🎧 Episode 104 of the Hay Kings Podcast 📲 Stream now on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or your favorite app
Jon Paul Driver sits down with Mike Stefan of the Stephen Hay Company to talk about the "wild west" of the East Coast hay market—from his "OCD" approach to making high-end show cow hay to managing a diverse 4,000-acre operation near Buffalo, NY.
They cover:
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🌾 The "Walmart of Hay": How a retail model and a hay press solved the local horse market's needs while expanding farm income.
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🐄 The Show Cow Niche: Navigating the high-stakes world of embryo transfers where mold-free, high-digestibility hay is a requirement.
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🚚 The Freight Barrier: Why $3/mile trucking rates are redefining where hay can actually travel between the Rocky Mountains and the East Coast.
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🤝 The Broker Buffer: The strategic reason Mike prefers resellers over direct-to-consumer sales for distant markets like Florida.
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🍂 Agrarian Imperative: Connecting with city neighbors through "mini-farms" and why the subdivision lawn-mower is a bridge to agriculture.
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🧬 Medical Hay: Debunking fads vs. reality in the high-stakes low-sugar horse hay market.
Mike shares honest, real-world insight about "making the pie bigger" to bring his three sons home to the farm and why maintaining a "dream team" of employees is his greatest success.
🎙 Hosted by Jon Paul Driver
🤝 Sponsored by Krone — Dedicated to Hay and Forage Producers
🔗 Listen at hay-kings.com