I don't think anybody is happy with the the, the way prices are
at the moment. I was almost embarrassed to
charge what we were charging. That's what we're paying for it.
We've got the A, this is what we need to charge for it so people
understand it is what it is and there's not much we can do about
it really. It's double what we were paying
last year. Hello and welcome back to
Curious Equestrian. I'm your host, Anna Louise, and
if you enjoy listening and watching this podcast, please
click the subscribe button. Hit that like button and leave
us a comment or a review to help us keep bringing you brilliant
guests and to find the questions like you or I to keep growing
our channel. In today's episode we're going
to be talking all about the UK's hay crisis shortage.
I don't know about you but I'm really feeling the desperation
as I know many equestrians are across the country now in spring
2026 to try and find enough hay to keep our horses fed.
My local hay supplier has completely run out of stock and
we're having to look further afield, a task that has actually
taken me late into the night and the early hours of the morning
worrying to see if we can find enough hay.
And local suppliers that I've experienced have completely run
out of hailage and any that they have left, they're rationing to
just a few bales per equestrian, which has been very worrying for
many. So let's talk to a hay supplier,
shall we, and find out how they're navigating the UK's hay
shortage crisis and how they're changing their business to cope.
Today we're going to be chatting to Nick from Newmarket, the
owner of NP Nun, who supplies hay and bedding and feed to stud
farms, racing yards and livery yards across the country and to
the biggest racing yards in the world.
Stay tuned because we're also going to be hearing how Nick's
exports have been affected by the war in the Middle East.
Nick, welcome to Curious Equestrian.
Thank you. Yeah, but thanks for asking me.
Well, we're really thrilled to have you on.
Nick. Can you just share with us what
business was like for you before this hay shortage crisis and
what you've had to do differently to cope?
Well, I mean, it sort of started last last June, July time really
when we, when we, you know, went into the, to the, the hay crops
well before then because it was, it was so dry in the spring.
That was, that was the big, the, the, the big problem the, the,
the, the grass didn't grow. So we were, I think probably
last year we were 50% down on where we were the year before
and the year before wasn't a great year either.
I think it's kind of we are having these drier springs and
colder as well. So even now with we've had lots
of rain during the winter, but we have now come into a
reasonably warm in the day, but very cold at nights and nothing
seems to grow. So let's just hope we don't get
in the same position as we were last year.
But we we've we've coke, we've been pretty good actually
because we've, we've been importing hay from France, we've
had stuff in from Belgium and obviously Scotland is always
wet. Ireland is always wet and they
had quite good summers last year.
So they managed to make lots of hay.
So we've been bringing it in from from there as well.
So we've been OK. Unfortunately the prices have
have gone N which there is nothing we can do about that.
But you know we've kept everybody ticking over and we've
got still got shed fulls of hay and we'll be fine right through
to new crop in hopefully June. So to answer your question, yeah
we've we've been OK. But yeah, I guess some guys up
and down the country have been struggling and we've been
selling more hay with, you know, we historically we, we just
service kind of Suffolk and Cambridgeshire and into Norfolk.
But yes, they were into Derbyshire.
Yeah, we're going a lot further afield and servicing a lot more
customers. And what does that mean for you
having to import hay from France and Belgium?
It's what's it mean? It means it's.
It's not, it's not straightforward.
It's not a straightforward operation.
We we had lorries going to Germany on where are we today,
Friday, on Tuesday, and trying to get through customs and
trying to get the correct paperwork is not
straightforward. In fact, the lorry that went on
Tuesday was held up for 28 hours and he had all the correct
paperwork. It was just, it was just, yeah,
a bit of a nightmare. And that is, that's not just us.
That is just, you know, if you get through in one go, you're
you're, you're lucky. But then sometimes you can just
be held up for for hours. And how did you shape shift into
this? Because surely that's a hell of
a lot to learn and to prepare your drivers for to suddenly be
importing from places like France and France and Belgium.
Yeah. No, it is, It is.
But we've got, we've got guys that that that help us with
that. We've got a guy that buys hay
for me and looks at hay and he he, he's got a fleet of trucks
and and he, he does most of that side of it.
You know, we still, we still have to obviously do the
paperwork and fill everything in and, and make sure we've got
that side of it right. But he, he, he deals with the
rest of it. So that's, that's, that's all
worked quite well really. And we always most of sorry, no,
go on you say, yeah, most of the hay that we buy.
And we we kind of asked for pictures for samples and
analysis reports as well. So we can we can sort of check
it, check it that way. I was.
Going to ask you how is the hay different in in France and
Belgium to that of what what would be grown in in England?
Yeah, it's it's slightly different.
The stuff in France is we've been having is crow hay, which
is it comes with a crow region in France.
Over here it's probably equivalent to like a, a nice
quality Meadow hay. But yes, yes, some of the stuff
is slightly different, but it's all again, it's all, it's all
nice quality. You know, we generally Meadow
grass we have, but most of the hay we sell is into stud farms,
racing yards. So it's it's a bit higher level
sea haze, Timothy, rye grass and that kind of stuff.
And what, how did you feel having to suddenly get your head
around importing and, and sending drivers and like you
say, delays at the borders and, and was that a lot of stress for
you to work it all out how it would work compared to, you
know, your usual year of business?
Yes, we we like a challenge. So anything that we, that
anything that's a bit of a challenge.
Yeah. We're, we're, we're up for it.
And the, you know, the, it was either that or we don't have
any. So yeah, we, we, we, we look at,
look at all sorts and sometimes it works and sometimes it
doesn't. But, you know, thank goodness
it's this, this it's it's worked out, Yeah.
It's been the same for equestrians having to stay up,
you know, I know from personal experience late into the night
trying to find places that are still selling hay, that are
still taking on new clients and customers that aren't closed to
to new people. It's been such a worrying and
stressful time. And I can imagine for you,
you've had a huge undertaking to try and keep up with that demand
and to keep up with the calls of sort of desperate equestrians on
the end of the line. Yeah, exactly.
Yeah. I mean, you know, most, most
folks that own horses, they they're, they're, they're pets,
aren't they? And they, they, they, they love
them. And then what I've noticed they,
they, they'd rather look after the horse.
They'd feed the horse before they feed themselves.
So, yeah, no, we have to, you know, keep everybody ticking
over and it's it's all about quality.
You know, if you've got a good quality gear, you know, you'll
always sell it, you know, even if it is a bit punchier price
than the normal. So yeah, we've been lucky that
everything that we've had so far has been really good.
And. Yeah.
Have you noticed, Nick? Have you been selling more or
less hay in this crisis? Have you found more more clients
coming to you? Yeah, definitely more whether
they will be with us next year will be a different thing
because I mean, obviously through no fault of their, you
know, from no fault of their supplies previously they've
struggled and you know, they've been short on supply and maybe
haven't been able to source it from anywhere else.
So they're not saying they've let them down, but they haven't
been able to supply. So yeah, we have, we have gained
lots of customers this year, but are they going to be with us,
you know, the rest of the year into next year?
We, we don't know. We'll we'll see.
But hopefully, you know, some of them will.
Obviously some of them won't, but some of them will,
hopefully. And how much have you had to
increase your prices by to cover the importing costs, Nick, it's.
Yes, it's it's, it's been tricky.
It's so originally, I suppose it was double what we were paying
last year and then now again. So we're bringing some hanging
from Ireland next week. We've just had another 10% fuel
surcharge on because of the war. So it's, it's really interesting
times at the moment. And yeah, if you don't keep up
with it, you soon, you soon, soon catch a cold because you
can soon lose a few, lose a few quid on the job.
I was going to ask you, have you noticed that the questions that
customers are happy to pay that price increase, but you
mentioned that desperation and almost that they would rather
feed their horse over doing their own food shopping.
Yeah, I don't think anybody is happy, are they?
I don't think anybody is happy with the the way prices are at
the moment. I mean, we're, you know, I was
almost embarrassed to charge what we were charging, but it
was a case of that's what we're paying for it.
We've got the, we've got the, the, the hay, but this is what
we need to charge for it. So, yeah, you know, people
understand like, you know, it's, it's, it is what it is.
And there's nothing, it's nothing we can do about it or
anybody else. Just if they, if they want it,
that's what it is. And if they don't, or there's
not much we can do about it really.
And what's it been like on the yard?
Nick, just paint a picture for us on a day-to-day.
Is it all action stations? Have you had to increase your
team? How are you coping with the
demand? Yeah.
Well, so I mean the hay is just a sort of a small part of our
business really. We're we're farmers, we've got
we're, we're arable farmers. So we've got that side of the
business. The, the main side really is
wood shavings and, and horse feed.
I mean, we do, we do, you know, terrific amount of shavings, 20
odd thousand barrels a week shavings.
We do. And you know, probably 100 tons
of horse feed a week. So the hay sits alongside the,
you know, the, the other bits and pieces.
And we've always, we've always done hay.
But it has, yeah, it's got, as the years have gone on, it's got
busier and busier. We've got, you know, more racing
yards, like I say, more racing yards, more stud farms on board.
And they're the ones that when you take on a racing yard, they
want a consistent supply for 12 months of the year.
So we, you know, you have to, you have to have the job, right?
Because you can't go and take a load in one week and it'd be,
you know, great quality. And then the next week it's, you
know, it's changed. It has to be consistent.
So that's the, the, the, the challenges we have.
It has to be good quality and consistent all the time.
But yeah, no, we've got a good, we've got a really good team of
lads here. We've got 7 trucks on the road.
We've got a guy who's dedicated to getting orders ready all the
time. And my son Harry, who's a big
part of the business, he organizes all the, the website
and all the, all the orders and puts them through.
So yeah, we've got a good team. And yeah, it's been, it has been
busy, yeah. But that's that's how we like
it. And to keep up with that
consistency, when you had to start importing hay, were they
happy to to move with you in terms of then taking on hay from
France and Belgium? Was it a similar type of hay for
the racing yards? Yeah, for the, for the racing
yards, the racing yards, we've been getting the hay from mainly
from Ireland and yeah, yeah, there's, there's been, there's a
lot of really, really nice quality hay in Ireland from a
supplier in Ireland that we've been using.
And he's really, he's really looked after us.
So he's got he's got shed falls of nice quality hay.
So, you know, we've said how much we need for each trainer
and he's kind of stood by it and, and kept us at back.
So that's been fine. The stuff we've been getting
from France has been going to kind of livery yards and and and
different throats. We've had a had a good
consistent supply of that. So yeah, on the whole it's been,
you know, once we've committed to it that they've been pretty
good and and stuck to the word and it's been the been the same
consistent quality. And you supply Nick some of the
best and biggest racehorse yards in the world.
How did you get into these racing yards?
How did you breakthrough? I don't know accident really, I
don't know that we, we just, yeah, we just built it up over
the years. And I think it's this, it's all
about customer service and, and loyalty.
And you know, with, with, I think I'd like to think we've
got a good customer service with we always, you know, deliver on
time when we say we're going to. And yeah.
And I think if you, if you, if you do that with, you know,
quality service with quality products, I think people stick
by you and then it just, it kind of just it grows.
So that's the person that was ordering a, you know, a few
barrels of shavings and then, oh, can you do some hay for us?
Can you do some straw? Can you do some feed?
And it just builds up like that. And that's what we've done over
the last 2530 years, I guess just we, we do do, you know,
quite a bit of advertising, but. I think our business is growing
through, you know, organically through good customer service
and, and, and and word of mouth. And yeah, I think that's that's
been the key for us. And what do just share with us?
What do race horses and sport horses and show jumpers need in
hay? Because unlike the livery yards
and the owners here in the UK that are desperate to get
anything to feed their horses as long as it's good quality.
I imagine they have quite a speck as to what they want and
and what they need energy wise as well for their sport horses.
Yeah, I mean, it's, it's, I mean, good quality hay is good
quality hay whether you're feeding to a pony or to, to, to,
to, to a racehorse. But you know, anybody knows what
good hay is. When you smell a good Bale of
hay, you, you know, it's, it's just, you want it clean and, you
know, not, not not dusty and a nice colour to it, nice smell to
it. And then, you know, the, the
other bits, pieces of proteins and, and and stuff and it's,
yeah, it's just, you know, you know when you see a good Bale of
hay and you smell a good Bale of hay, you know, compared to a
nobody wants to feed, you know, the mouldy, you know, damn musky
hay. And that's it's no good for
anything. And just share with us, Nick,
how have you been affected by the war in the Middle East?
Yeah. That's another interesting we,
we do export quite a lot of wood shavings and, and bits and
pieces of hay and different things, but mainly wood
shavings. We do send a lot to the Middle
East. So yeah, it's been very, very
challenging to say the least. We loaded up 10 containers for
Qatar, what, 2 1/2 weeks ago, finished loading them on a
Friday, I think probably the same day as the the war started
and didn't really think much of it.
But yeah, it's caused massive problems.
Where there's been more tariffs added to each container and the
containers, I've just been on the phone most of the morning
sorting out. We've got 10 containers just
landed in India. So yeah, we're not quite sure
what we're going to do with them and when they can move or how
they're going to move or yeah, we had 10 containers come back
to our yard and we've still got some in Lala, which is in Oman.
So yeah, no, it's, it's, it's one of those things that a month
ago it was, it was a, it was a great job when it all went well
loading them. We're all geared up to load them
with ramps and forklifts to drive into the containers.
And yeah, it's, it's, it's been a good, a good job.
But yeah, how things have changed in the last few weeks.
It's mad. Oh, rapidly.
And who do you serve in the Middle East?
You you mentioned the king of Qatar.
Yes, yeah, we do. Qatar, the Emir of Qatar, so the
ruler of Qatar, we deliver to Goodolfin, one of our big
customers in, in, in Dubai and various other folks in, in, in
Dubai and, and and Qatar. So yeah, we've got, you know,
strong working relationship with them.
We've been, you know, working for them for many years.
And yeah, so it's, yeah, it's been tricky for everyone because
obviously they're they're they're waiting on product.
So we're looking at trying to, you know, fly some feed out now
in the, in the in the coming weeks.
But yes, it's not not straightforward.
With all that's been going on with the war, the last thing we
think about is what's happening with the horses.
Who's feeding the horses, you know, in those areas and, and
how will they get access to feed and, and hay and, and all the
other supplies. That's so interesting to hear
that you're trying to find any which way to get these supplies
in. Exactly.
Yeah, Yeah. I mean, these are the things
that forget, get forgotten about, aren't they?
In a in a war? I mean, I never thought it would
have any effect on us at all. You, you know, you think, well,
oil prices are going to go up and we're farmers.
You, you think fertilizers are going to go up, but it's all the
other, it's all the other things.
The, the knock on effects. I mean, I was, I was speaking to
the guy that does all our shipping for us and that he's,
that's his business is shipping to the Middle East.
And he's just, you know, tearing his hair out because they have
got not, you know, they've got hundreds and hundreds of
containers going over there. So yeah, you don't, you don't,
you don't realise the the the knock on effect.
You know, we're very small. It's, you know, to tiny in the
scheme of things. But you know, some folks, it's
going to be a, it's going to be a bit of an upheaval.
And you mentioned the war tariffs as well on on these
exports. Are your customers and your
clients willing to pay the the 3000 up?
Was the £3000 worth of tariffs? Yeah, I think the the they, they
will yes, yeah, I mean that, that, that they've got to
really, because then it ensures the the the containers if they
get held in, because they could be held in ports for, you know,
however long this goes on for weeks and months.
So and they'll be they won't be the only containers in there.
They'll probably be surrounded by thousands and thousands of
others. So, you know, if you don't pay
that tariff, then you might be charged per day per container,
which could run into, well, yeah, telephone numbers.
So yeah. Oh, it's it's all all all very
interesting character building, I think is the word isn't.
It oh, don't they say, yeah. Oh my goodness.
And Nick, just just building a picture as well of these horses
in Qatar that you supplied to the King of Qatar is, are these
horses his personal horses or you know, they what kind of
horses are they? They're all, they'll be race
horses. Yeah, yeah.
We don't, we, we don't supply them with, we don't supply them
with any feed. It's all, it's all purely
shavings. So the obviously the feed guys
have got their own problems, but because, you know, it all goes
on, all goes on the water. You know, one good thing about
our shavings is they're not, you know, they're not perishable.
So they can sit there for, you know, months and they will be
fine. But obviously with the horse
feed, it has a sell by date. So, you know, I thought most of
them had sort of a six month sell by date.
Well, six weeks to travel over there and then sat there for
another. However long it's, it's not
going to be long before it gets gets past the sell by date.
And then yeah, it's no good for anything.
So yeah. And you've just started
supplying a show jumper in Germany too.
Yeah, we're out there this week. Actually we, well, I'd say just
we did, we, we supplied them all last year.
So, yeah, no, that's been a, that's been, that's been good
and interesting. And that's, that's something we
like to do more of actually more into show jumping world in, in
into Europe and over here. That'd be.
That'd be is it? Hard to break into the different
equestrian industries. Yes, it is.
Yeah. Yeah, there's it's, it's, it's
hard to get into, you know, to, to any customers really.
I find it harder with the with the feed than anything because I
think someone who feeds, you know, it's, it's like with your,
with your dog, you, you never like to change the, the, the
feed that they're on. And trying to get someone to,
to, to, to swap over is always, always hard.
And especially in the, during the season as well.
And if and if someone's having a good season, there's no reason
for them to want to change. But yeah, so it's, yeah,
nothing. I, I, I've always found that
everything I've done has there's, there's never been an
easy, easy routing with anything.
That's what I think. We have to do networking, Nick,
or is it, is it word of mouth that spread that then means
you've gone into show jumping. How did you kind of get through
the gates? It's all.
Yeah, it's all, it's all. It's all about networking
really. And who you know, and you know
like I said earlier, if you've got good products and you offer
a good service, I think you're sort of 80% there.
But yeah, you obviously you do need the, the contacts to go and
see and a little help along the way.
If you, if you, you know, do a good service and someone's
really pleased with it, they hopefully you'd like to think
they go and sort of tell their pals and acquaintances and
that's, you know, that's how, that's how it's worked for us
over the years anyway. I guess a bit of advertising.
I think the the the advertising on the website and and the
orders that come through the website have all been through
advertising, but most of the big clients has been sort of
networking and going out there and seeing them.
And Nick Halage is proving a real problem at the moment.
I have been doing a tour of all the equestrian outlets in my
county and all of the horse feed suppliers are limiting owners to
five bales of hailage per customer.
And they've told me stories of customers from 2 counties away
ringing up and saying can we bring a trailer and fill up?
Basically wipe you of all your pallets and and load up the
trailer and and be away. And they've said no.
We've had to ration it to keep all the customers in hailage.
But obviously all these supplies are going down and down and
down. Gradually, we've seen all
different brands of hailage disappear off of our shelves.
Are you finding an issue with sourcing hailage as well?
Yeah, definitely. I think the hailage is a lot
seems to be a lot shorter than than Hay, whether that's because
more people feed hailage now and you know, everyone's got through
the supplies quicker. But yeah, definitely there is a
definitely a shortage of hailage and we, yeah, we can't, we're
struggling to find hailage. We've got, we've got bits and
pieces left and we are funny enough, we bring a lorry load
back from Germany which should be back here today actually.
So we are going to have some of that available.
But no Halage would be the one that people are struggling with.
But then the, the Halage season, I mean they're not what we
coming into April now there could well be Halage made in
May. So hopefully that won't be too
much longer before there's another, you know, new new
croppers in. It's interesting because we were
told as equestrians at the beginning of the, the hay
shortage, like you mentioned last summer when there were sort
of rumblings of it, it was like, oh, make sure you feed hailage
alongside hay to make your hay stocks last longer.
So a lot of us moved on to a sort of combination and now are
really feeling that pinch where we can't get the hailage
anywhere that we've moved on to, which is so anxiety inducing
when you're trying to keep your horses diet stable for their
digestive systems. I mean, it's an absolute
nightmare. Yeah.
No, I can, I can understand that.
Yeah. It's, it's not, it's not
straightforward at all, is it? No, I mean, you mentioned and
you'd lightheartedly say Nick, oh, it's character building.
But seriously, how do you deal with the kind of stress of the
shipments and and the deliveries going out, keeping up, you know,
with with all of this demand and also keeping an eye on, on hay
stocks and making sure that there is enough coming in, in
for you and your clients. Yeah, well, it's this, you know,
it's what we do. This, this is the is the same
with with everything, isn't it really?
It's just, you just have to, you know, manage it well, logistics
and and everything. But yeah, with, yeah, I don't
mind. I, I, I, I don't suffer with too
much stress. So.
Yeah. It's part of the business for
you to be calm and collected and stable.
Do you think that's needed for for the area that you're you're
working in Nick? Yeah, I think any, any business
isn't it, you know, you know, there's, there's, there's
everybody has different challenges in, in, in, in, you
know, whatever business you're in.
And yeah, it's certainly been a challenge.
But yes, we, we, I don't suffer too much, get too, too stressed
over it. We'll, you know, we get it to
we've, we've, we've got most of it over the line in the last,
the last few months. So hopefully it'll continue.
And Nick, with your farmer hat on, because of course you are a
farmer too, how are things looking for 2026?
Because we are reading in equestrian magazines and news
outlets, you know that sort of that worrying time hearing what
will summer 2026 bring and will we expect another hay shortage
in the next year to come? From your perspective, what are
you seeing on the ground at the moment and what are your
predictions? Well, I wish I had a crystal
ball, but it's, it's, it's very difficult to say.
We're in, we're, we're now coming towards the end of March
and our crops look reasonably well, but we just, you just, you
just need that consistent weather, You know, you need, I
know everybody's probably sick to death of, you know, how wet
it's been over the winter, but it's amazing how quickly it
dries out and it has, we were putting fertilizer on last week
and it's amazing how stuff has dried out.
And in a funny way, we, we almost need another rain to, you
know, to keep, keep freshening up.
That, that, that, that will be the key.
We need, we need a, a consistent rain through, you know, next
month and, and, and May and then we should be fine.
As you know, you need warm and we need the warmer nights as
well. Because the, everything I've
noticed the last three weeks, stuff has gone backwards again.
We've had reasonably warm days but the nights have been very
cold and it really knocked stuff back.
And you need that more for the nights for the grass to grow.
Yeah, exactly. Yeah, Well, you want the soil,
you want the soil to warm up because it, you know, it's, it's
just starts to warm up and then it frosts at night, cold nights
and it just, it stops everything in its tracks.
So yeah, as long as we get some, some, some decent weather,
everything looks, looks well. But as long as we get some, you
know, decent weather between now and, you know, when we think
about cutting maybe June time, yeah, fingers crossed and
everything crossed that hopefully it all comes good.
And then obviously you need the, the, the, the, the sunny warm
weather when you, when you make the hay, that's the hardest,
that's the hardest part. Yeah, oh gosh.
And with we've had some unpredictable seasons, haven't
we nicked the last few years? But as you mentioned, the
drought last year was caused this entire crisis.
So when you say we need that decent weather between now and
the summer, we're looking for warm nights and a mixture of
that warm sunshine but also getting enough rain as well.
Yeah, exactly. If we, if we could control, it
will be easy, wouldn't it? If we if we had the sunshine
during the day and turn a tap on at night, it'd be it'd be easy.
But unfortunately we don't have that, do we?
So yeah, it's just, yeah, we get, we just don't want as we've
had the last couple of years, the, the really dry springs kind
of from narrow through to, you know, May time, April, May are
probably the key months to, to, to really get stuff, get stuff
growing. Have you ever seen a hay
shortage like this in your career, Nick?
This no, it's probably probably is one of the the driest, but
you know, it's in plenty of years when the the, the you
know, you have a really wet hay making time.
So although there's lots of hay about, it's absolute rubbish.
So I don't know what's, I don't know what's best really having
less but good quality or lots and, you know, bad quality.
So yeah, which is? Another, another conundrum.
Isn't it another difficulty in that exactly in the seasons for
you to to navigate and challenge and to challenge you?
Yeah, the hard, you know, the hardest, the hardest part is
actually making the hay. You need the, you need the, the
weather to make the hay. And whether it's a, you know, a
bumper crop or, you know, a thin crop, you still need the weather
to make it. So that's the that's, that's
that's the key. And it's clear, Nick, that you
manage challenges and and stress really well.
But is it something that you worry about looking ahead as a
farmer, as a business owner, with these unpredictable weather
seasons that we're seeing? Do you worry about the future of
making hay and halage? Actually, you can't, you can't,
you can't worry about it, can you?
It's, it's the seasons have definitely changed.
I mean, I've, I've seen that, you know, we seem to get these
drier springs and, you know, I've, I've noticed that sort of
August now seems to almost be a wet month.
I think we had a good Woolworths last year, but Woolworths now
seems to be quite, you know, sketchy.
But yes, I, I definitely think the seasons have changed.
And yeah, you, I think you, you may see that.
I know that I've got a guy growing hay for me this year.
He's got 300 acres in it and he's got, he, he can irrigate it
all. He's a vegetable grower.
And I think the potato trade has been so bad the last couple of
years that he's going to be, he's started growing hay and he,
he can actually irrigate it. So that's going to be really
interesting to see how that goes.
He can, you know, control what water he puts on.
Again, you do need the you do need the, you know, 2-3 weeks of
hot, sunny, windy, dry weather when you come to make it.
And I wonder if we're going to see this summer equestrians kind
of grabbing all the hay and hailage they can and filling up
barns and sheds as soon as possible to try and avoid that
panic that we've experienced throughout the winter, steadily
getting worse and actually feeling the real the crunch in
this springtime. I wonder if people will start
sort of making plans ahead of time.
Yeah, 100%. Yeah, you do.
We see it every year with a straw, you know, on a, on a, on
a year when there's a bump across the straw, the, the, you
know, the price drops. And then not many folks then
bail straw next year because there's such a, a carryover and
there's not so much bailed. And then, then it runs short and
then everybody goes out the next year and bails it.
And yeah, I can, I can, I can, I can see that actually that, that
everybody will be making hay this year and, and, and the
price will, you know, if there's a bumper crop and lots made and
obviously the price will, will drop again.
And the. Price will, will, will.
Yeah, the price. You know, I'm pretty convinced
that the price will will will drop anyway, I don't think it
can possibly be as dry as it was last year, can it?
Oh, no, don't say it. That's what we're all, you know,
hoping, wishing and praying for and and also hoping that we see
the prices come down because it's always a worry that they
will just stay at that at that risen cost.
Yeah. Well, I think, you know, like I
said earlier, it depends on what happens on the war, doesn't it?
With the, with the fuel as well, because everything that goes
into everything that goes into good quality, hey, you know,
fertilizers and, and and fuel and and chemicals is going to go
through the roof. So yeah, it will be.
It will certainly be perhaps more expensive than it
historically has been, but I don't, I think you'll see it
drop back from where it is at the moment anyway.
And like you mentioned, another price hike coming literally in
the coming weeks with this, this fuel rise as well, where it's
absolutely skyrocketed, hasn't it?
A question then have to try and find more funds to cover even
higher delivery rates. I mean, my delivery cost has has
tripled, I think when I last, when I last heard the scores on
the doors. So it's it's really difficult
because whereas horse owners do, we find this, this extra money
that we haven't accounted for in horse ownership.
I know, I know. It's, it's it's tricky, isn't
it? It is.
It's so difficult, but Nick, thank you so much for sharing
with us your story and what it's like behind the scenes trying to
kind of manage and maintain these hay stocks for, for
customers and clients all over the world from everyday
equestrians to like you say the king of Qatar and and the
biggest racehorse yards in the world.
I mean, are you amazed to to sit back and think about where you
are supplying now in your career, in your 30 plus years of
doing this? Yeah.
Definitely, yeah. We never, never take it for
granted. It's no, it's, it's, it's, it's
been good to us really. And no, we're really, really
pleased how it's going. And like I say, I've got Harry
now who's sort of taken on the battle and he's, he's doing
really well and, you know, picking up customers and looking
after them and growing it. So yeah, no, it's good.
It's good. It's really good.
I'm learning to to navigate those difficulties and all the
challenges that come along with it.
Yeah, well, he's, he's started in probably the hardest, the
hardest decade, hasn't he? What with, you know, COVID and
and Brexit and, you know, all the other problems we've had.
So yeah. And what with these
unpredictable weathers, that's what it's going to take, isn't
it? To keep moving forward with a a
business like yours is to be able to do the sort of seemingly
impossible. Yeah, exactly.
Yeah, yeah. And Nick, we've heard your phone
dinging with sales throughout the chat, so we know that you're
incredibly busy. What does the rest of your day
look like for you, Nick? The rest of the day, back in the
office this afternoon, I'm trying to sort out how I can get
rid of shavings in India, no. And what happens next when we'll
have to wait and see. Nick, it sounds like you're just
taking it as it comes and and navigating it when you get
there. Yeah.
We'll, we'll, we'll sort it out one way or the other.
Yeah. Nick, for those listening who
think I desperately need some hay and they live somewhere in
the UK, how do they get in touch with you to find out if you'll
be able to deliver? Yeah, just message us on go on
the website, you'll see the different types of hay we've got
on there. And yeah, you all the details
are on there. And give us a shout, e-mail us,
give us a call and hopefully we can, we can help you out.
Yeah. Brilliant.
Nick, thank you so much for coming on.
Curious the question. Thanks very much.