| To effectively market hay, a farmer needs to provide reasons why people should choose his/her hay over others. This does not mean setting a low price, because anyone can set a lower one. This means growing high quality forage for hay, and testing it to prove that it has high nutritional value.
To improve marketing, consider the perspective of the buyer- what animals the hay is for, what types of forage the buyer wants, etc. When selling the hay, decide on the price, amount, and terms of payment and delivery. Grow high quality forage, and bale the hay in convenient amounts, making sure that the bale will stay together. Make sure that you have a way to sell any low quality forage that you grow. Always check in with the customer afterwards for satisfaction- a customer who thinks that you care is more likely to buy from you again.
(Sources: http://www.uwex.edu/ces/crops/uwforage/MarketingHayFOF.htm , http://www.nrsl.umd.edu/extension/publications/foragefacetsno9.pdf )
Additional information link: http://www.joe.org/joe/2000april/tt1.html
Test hay for quality of forage as part of marketing. Because of the general lack of standardization of the market, it is important to be able to show potential buyers test results that show that the hay is of high quality.
Also inspect the hay visually for quality. Things to check for include the presence of weeds, leaves damaged by disease or insects, mold, proportions of stems and leaves, forage maturity, color of the hay, and legume to grass ratio.
(Source: http://www.extension.uiuc.edu/~vista/html_pubs/haypay/sells.html )
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