When you purchase hay, whether Alfalfa, Timothy or other grass hay, do you really know what you are buying? At Anderson Hay, our investment in quality control and technology allows us to ensure a safe, traceable supply of feed for our customers. Anderson Hay’s Safe Feed initiative follows a series of rigid protocols and quality checks to ensure the traceability of each bale of hay sold.
In fact, Anderson Hay can trace each bale to the field in which it was grown. During harvest, fields are first swathed, or cut. The cut hay is then raked and baled before being picked up off the field and placed into stacks. Each stack is assigned a number that follows it from the field, to the barns, through production and pressing, onto the trucks and finally with delivery. At any time in this process, Anderson Hay can determine the location of each stack.
This high standard for traceability is coupled with a rigid application of Quality Control procedures. Beginning in the fields, Anderson personal monitor every aspect of growing and harvesting hay. The fields are inspected to make sure they are clean, weed and grass free before the growing season even starts. Detailed records of chemical treatments, harvest timing and crops previously grown on the field are kept to ensure that customers are well informed and can choose hay that meets their requirements. After harvest, bales are continuously inspected throughout the production process for quality and foreign material. Each stack is inspected a minimum of five times, three of which are quality control checks of each individual bale.
Our investment in technology brings traceability standards well above the feed industry norms. We are excited about enhancing traceability of our hay with a new app designed with our customers in mind. Check back for our announcement unveiling our Smart Forage app, the newest advancement in the industry for traceability.
