Marketing bagged oats

[WiltonRanch]

Got my kids on project bagging some cleaned oats and selling to horse people. Fairly manual pursuit until we figure the system out. This’s a question for you market gurus is there any money marketing to bigger customers and where and who would I contact?

[AlbertaFarmer5]

Got my kids on project bagging some cleaned oats and selling to horse people. Fairly manual pursuit until we figure the system out. This’s a question for you market gurus is there any money marketing to bigger customers and where and who would I contact?

Someone locally used to haul bagged oats into the auction Mart every sale. I talked to the auctioneer about it and he said it's not as simple as just putting your oats in a bag and bringing it in for a fortune. In order to sell it to commercially like that there was some certification that was required. It still sounded quite profitable at the end of the day. We are also very close to population centers and surrounded by horse people, not so sure about your area.

[helmsdale]

My daughter thinks the sun shines out the ass of anything that "neigh's"... good god, i hope that passes, because I'm inclined to think a casual cocaine habit would be cheaper!

[WiltonRanch]

My daughter thinks the sun shines out the ass of anything that "neigh's"... good god, i hope that passes, because I'm inclined to think a casual cocaine habit would be cheaper!

Ha ha. Was involved with race horses with my family for years. Thank Christ I lost interest at a young enough age. It’s a sickness with some like those who buy junk at auction sales.

[shtferbrains]

The wagon guys might be an opportunity?
I am pretty sure some of those guys run on just in time supply chain but others buy the winters supply ahead.

If you just set up at their events for the weekend you might sell a few bags every day. 🤣

I sold hay to horse people over the years.

Lots of nice people but I did learn to say I didnt have any and didn't know when I would for some.

If I was selling them oats I would ask them what they have been using and listen closely for stories about previous bad experiences.

[Taiga]

From past experience, I think you will be happier selling by the tote, minimum order.
With these people you are dealing with last minute needs, and you will sit around all day for a person to come and buy a single bag ($20?).

I no longer sell hay by the bale. I move a full semi truckload only, otherwise not worth my time. The hobby hay farmers with 30-40ac in hay can deal with the hobby hay buyers.

If you do go bags and want to be serious and get it into stores etc, then you are going triple cleaned in order to compete with the established suppliers and takes a lot more equipment and investment.

[WiltonRanch]

The wagon guys might be an opportunity?
I am pretty sure some of those guys run on just in time supply chain but others buy the winters supply ahead.

If you just set up at their events for the weekend you might sell a few bags every day. 🤣

I sold hay to horse people over the years.

Lots of nice people but I did learn to say I didnt have any and didn't know when I would for some.

If I was selling them oats I would ask them what they have been using and listen closely for stories about previous bad experiences.

Wagon horses eat lots when running. Seen big wheelers pack back a pail a day. I don’t know how they afford it. Pack 12 to 16 to a show and pay fuel, grub and all other things.

[flea beetle]

Wagon horses eat lots when running. Seen big wheelers pack back a pail a day. I don’t know how they afford it. Pack 12 to 16 to a show and pay fuel, grub and all other things.

I think it is more of a love for the game for most, than trying to make money at it. No different than snowmobiling in the winter, or quadding in the summer. You know it is going to cost you money, but do it anyway. Some spend more money on toys, or horses, than their house. They don’t care how much it costs. They just love what they are doing.

Edit to add, I’m talking chuckwagons and Indian relay teams.

[Happytrails]

I did winter long haul for a few years. One winter I picked up a dry van full of pony oats in Calgary that was billed to Albuquerque,NM. If my memory serves it had been loaded in Morinville. So I spent the next 3 days or so wondering why I was hauling oats to New Mexico! Saw some interesting places such as Montecello and Moab Utah and the 4 corners area. When I got to the racetrack in Albuquerque my first question was why were buying oats so far away. The manager there said it was all about quality. They were confident that whoever was cleaning and bagging those oats would send them clean heavy grain. I have no idea how to connect with buyers like that.

[makar]

I did winter long haul for a few years. One winter I picked up a dry van full of pony oats in Calgary that was billed to Albuquerque,NM. If my memory serves it had been loaded in Morinville. So I spent the next 3 days or so wondering why I was hauling oats to New Mexico! Saw some interesting places such as Montecello and Moab Utah and the 4 corners area. When I got to the racetrack in Albuquerque my first question was why were buying oats so far away. The manager there said it was all about quality. They were confident that whoever was cleaning and bagging those oats would send them clean heavy grain. I have no idea how to connect with buyers like that.

My neighbor has a oat plant, his problem was trying to collect from buyers like that, he finally gave up and shut down.

[Stormin]

We had Canada Federal Inspection Agency come to our farm when we sold oats and other bagged feed. The oat bags had to be properly tagged with the company name and correct weight.
We found by the time we did all the work bagging there wasn't much money left. Too much local competition.
We got ourselves a POS machine for M/C, Visa and Interact and never had a problem collecting. Now we just take the oats to Camrose, good money this past year.
We do sell lots of single small square timothy hay bales to rabbit and guinea pigs at a premium. There's a good money maker.

[foragefarmer]

Use to sell 15000 small squares yearly to the PMU guys until they all disappeared. They were very fussy when it came to the quality of the bales.

Dealing with horse owners that have them as pets, is a whole new level.

It's got to be perfect in their eyes.

[WiltonRanch]

Right now there is a short supply of oats and not many around want to bother selling bagged oats. Local Peavey Mart is $21 for a 20kg bag. The opportunity is now to capitalize but imagine by fall if all the oats materialize price will come down. Have opportunity to buy a manual bag filler which would increase productivity and make job easier but want to sell enough to justify the cost. Right now have a digital scale under the back of the grain truck chute, a bag sewer, and a couple kids just strong enough. We can bag and stack a tonne in an hour.