The hay meister
Hans Brunner has diversified his dairy farm into a boominghigh-end hay business for the horsey set
BY BERNARD TOBIN
Hans Brunner has a simple farming philosophy: "I like to stand on two legs," he says.And the 57-year-old dairy and hay producer is doing just that; he milks 50 cows at his 385-acre farm in Bath, east of Kingston, and also sells 15,000 bags of his dust-free "Horsehae" to horse owners throughout Ontario, Quebec and the northeastern United States.
In 1990, Brunner, like a lot of dairy farmers, wondered about the future of Canada's supply managed milk industry. "We wanted to create an alternative just in case milk quota went down the tubes," he says. Brunner, who emigrated to Canada from Switzerland in 1983, has always believed in diversifying his farm operation. "In Switzerland, we had sows, we produced weaner pigs, plus milk," says Brunner, who farms with his wife Verena and son Hans Peter.
In the late 1980s Brunner decided that the hay market could provide a second income for the farm. He launched Tri-Forage Farms Ltd. and began shipping square bales into the Florida market.
Brunner quickly learned that "cash cropping hay is pretty much a service industry." In the hay business, colour and quality have always been the top draw, he says. "But a cow is colour blind and so is a horse....You have to listen to the customer."
And listen, he did. Repeatedly, customers requested hay with no dust. "What's the fuss about the dust?" Brunner asked himself. A little research revealed that horses' lungs are a lot different from cattle's. "They're more sensitive, like human lungs," he says. But how do you make dust-free hay?
That questioned was answered in 1992, when Brunner received a phone call from Steve Clarke, an OMAFRA engineer. Clarke had been working with equine researchers who had noticed a dramatic increase in horse allergies linked to dust, pollution and herbicide residues. He also knew of a machine imported from England that could make dust-free hay, but it was sitting idle on a farm owned by Drew Williamson at Jarvis. Williamson had used the machine to make a dust-free product, but later decided to focus on other business opportunities.
Clarke asked Brunner whether he would be interested in trying the machine at his farm. Brunner, knowing there was demand for the product and still searching for a sturdy second leg, gladly agreed.
Seven years later, "our problem is not selling, it's having enough supply," says Brunner. "When we started out, we expected to have our main market in Ontario and Quebec. We were surprised by the demand that came from south of the border." Last year 83 per cent of Brunner's Horsehae was sold in to the New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut area.
"It's all been word of mouth," says Brunner. "The mushroom effect started in Long Island" - densely populated horse country located directly east and downwind from pollution produced by New York City.
Today, Horsehae, which can be delivered in central and eastern Ontario for around $8 per 50-pound bag, fuels horses ridden by the New York City Mounted Police and equestrian and race horses on both sides of the border.
When Zingaro, a French theatre group that performs on horseback, came to New York in 1996, the French horses, unaccustomed to New York smog and pollution, were struck by respiratory problems. A veterinarian familiar with Horsehae prescribed the product for the horses, and the respiratory problems improved dramatically. When the horses were shipped back to France, a supply of Horsehae went with them.
Brunner credits the Internet for much of his marketing success. When he started the business, he advertised in horse publications, but found it expensive and difficult to reach a market that includes everything from the racing business to equestrian to western riders. "All the increase in sales has come entirely from the Internet," he says.
His web site - www.triforage.com - describes how the hay is made, its nutritional value and offers testimonials from satisfied customers.
"In this business, you really have to cater to the problem," Brunner says. "A lot of the mixes are generated by client needs. One animal may be highly allergic to a particular grass, another to alfalfa, so we have to make a few pallets of hay that has no alfalfa or no clover.
"We have to have a minimum of one field that has nothing but grass. No legume, period," he says.
To keep up with demand, Brunner added a second hay compactor and line of bagging equipment two years ago and hopes to push production to 20,000 bales this year. He's also looking for a farmer in the Philadelphia area who would be able to produce Horsehae on contract and reduce freight costs to the Long Island market and help serve markets in Ohio. But quality will have to be maintained, Brunner stresses. That includes a precise drying and packaging protocol and ensuring no herbicides or fertilizers containing chloride are applied to fields.
Brunner is also wary of drought in his area and what might happen if he can't meet customers' needs. "Once a horse has recovered, customers want to continue to feed the product. They aren't too happy if they can't get it."
The savvy farm entrepreneur also has a rather simple marketing
rule he
swears by: "It's a lot cheaper to maintain a customer than find
new ones."
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Letters
To Farm & Country
Help from DFO
The Dairy Farmers of Ontario (DFO) has never put enough effort
into
helping and encouraging young farmers to become new dairy
producers.
Today's youths are tomorrow's future. I have some suggestions for
DFO
involvement in encouraging young farmers and giving them a great
start in
the dairy business.
Who: Farmers between age 18 and 30 living in Ontario.
How: DFO should lend interested young farmers some quota - about
20 kg
butterfat. The farmer would have full use of this quota for
approximately
four years. At that time it would be given back, then passed on
to another
eager young farmer.
Where: Any farm premises in Ontario that meets all standards for
shipping
Class 1 milk that currently does not market milk through DFO.
This real Canadian idea would prevent Ontario quota from slipping
away to
other provinces, help our youth get started and shouldn't require
any
kickbacks.
Harry Peeters
Omemee
Swine loans?
The present hog crisis is four months old and is not over yet.
Meetings
and more meetings have produced little, except rhetoric. What we
need is
action - now!
One large problem that needs to be addressed is the two levels of
hog
farms - one that has contractual arrangements with a packer at
guaranteed
income, the other with no guarantee, accepting only the floating
prices,
which in recent months have become disastrous.
The ratio of preferred or first-class hog farmers to the
second-class hog
farmer is roughly one to nine. This is the current situation.
On closer examination it appears that too many of the so-called
first-class hog farmers are also leaders in Ontario Pork. This
becomes a
main barrier to solving the problem. The reduction in packers in
the
industry from 25 to two in the last 20 years helped create the
monopoly of
power in the hog industry. This concentration allows the packer
to do what
is good for the packer and not what is good for the hog industry.
I believe that the time has come that we must help ourselves. We
need a
program that is acceptable to all, wherein no farmer gets hurt.
The idea is...
The pork board could collect $1 per marketed hog - which should
amount to
almost $100,000 weekly or $4 to $5 million annually. This money
would be
used, interest-free, to help create and expand small packing
plants. The
maximum loan, interest-free, to a packer must not exceed 50 per
cent of the
total assessed value of the packing plant. The packing plants'
bankers
would secure the safety of this loan to the pork board.
This loan should increase in value in relation to the assessed
value of
the packing plant.
The $1 fee per marketed hog remains the property of the hog
farmer from
whom it was deducted. It would also be transferred to another hog
farmer at
the option of the owner, for example upon death or retirement.
The reason for interest-free use of the money is for
simplification of
administration and accounting purposes.
Ernst Bayer,
Mitchell
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