Bad Hay broker from Sioux Falls

Not quite I sure I agree with you on this one. As a farmer who goes through over 200,000LBS a hay a year you would think if anybody would agree with you it would be me.
In farming I have always said that if you are happy with the deal you got for you stuff, be it hay, corn, beans, cattle, hogs, etc, then don't even pay attention to what you could have got or someone else got for the same stuff .If you are not happy with what you got then you should not have sold.
These farmers are willing to sell the hay. This broker is not ripping anybody off.

 

I agree with your theory, but if this broker is telling the farmer the hay is being shipped to an area hit by dry weather, thinking the farmer will give him a better price, and the broker will pass the savings on to the buyer, that is wrong. The seller would think he was helping another farmer out, when all he is doing is increasing the brokers profit.And that is ripping somebody off.

 

Unless you have proof he conned them into a better price, there's really nothing to stand on.

 

If the broker is buying the hay and reselling it back east, there's nothing wrong. If the broker is just charging a commission, and is getting a kickback at the receiving end, that may be a problem.

 

Doing that with cattle through a sale barn can get a cattle buyer in trouble, I don't know about hay. If he's an order buyer, he may be crossing the legal line and for sure crossing the moral line. The farmer would be paying him (as an order buyer) to get them the best price knowing that he is tacking on commission which would generally be disclosed. If he's getting a kickback above his commission, he's probably either gouging the buyer or the seller.

 

hey milskired, i used to work for TMC, and have hauled lots of hay out of the dakotas, kansas, minnesota, nebraska....etc. i know carl, and still have his number in my cell phone. while i dont know if how he runs his business is technically legal, it is common. all the hay brokers will ask you to be tight lipped about rates, and destinations and such. I know carl lost a big contract once because some drivers talking in a truckstop where overheard by another hay broker who undercut carl on the hay price and the rate. BTW, TMC hauls for that broker too...lol. Another hay guy named mike that TMC hauls for will ask you to brag up what he will pay, so other farmers will call to sell him hay and straw as well....hay hauling always made me mad, because of all the extra scale to farm miles we never seemed to get paid for. many barns and fields are 30 or 40 miles from the scale. especially when hauling for the "brothers" in woonsocket, sd. get 80 or more miles on the odometer before the dispatched miles even started.