About Wyoming Hay and Forage Association
Wyoming’s largest agronomic crop is hay production. From the fertile plains of South Eastern Wyoming to the Platte Valley, Wind River and Big Horn Basins and in many small ranching communities, hay is a mainstay for Wyoming agriculture. Hay production ranks 2nd only to beef cattle in terms of total production value in Wyoming.
Wyoming’s dry climate, high elevation, warm days and cool nights with an abundance of irrigation water available create a unique environment for producing high quality forages. Wyoming hay growers produce high quality hay for the dairy industry, quality grass forages for the horse industry, mixed hays and other forages for the beef cattle industry.
Hay is one of the few commodities that does not have subsidized contracts, or industry pricing and is in fact a true supply and demand commodity. Many of the other industries in Wyoming have producer associations or marketing groups to support their industries.
The Wyoming Hay & Forage Association has been formed to support, assist, and promote the high quality hay produced in Wyoming reach its true markets. Starting in February 2016 a group of hay producers and related industry professionals joined forces to begin a nonprofit organization whose focus is creating broader awareness of the quality of Wyoming hay regionally, nationally, and internationally while educating producers on methods and practices to improve their production systems and their bottom line.
Wyoming Hay & Forage Association is governed by a 7 member board of directors, all volunteering their time and efforts to provide guidance and direction for the association as it begins operations.
Our Mission: “Promoting Wyoming Hay for Wyoming Producers.”
Our Vision: “The purpose of this association is to build a network to promote the marketing, quality and availability of Wyoming hay and forage. The association will also strive to assist in the pursuit of the highest quality of production through education, communication, and cooperation of the membership.”
Our primary objective is to provide the Wyoming hay producers a venue to PROMOTE who they are, what they do, and what they have available to market through a members website.
We strive to educate Wyoming hay growers in production and marketing practices through semi-annual seminars and field days held in each of our identified regions.
We plan to create links between Wyoming hay producers, world wide hay purchasers, and Wyoming transportation industry to enhance the marketability of Wyoming’s high quality forages.
As issues arise the Wyoming Hay & Forage Association will strive to be an industry advocate speaking for the many hay producers found throughout the great hay producing state of Wyoming.