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Comment by colechristensen | Hacker News Reader

Fields are planted with things grazing animals like to eat then mowed, the plants are dried and baled and can be stored for a long time to feed animals when needed.

It’s not really a commodity product like grains so the producer and consumer are much more likely to deal directly with one another.

These are classified ads for cow food.

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I love this about HN. I come from where everyone understands hay, and it's good for me to see that a) someone would not understand what a hay exchange is, and b) that someone will explain it simply and clearly to them. Everything about this is a good interaction.

> These are classified ads for cow food.

I was talking to a friend about this recently… he was stressing out about rain on his hay piles. He said cows will eat just about anything - even hay that’s been rained on. But other animals, such as horses, are more picky and need specialized feed.

Just FYI as I found that interesting

Horses have a fairly delicate stomachs, you only really want to feed them the first and second cuttings of hay because later cuttings are too rich with alfalfa and lack the fiber from weeds and grasses and give them the shits. Cows however can eat basically any green plant matter and the later hay cuttings are packed with nutrients.

Is this because middlemen take too big of a cut?

I work for an agricultural company that does a decent amount of hay sales as a middle man but I'm not too familiar with that part of the business.

I think it’s also that middlemen can’t do much to add any value. Transport is quite expensive due to low density so you usually purchase local and the finished product is ready literally in the field, there is no amount of packaging or processing to be done, just moving.

Why isn't it a commodity?

> Why isn't it a commodity

From a friend - in recent years draught conditions in California have reduced hay production

Price per volume is considerably lower than grain, material handling is much more complex (grain is essentially a fluid), it doesn't store as well as grain, it has far fewer uses and users, it isn't very standardized: bale size and type, what plants go into the bales, quality changes over time, seasonality, weather sensitivity... etc.

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