Local Ag Stories

Hay farming may change forever

Drying facility under way in Geneva

By Craig Fox, Finger Lakes Times
March 5, 2007

Two local farmers are working on a $2.3 million facility that could revolutionize hay farming, create 30 jobs and lead to world-wide distribution.

Jeff Warren of Penn Yan and town of Geneva resident John Davie have been collaborating for the past 18 months on the project, which would use giant ovens, conveyors and other equipment to dry the alfalfa hay at Davie’s family farm on the west side of County Road 6, between Armstrong and Reed Roads.

Last month, they received a provisional U.S. patent on the process, which would take the crop from the field to the facility and process it in four hours, instead of the four or five days that traditional farming methods take.

Warren who became a hay farmer about two years ago after owning an investment company in southern Florida, said last week that hay farmers can be frustrated by having to rely on dry weather to bring in their crop.

It cannot rain during the four or five days it takes to harvest their hay, so they must watch weather forecasts, he said. The crop must sit in the sun to dry for a few days before it can be picked up and baled.

But, with the new process, that would no longer be the case and hay farmers would only need to take one trip to their fields instead of five, he said, noting that because rain won’t affect harvesting as much, the haying season could expand from fewer than 17 days to about 122 days. “We wanted to think out of the box,” he said. “We wanted to find a way it could be done differently.”

Calling themselves “hay manufacturers,” Warren and Davie have developed a system that uses machinery to cut the hay and throws it into a truck that follows closely behind the cutter and takes it directly to the hay-drying facility.

There, the hay is weighed and processed; the operation includes use of 165-foot-long ovens, boilers, conveyors and balers. The hay is then stacked and trucked to a storage facility, Warren said.

Instead of a faded, yellowish color, the hay would be “a rich, green color,” retain its moisture, and be highly nutritious because it wouldn’t be exposed to the sun and weather conditions from drying in field, he said.

The hay would be used mainly in the horse industry, but also for goats, sheep, ewes and other lactating farm animals, Warren added.

Working with investors and others in the farming industry, Warren and Davie have established Top Quality Hay Processing, LLC. They successfully tested their equipment last summer.

In December, workers used 34 trucks to pour cement for the plant’s seven-inch-thick, 30-foot-wide and 500-foot-long floor. Remaining work is to be completed later this year.

They would produce 5,000 bales of hay the first year of operation and start taking hay from other area farms the second year to produce up to 300,000 bales. A second line of equipment would allow them to double that amount in the third year, Warren said.

“The important thing is that it’s going to have a consistent quality,” Warren said.

Hay farmers can make $200 a ton for quality hay and $60 for a low-grade crop, he said. Aside from the alfalfa hay, they plan to work with some mixtures as well, combining alfalfa with timothy, for example. The plant would initially employ about eight workers, but that number would increase to as many as 30 after about two years, Warren said.

The project’s investors include Mark Wickham, CEO of Lakeview Mental Health Inc.; Chuck and Christine Long, owners of Long Milk Haulers near Penn Yan; Michael Kunes, owner of Castle Harvester in Seneca Castle; and Neil Simmons of Simmons Vineyards in Penn Yan.

Mark James, executive director of the state’s Farm Bureau, had not heard about the venture last week, but said it would produce much-needed, high-quality alfalfa hay for the region’s horse industry, especially for Finger Lakes Gaming and Race Track in Farmington.

It would also “leave out all the guesswork” and relying on weather forecasts, James said, adding that it would open up the markets for area hay farmers by enabling them to produce more every year and possibly prolonging the season into the fall.

The project was also news to Jim Ochterski, agriculture economic development specialist for the Cornell Cooperative Extension, who said he’s interested in helping the two farmers with their project.

Ochterski said the county’s hay crop has been surging in recent years, and it now produces 70,000 to 80,000 tons a year.

But he said there’s also a greater demand for alfalfa hay for the racing industry because thoroughbred owners and trainers have a difficult time getting the high-quality hay they need.

“Right off, I can think of some viable spin-off businesses,” Ochterski said.

The alfalfa can, for example, be turned into grass pellets that would be burned for energy, much like wood pellets, he said.

Doug Freier, who owns a farm on Post Road in Fayette, said frustration has always been part of hay farming, and that it would take somebody new in the field to figure out how to solve those problems.

“If anyone can do it, Jeff can,” Freier said. “The only question I have is about the economics of it, but he must have figured out how to get a return. If anyone can do that, Jeff can.”

As Davie envisions it, the company could provide hay to the Japanese and Korean markets. If the idea takes off, the company would offer franchises in other hay markets, Davie said.

The facility would also be able to produce a number of by-products, including pet food for hamsters, gerbils and rabbits, nutritional supplements such as alfalfa tablets and tea-like energy drinks from the alfalfa leaves, Warren said.

He met Friday with a scientist from Cornell University who will be doing sample tests on the tea-like beverages.

Davie, a member of the town’s Planning Board, briefed town planners about the Pre-Emption Road project last week. It doesn’t need to go through the site plan process because it’s in an agricultural district.

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