The problem with hay

Q is an easy keeper, but he needs his high quality hay to keep his girlish figure. In limited quantities of course. Having been at my current barn for 17 years, I have never worried about the quality of feed. If there is one thing about our barn owner, and previous barn manager (up to 18 months ago), she always prioritized horsemanship and quality feed (and dental work, etc).

But hay has been of increasing concern in our marketplace for the last decade. Of course we would always hear the farmers say, it's a dry/wet year and the hay season is not going well. But there were a few extra fundamentals that have made a long-term impact:

• Long term drought conditions in Western Canada has restricted supply and grazing conditions for cattle in those provinces. Restricted grazing conditions on provincial land means that there was more pressure to purchase hay (both impacting demand and supply).
• Alfalfa cubes. While a wonderful transition of a low-cost to high-value crop, this represents a valuable export of alfalfa in a dried and economic format to high-cost markets in Europe and the Middle East, as well as our neighbour the US. 

This trend is mirrored in the US as grazing land is decreased and drought conditions continue to impact grass production. Here is an exerpt on the global alfalfa market from the Business Wire:

The alfalfa hay market is projected to register a CAGR of 5.6% during the forecast period (2022-2027).

Over the short term, the market is anticipated to achieve notable growth over the increasing demand for quality hay for livestock and cattle population. Use of alfalfa hay has become critical to animal feed, due to its importance for crude protein content. Alfalfa hay enhances the growth and development of animals at a faster rate, as well as improves milk productivity. Thus, dependence on alfalfa hay for animal feed may continue to drive the alfalfa hay market, over the forecast period.

The increasing demand for dairy and animal products, shrinking of the land for grazing of animals, and growth in high-yielding cattle, bred cattle demand for feed is driving the alfalfa hay market globally.

North America is projected to be the largest market for alfalfa hay. China, Japan the United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia are major importers of alfalfa hay from the United States. The United States and Spain are major exporters of alfalfa hay globally. The use of alfalfa hay has become critical to poultry feed, followed by animal feed, in recent years due to its importance for crude protein content. Dependence on alfalfa hay for animal feed may continue to drive the market globally over the forecast period.

So as a result, our barn owner spent several months every spring trying to secure quality suppliers, often travelling 6-8 hours away to inspect the hay before purchase and shipping. This got more demanding in the last years, as suppliers dropped off, or started shipping their production to local alfalfa cube manufacturers for eventual export.

In addition, securing labour to help move the bales into the hay loft was a headache every summer. Seasonal labour, very hard work, long days, and always always on the hottest most humid days of the year. Yuck.

As you can imagine, this year, labour shortage is no joke.

So, our new barn manager decided to change the hay supply process. Instead of buying 50 lb bales and loading the hay loft, she is securing massive 1/4 ton bales that can only be moved by forklift, and storing the hay in an offsite location about 30 minutes away. The hay would be moved once a week and stored in a temporary small facility (covered by tarp) next to the barn.

Many concerns have been raised with this new practice: just-in-time supply management seems risky, staff can't manage the large bales and so a forklift will have to be purchased, temporary storage could create moisture and mold, dust might increase in the barn because of the need to break up the bales in the hallway. There are also concerns how the lack of insulation in the hayloft might make the barn temperature in the winter intolerable, and potentially increase the risk of frozen pipes (and lack of water for horses).

In addition, and in part because our new barn manager lives offsite, there has been a request that we move to haynets since the horses last feeding is often at 3 pm, and they are not fed again until 7 am. Since Q became obese within a year of the last time we used haynets, I was concerned. I chose to buy a new haynet with a much smaller hole, but Im concerned that he will get anxious and aggressive with the limited access.

So, after 17 years of happiness, Im finally beginning the process of looking to secure a new boarding facility. I visited my first one last night, and it was not great. So Ill keep looking, and will share here what I see and observe in my process. So far, Ive been quite disheartened by the repetition of these responses:

• We're full
• We don't board horses
• We have a long waiting list
• Sorry
• No boarders here
• No room
• Sorry

And then of course there is the long list of unresponded messages and texts.