AlB-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, November 1,1986 By Dr. John E. Baylor Director of Market Development Beachley-Hardy Seed Company Hay As A Cash Crop During the past several weeks, as a result of the drought that plagued the south last summer, no agricultural commodity has received more attention in the press than hay. Hay, that often neglected second cousin farm crop, moved into the south by truckloads and trainloads - thousands and thousands of tons of hay from all over the U.S. to feed starving livestock that otherwise may have been lost. And, cer tainly, Pennsylvania hay producers played a big role in making their hay available for this purpose. Big Business Hopefully as a result of this catastrophy someone has gotten the message. Hay is the one forage crop that can be transported from one area to another. And hay is big business. In 1985, for example, the lll^r "POLYGON" ENSILMIXER® Rapid and thorough blending and mixing I'M * I Waterfall action Introductory Price CALL NOW LAPP'S BARN EQUIPMENT Sales & Service (Henry S. Lapp) EDI, Box 126 Gap, PA 17527 (717) 442-8134 nation’s hay producers harvested nearly 150 million tons of hay from over 60 million acres. Its value - nearly $ll billion. And today hay, especially alfalfa hay, is potentially one of the best cash crops availble on many northeastern farms. How Hay is Sold New methods of marketing hay have made selling hay easier, too. Visual inspection, to be sure, is still the most common method of assessing quality and price when either selling or buying. But the development of new rapid methods of measuring quality such as Near Infrared Reflectance Spectroscopy (NIRS) is sure to have a major impact on marketing hay in the year ahead. Hay dealers or brokers, of course, are still major suppliers. In some areas more hay is being Livestock Systems * The only “polygon” mixer—NOT HOUND— featuring exclusive waterfall mixing action! Superior to all other round designs The name Butler is synonymous with feed mixer leadership, as demonstrated by the proven track record and superior performance of our three- and four-auger Ensilmixers and OMP electronic scale systems And now, Butler is pleased to introduce the unique new design for an economical rotary mixer—the Butler ‘Polygon" Ensilmixer' marketed through co-ops. And in several states special computer assisted marketing systems designed to help growers find buyers and to help buyers locate hay, have been developed. But the big increase in marketing hay in many areas is through hay auctions. Originally, as was and still is true for Penn sylvania hay auctions, this method simply brought together the producer with loads of hay, an auctioneer, and a group of prospective buyers. Hay was sold by visual inspection and the price determined by supply and demand. Quality Tested Hay Auctions But in Wisconsin and Minnesota, where hay auctions are relatively recent, a new approach is being used. And it has come about because of the introduction of NIBS equipment, usually in mobile units, as a rapid method of measuring hay Quality prior to Agway Board Names Top Officers SYRACUSE, N.Y. - Three top officers were elected by the 18- member board of directors of Agway Inc. October 24, im mediately following the farm cooperative’s 22nd Annual Meeting in Syracuse, NY. Re-elected were Richard Croner, Berlin, PA, chairman of the board and William A. Hiller, Fayet teville, NY, president and chief executive officer. Elected vice chairman was Ralph H. Heffner of Pine Grove, PA. Croner, a graduate of The Pennsylvania State University, operates a dairy and crop farm in partnership with his son. He has served as Agway chairman since 1982 and member of the Agway board since 1964. C.B. HOOBER & SONS, INC. Intercourse, PA (717) 768-8231 WE SHIP PARTS DAILY Via UPS - PPSH - BUS - AIR FREIGHT, ETC. Phone And Ck /X Pto Your It w 1 Parts A-fe Order I With quality standards, their intent; to have uniform testing throughout the U.S. so both seller and buyer can receive accurate and in terpretable results on any given lot of hay. Obviously for these standards to work standardized procedures for sampling and testing hays are a must. And standardized procedures have been developed by a National Alfalfa Hay Quality Committee. A voluntary laboratory certification program operated by the National Alfalfa Hay Test Association in con junction with AFGC and the National Hay Association is also m detergent fiber (NDF) tests and place. sale, plus the grading of hay ac cording to the results. Wisconsin forage specialist Dwayne Roh weder calls these “quality tested hay auctions” and, according to Rohweder, this new approach means “Wisconsin hay producers may finally be getting paid for quality in the cash market.” The hay grading system used in Wisconsin and Minnesota auctions is a revision of the one proposed by the American Forage and Grassland Council several years ago. It includes a new term, relative feed value (RFU), which is a value developed from acid detergent fiber (ADF) and neutral compares one forage to another based on feed value and predicted intake. National Alfalfa Hay Quality Standards Another recent development in hay marketing was the develop ment of national alfalfa hay m V Wr? TW Richard Croner, board chairman, Agway, Inc. Heffner and his family operate a . Tw°. naw Lnwville, NY, and John H. on July 1,1981. He joined Agway in Talmage, Riverhead, NY. 1951 and has held managerial Elated to their first term were; positions throughout the Clwrles C. of West Grove, cooperative. As Agway’s top £ A > a ™J I ° r [ ias _?' of management officer, he heads a Greenville, PA. They succeed system reporting consolidated George Steele and Raymond sales of $3.5 billion in fiscal 1985-86. Sperry who both chose to retire A native of Stroudsburg, PA, from the Agway board. Hiller graduated cum laude from Agway Inc. is a farm supply and Upper lowa University and holds a food marketing cooperative owned master of science degree in by 101,000 member stockholders in agricultural economics from The 12 northeastern states. Its Pennsylvania State University. headquarters are in Syracuse, NY. TWO LOCATIONS The Saving Place CALL US... If Could Be We Have It UiraStotion Not all of the problems have been solved. But progress has been made in hay marketing, and with continued efforts on the part of many individuals and organizations hay will eventually receive the attention it deserves in the market place. and chief executive officer, Agway, Inc. HOOBER EQUIPMENT, INC. Middletown, DE (302) 378-9555