[AT] New 8N/Now hay, coastal bermuda

[Mike Sloane]

Don't knock the horse people! I made a pretty good living at the New 
Holland dealer, selling compact tractors with loaders, three point field 
mowers, and little Millcreek manure spreaders to folks with 5 acre 
"farmettes" and two horses. :-) If it weren't for the horse people, I 
think the dealer would have folded up - none of our local (mostly dairy) 
farmers could afford to buy new equipment. Our other customer base was 
landscape contractors buying machinery to prepare new lawns for sod, as 
well as driveway installers.

The local TSC doesn't have much in the way of tractor supplies - they 
just cater to horse and dog people, selling "work" clothing, horse 
accessories, and that kind of thing.

Speaking of hay, some of the local farmers put up "small" bales of 
"special" horse hay that the yuppies can handle easily and put in the 
back of their SUVs. I don't know if they supply plastic bags to keep the 
hay from getting the cars "dirty". One of my neighbors pays a guy to 
haul his "special blend" of horse hay down from Bob McNitt's area. This 
guy's barn is finished nicer inside than my house.

Mike

Bob McNitt wrote:
> Dave -
> 
> The horsers here in CNY are cut from the same fabric .. money apparently 
> means nothing to them. One of our most successful "farm & garden" stores 
> here is doing very well because it caters to the horsers & mini-farm owners, 
> many relocated here from the big cities, and the prices the store charges 
> for everything is inflated about 40%. And it's pretty common to see the same 
> customers stopping 2 or 3 times a week, buying small quantities of almost 
> everything. It's kind of funny to see them trying to cram 2 or 3 bags of 
> feed and the same number of light bales into their Volvo or Mercedes station 
> wagons or SUVs.
> 
> Bob in CNY
> 
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Dave Ernst" <shop at cccomm.net>
> To: "Antique tractor email discussion group" <at at lists.antique-tractor.com>
> Sent: Tuesday, February 24, 2009 10:30 AM
> Subject: Re: [AT] New 8N/Now hay, coastal bermuda
> 
> 
>> The horse people in Kalifornia are nuts AND have way too much money to
>> spend. Third crop hay here is going for approximately $145 to $155 a ton,
>> and it is a $30 haul to central Kalifornia (Fresno). The hay store sells 
>> it
>> by the bale, regardless of weight. They're getting $18 per bale. Doing the
>> math, say $180 per ton delivered, roughly 16 bales per ton equals roughly
>> $11 per bale. They tell us the same people on their way home from work 
>> stop
>> by daily and purchase a couple of bales for their horses. The hauler I 
>> know
>> takes 2 truckloads, 456 bales per and like clockwork the seller reorders
>> every 6 weeks.
>>
>>
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> 
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