Horses in Saudi Arabia may soon be eating timothy hay from Manitoba.
Montreal-based Royal Canadian Hay Co., which bought Intermountain Forage of Dauphin, Man., earlier this year, is on the verge of a deal to export compressed timothy hay to Saudi Arabia. If the Saudis agree to the contract, Royal Canadian Hay Co. would need to expand its operations on the Prairies.
“If we get this contract, we’re not able to produce enough (at the Dauphin plant),” said Christian Larochelle, who moved from Montreal to Manitoba this winter to become operations manager of the Dauphin plant.
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“So we’ll need to expand with another machine.”
The company will find out later this month if it has a deal, which will determine whether expansion is necessary.
A sample of timothy was sent to Saudi buyers in March.
It’s been a waiting game since then, Larochelle said, because the Saudis are testing the quality of the forage.
He said it’s too early to talk about the size of the contract.
Royal Canadian Hay Co. president Eric Gaudette told a Manitoba Forage Council workshop April 8 in Portage la Prairie, Man., that the firm might set up a compression facility at another location on the Prairies, depending on where farmers are willing to grow and sell timothy.
The company plans to transport compressed hay by rail to Montreal and then by ship to Saudi Arabia.
However, until the test results come back from Saudi Arabia, Larochelle said the priority will be to build relationships with growers.
“We want to make partnerships with farmers who can grow for us … because we’re talking about a huge quantity (of timothy).”
