Hay and Straw
When you purchase hay, whether alfalfa, timothy grass, or other hay, do you really know what you are buying? Our investment in quality control and technology allows us to ensure a safe, traceable supply of feed for our customers.
Hay is a generic term for grass or legumes that have been cut, dried, and stored for use as animal feed. There are many different varieties of hay, from pure products to various mixes of alfalfa and grasses.
Alfalfa
Alfalfa, the queen of forages, is the oldest crop grown solely for forage. Alfalfa is a perennial plant and a member of the legume family. Alfalfa has the highest feeding value of all common hay crops. All classes of forage-consuming livestock relish alfalfa, and perform well eating it. Premium grades of alfalfa provide very high levels of crude protein, and also exceptional roughage value. Alfalfa is the ideal dairy feed.
Timothy
Timothy grass is a cool season perennial grass with rapid growth. It is commonly grown for cattle feed and, in particular, as quality nutrition for horses. It is relatively high in fibre, especially when cut late. Second cut timothy hay is beautiful feed for dairy cows, horses and all other livestock. View the Timothy Report.
Mixed Hay
Mixed hays are commonly found all across the prairies in a variety of combinations. The most popular mixed hays are usually a combination of alfalfa and grasses grown together to take advantage of the unique benefits of the individual’s varieties. For example, many horse owners prefer a less rich alfalfa to feed their horses in a light work setting. Blended hay can reduce the nutrient level being fed while still maintaining a strong horse feed.
Common mixtures might include the following grasses, but the combinations and levels are endless: Alfalfa/timothy/orchard grass, Alfalfa/brome.
Straw
Straw is the main product hauled in the fall for Vandenberg Hay Farms Ltd. to local as well as distant customers. We service the straw demands from local feedlots to mushroom growers.
Vandenberg Hay Farms Ltd. is a supplier of various qualities and bale sizes for straw in Southern Alberta. We buy the straw behind the combine, bale, and stack or haul it directly from the field to the user. There is conventional and rotary, wheat, barley, rye or oat straw.
The following sizes are available in both hay and straw. The most popular sizes are 3x4x8 and 4x4x8. We also stock small square bales that suit a lot of the smaller operations.
Vandenberg Hay Farms Ltd. is a name you can trust for excellent customer service and delivery of your order of top-quality hay and straw.
Inventory Tracking
We can trace our products through a stack number that is assigned as soon as it is in the stack. The hay maintains the identifying stack number through the lifetime of the stack and even after the delivery to the customer.
We are committed to supplying safe feed and ensuring that all steps, from traceability and inventory management to processing and transportation, are completely to the individual customer’s specifications.
Dairy Hay
Dairy farmers are experts when it comes to purchasing alfalfa hay and other feed for their herd. They know that alfalfa dairy hay is superior to other forages. Alfalfa is high in protein and energy, reducing the need for other supplements in rations.
Vandenberg Hay Farms Ltd. understands and respects the dairy farmer’s knowledge and their need for quality feed. As a result, the quality of dairy hay is very closely monitored. Because we have worked with many of the same dairy hay suppliers over the 35 years, these suppliers try to grow and harvest the best quality possible. Early cutting before blooming, baling at the right moisture conditions for maximum leaf retention, and stem softness, and storing the hay in sheds guarantees a high-quality dairy product.
Hay Sampling
We sample a representative number of bales from each lot of hay, and analyze these samples at our in house Cumberland Valley Analytical Services lab. Please see Lab Services for more details.