to set the price on
his bagged haylage and dry hay. And he sells out every year. Speaking
at last week's Midwest Hay Business Conference and Expo in Sioux Falls,
SD, he said he focuses on producing a quality product while keeping a
close eye on the bottom line. "I'm in this business to succeed, not just
to survive," he explains. "Ninety percent of our business is repeat. If
we weren't selling out, we would have to re-evaluate our pricing
strategy."
Storms converted 2,000 acres of corn and other row crops to hay in 1989.
He grows pure alfalfa, pure orchardgrass and alfalfa-orchardgrass hay
and haylage, striving to produce around 10,000 tons of product per year.
He says 80% of his hay is sold as wrapped bales, and 20% as dry hay.
"With wrapping we can have a consistent product in spite of the
humidity," Storms explains. "We have a marketing edge that helps us
compete against low-cost producers. Every single bale we make is
designed for a particular market." He sells to the dairy and horse
markets.
Storms uses a front-mounted mower and a hydra-swing on the same tractor
to increase production and decrease drying time. He uses a Kverneland
wrapper and replaces it every three years because of the hot market for
used square-bale wrappers. A roll of plastic now costs between $70 and
$90, and he expects to get 20-25 bales per roll. It takes Storms 40
seconds to pick up a bale, wrap it and set it back down. He can wrap
bales at as low as 23% moisture and maintain the bright green color that
customers want.
The key to keeping the business successful is to keep asking questions,
Storms says. "We constantly ask ourselves if we could do anything
better," he says. "Ask your customers what they are looking for. Where's
your competition? Is there another product you could be producing?"
Contact Stormdale Farms at 608-739-4251.
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Beef Producers Give Feedback On Net Wrap
Beef producers have a love-hate relationship with
net-wrapped hay bales, according to the March 2006 issue of The Ranch
Hand newsletter from North Dakota State University.
In some cases, freezing rain or ice buildup became so thick that it was
just about impossible to remove net wrap from bales, producers
complained. Yet many loved the ease of wrapping bales and the time
saved, compared to twine wrapping. But most hated the time it took to
cut the net wrap off, and the pile of trash left at the end of a winter
feeding period.
Producers questioned whether to cut the net wrap off or leave it on
before tub grinding. Some removed the wrap because they were concerned
it would cause intestinal problems. Others ground the wrap with the hay
and had no problems. Many feedlot operators didn't remove the wrap
because their animals weren't fed hay long enough to develop problems.
Cow-calf operators were more cautious, according to the newsletter.
Since the cows consume large quantities of hay during their lifetimes,
there is still concern about potential intestinal issues.
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Tips For Finding Trucks
Hay producers can look on several Internet sites to
find truckers to deliver hay, according to Bob Bleeker, Dakota Premium
Hay, Yankton, SD. He uses www.getloaded.com and www.internettruckstop.com, he said at last week's
Midwest Hay Conference.
Bleeker offers hay producers another tip: "In order to stay competitive,
if I save money on trucking, I like to pass the savings on to my
customers."
Contact Bleeker at 605-665-6147.
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The chemical company.
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Colorado
A thoughtful Christmas gift brought Brad Hendricks,
Carbondale, CO, and his son-in-law, Ed Sigel, to the Midwest Hay
Business Conference. Harmony Sigel, Brad's daughter and Ed's wife, paid
their registration as a way for them to gain additional horse hay
marketing information. Harmony, Ed and Ed's family recently bought a
ranch near Centennial, WY. Their 1,000-acre, irrigated hay enterprise is
located near the border of Colorado, where they can target its horse hay
market.
Contact Hendricks at 307-699-0145 or Ed and Harmony Sigel at
307-742-6711.
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Indiana
Charles and Andy Mullin, Brownsburg, IN, were sitting
in the front row during the Midwest Hay Conference. The Mullins' hay
farm is located near Indianapolis. They sell hay to the dairy and horse
markets, but may shift their marketing focus more toward the horse
industry. "There are lots of horse owners in our area," Charles Mullin
explains. "We are thinking about making a smaller bale specifically to
service the horse market niche." They recently bought a semi to deliver
hay to customers more efficiently. At the conference, they talked to
other hay producers and exhibitors about hay preservatives and
investigated hay dryers. During storms last summer, their area received
3-4" of rain at a time. That made it difficult to put up quality hay.
Yet this winter has been mild. They still have around 600 bales for sale
and could ship outside of the state. Contact Charles and Andy Mullin at
317-852-4975.
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Ohio
Demand for horse hay has been steady this winter,
reports E.J. Croll of Croll Farms, Oak Harbor, OH. Croll ships much of
his hay to Kentucky horse farms. "It was really dry in Kentucky last
year and they had to start using baled hay early in the summer. Even
though it has been a relatively mild winter in Kentucky, demand has been
very steady."
Croll's farm is located close to Lake Erie, where record-setting
December snowfalls were followed by an unusually warm January and an
average February. Last summer was extremely good for making hay, Croll
says. He expects to take his first cutting the first part of June, and
finish harvesting in early October.
Croll, vice president of the National Hay Association, says its members
are interested in learning more about anti-terrorism rules that go into
effect Dec. 9. The new rules will require all hay products sold for use
beyond the farm of origin to carry traceable identification.
Contact Croll at 419-898-2496.
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South Dakota
Michael and Diane Lentsch have attended every Hay &
Forage Grower hay conference held over the last three years. They
raise 900 acres of alfalfa, alfalfa-orchardgrass and alfalfa-timothy hay
near Veblen in northeastern South Dakota. "The hay conference is like a
retreat for us," Michael Lentsch explains. "It is nice to hear what
people are doing in their hay operations, day to day. We always go home
motivated."
They sell dairy, horse and beef hay. "We are seeing more interest in
small square bales lately," Lentsch says. They use brokers to sell much
of their hay, most of which is tested. "One of the biggest obstacles we
are finding is educating people on the differences between relative feed
value (RFV) and relative forage quality (RFQ)," Lentsch reports. "RFQ is
a better test for grass hay, but we are having a hard time finding
people who understand RFQ. We end up spending a lot of time trying to
educate brokers about RFQ."
Lentsch says finding trucks to deliver hay has been quite a challenge
this past year. Most of their hay is sold to customers in northwestern
Iowa, southeastern Minnesota and southern Wisconsin.
Contact Michael and Diane Lentsch at 605-738-2208.
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The biggest ideas in haying equipment
come from New Holland. Like the BW Series self-propelled automatic bale
wagon, featuring a new five-speed automatic transmission that provides
excellent speed matching ability. Choose a slower ground speed in
high-density crops, or fifth gear overdrive for no-load road speed. To
learn more, see your local New Holland dealer or call 1-888-290-7377. www.newholland.com/h4/
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Calendar
**March 22-23 -- Manitoba Forage Symposium,
MacDon Product Showcase Building, Winnipeg, Manitoba. Call the Manitoba
Forage Council at 204-768-2782, or visit www.mbforagecouncil.mb.ca/Default.htm.
**March 22-23 -- Central Plains Dairy Expo, Sioux Falls
Convention Center. Contact Kathy Tonneson at 218-236-8420, or visit centralplainsdairyexpo.com/.
**March 28 -- Minnesota Forage Day, Good Times Restaurant,
Caledonia, MN, 10 a.m.-3:15 p.m. Contact Lisa Behnken or Neil
Broadwater at 888-241-4536, or Jerry Tesmer at 507-725-5807 or
507-765-3896, or visit www.extension.umn.edu/cropenews/hay/2006/MNForageDays2006_Caledonia.pdf.
**April 19-20 -- 2006 Mid-South Ruminant Nutrition Conference,
Arlington Hilton at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport. Sponsored
by Texas A& M University Extension Service and the Texas Animal
Nutrition Council. Contact Ellen Jordan at 972-952-9201 or e-jordan2@tamu.edu.
**April 21-23 -- Midwest Horse Fair, Alliant Energy Center,
Madison, WI. Learn more at www.midwesthorsefair.com.
**April 28-30 -- Minnesota Horse Expo, Minnesota State
Fairgrounds, St. Paul. Learn more at www.mnhorseexpo.org.
**May 25 -- University of Florida Corn Silage and Forage Field
Day, Plant Science Unit, Citra, FL. Contact Jerry Wasdin at
352-392-1120 or jwasdin@animal.ufl.edu, or
visit www.animal.ufl.edu. Under "Dairy Cattle," click on
"Corn Silage Field Day."
**June 14-15 -- 4-State Dairy Nutrition and Management
Conference, Grand River Center, Dubuque, IA. Call Dave Fischer,
618-692-9434 or Leo Timms, 515-294-4522.
**Sept. 7-9 -- National Hay Association 111th Annual Convention,
Snow King Resort, Jackson Hole, WY. Call 800-707-0014 or visit www.nationalhay.org.
**Oct. 3-7 -- World Dairy Expo, Alliant Energy Center, Madison,
WI. Learn more at www.worlddairyexpo.com.
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Send Questions & Comments
To...
Lora Berg,
Editor, eHay Weekly,
hfg@prismb2b.com
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