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Excellent Hay Customer

B

Bill VA

Well-known Member
Our typical hay customer buys 50-100 square bales at a time. Occasionally we have someone take 300 bales on a load. Some folks want to bring in a tractor trailer for a load, but I am getting to old to load 600+ bales into a trailer and the customer is unwilling to send a crew, so its smaller hay loads and lots of different customers - which suits me fine.

95 percent of our hay goes to horse owners and while overall, we have good customers, if youve ever sold horse hay, you understand what I mean when I say some customers are special in really a negative way

However, we have a lot of repeat customers and the one in the video link below has been a loyal, repeat customer for years. He takes 50 or so bales a trip and generally takes 300 bales total - some years more, some years less.

The video in the link below is of loading him out with a load of hay. He is an excellent customer!

Enjoy!
Excellent Hay Customer
 
When I did 2000 bales per year of small bales they all went to horse customers. Fortunately most of the time I only had 4 or 5 customers that took all of them and didn't take too long to pay. I have run into horse people that only want high quality hay but will buy junk if its cheap, people that only want alfalfa, some don't want a spear of clover or alfalfa within a 100 miles of the bale they are getting, some want it cut when it actually has some nutritional value, some don't want it until it is over matured, some don't want to pay or they want to pay 10 months later. Around here there are a lot of people with horses that can't afford them but still have them. I miss doing hay but don't miss having to deal with people buying it.
 
Two kinds of horse owners. Those with money, and those without. The ones with money are generally tight, picky, and want premium alfalfa at the cost of prairie hay, and complain about it afterwards. Those without money, generally less picky but slow to pay, IF they do pay. I quit dealing with horse people, all but one. He's an Amish neighbor who I get to do my small square baling for me. He ussually takes some hay or straw for his share.
 
Like you, 95 percent of mine goes to the horse people. After 55 years of doing this I've pretty much got all good customers. Weeded the bad ones out along the way and learned how to recognize the bad ones before doing business. But oh the stories I could tell.
 
My typical horse hay buyer was a middle aged lady with more horses than money, big heart small wallet . If I get surplus now it gets sent to the hay auction.
 
I saw some decent prices at the closest auction this summer (about a 2hr drive). I decided to call them up and see what the details are about selling. Turns out you have to stick around all day for it to sell AND THEN, DELIVER IT within 30 miles of the auction. Any premium at the auction was quickly lost with that crap...

More recently i've been delivering a lot of it. Make more on delivery than you do the hay itself.
 
Thanks - the barn was built a few years ago. My great grandfather started this farm, my kids are 5th generation. This barn was the first agricultural building built on this farm since my great grandfather passed. The gap between this barn and the one he constructed is a testimony to the quality of build back in the day. Not sure this barn will last 100 plus years - I know I wont... Thanks for watching.
 
Small square horse hay customers are really interesting to deal with that's for sure. I had one customer that would pick through the stack to buy 10 at a time and then want to bring 5 back because she didn't like them when she got home. I'd say bring them back and pick five more and would bend the wire ties so I could tell which ones she brought back then put them back in the stack. Next trip she would pick those same bales and want to bring back five different ones. Go figure. Switched to rounds and had a whole new set of picky customers.
 
Nice video, as a person that has both horses and cows from all my years of feeding as long as the hay is not moldy my horses will eat just about anything from haygrazer, milo, coastal bermuda and even rolled up corn stalks and leaves. Of course they are not show horses they are retired ranch horses we used. I pay up front every time I pick up a load of rolls. Since I get mine from kinfolks if he cant be there to load he leaves something there for me to use and I leave the money in a prearranged location.
 
Mine nearly all goes to horse owners with small barns, 2-3 stalls. They can't store enough for the whole winter so I end up selling out in Arpril, May and June when the big guys are all out. Some goat people. Most are good folks but I've had some real PITAs. I had one who boarded and got about 1K a year from me. We'd set up a time and she was always at least 45 minutes late. Then I had to hear about why she was late. Then she'd give me a check and saysDon't cash it for a couple of days till I make a deposit. Finally told her to buzz off. Not worth the aggravation. I do my best to make it convenient but some abuse it.
 
I get cash at loading or it don't leave. I don't extend credit. If they speak for it I'll save it for them till they get it. I do have one problem with that at times if they take to long to get it. Looking at that now. I guess I will in the future have a deadline for saving and after that it can be had by someone else.
 
I sell horse quality rounds with satisfaction guarentee. Bad bale will be replaced or refunded. May be a snake in it .Had one customer wanted hay friday, I had plans, offered thursday evening or saturday morning.Offered him to come get it. He went elsewhere. Glad of it . He took 4 rolls at a time for 20 dollar delivery, drove 50 miles, took 3 hours and 12 dollars in gas. That's how you get rich in the hay business.
 
I have been selling hay to horse customers for 20 years. Some good customers are now also become good friends, always reliable and good to work with. I have had a few customers that whenever they'd call, Sorry, I am fresh out of hay. Sorry just sold the last yesterday.
Customers are just people...some great....some best lived without. Fortunately, I can afford to pick and choose.
 
I make between 80 to 100 round 4x4 bales of grass hay a year.i have three customers who come once a week for one bale in there pickup truck for there horses they have never once complained about the hay never have asked if it's first cut or 2nd its stored inside and they just seem more than happy to get it.
 
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