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Contented horses and profitable cooperation – An example of a education project
The long-term growth in horse husbandry has caused a great demand for hay for feeding horses. There are far more interested buyers than there are producers and good quality hay is selling like hot cakes. This was the opportunity the Seinäjoki Joint Municipal Authority for Education SEDU decided to take with a project that was aimed at training farmers in the Seinäjoki region to produce and market quality grade hay profitably and efficiently. The training consisted of a series of 13 evenings of training, a study excursion and independent distance learning.
The ambitiously named project – Production ring for quality hay in the Seinäjoki region – suited the Liiveri development plan well: It supported the skills and networking of the entrepreneurs and, through that, also supported the natural learning and development of the agricultural industry. The training project received a favourable funding decision in April when the Liiveri board decided to fund the 80% of the project costs.
The quality hay project is an example of a low-cost project with excellent results. The project influenced the founding of a cooperative society of a good ten entrepreneurs, the Quality Hay Ring of the Plains, which works as a network that connects quality hay producers, stable keepers as well as the hay contractors. The selling of quality hay continues independently through the members of the coop but the marketing efforts are carried out together. The coop’s web pages provide information on the seller of quality hay, products in the market and their availability. In the future, the web pages will also present a weighty information package on quality hay and its criteria, which the coop members are committed to so that there will be no doubt whether the hay sold through the quality ring is fit for even the best of racehorses. There are also plans to continue the successful training project. The next target is to create a quality manual for hay producing farms in order to achieve a quality certification as well as extending the quality hay network outside of South Ostrobothnia.
