Most people don’t think about where their hay actually comes from — they just call their usual supplier and place an order. But between the manufacturer and your barn, there’s often a distributor in the middle. And that middle step costs you money.
How markup works in the hay business
Here’s the basic chain: a manufacturer produces the hay or cubes, sells to a distributor, and the distributor sells to you. Every link in that chain adds a margin, because every business in the middle needs to make money too. That’s not a scam or a hidden fee — it’s just how distribution works. But it means the price you’re paying includes profit for at least one business that never touched the feed beyond moving it from one truck to another.
For a barn, boarding facility, or rescue feeding horses every single day, that markup isn’t a one-time cost. It’s baked into every order, every month, for as long as you keep buying through a distributor.
Why most buyers don’t question it
A lot of operations stick with the distributor model simply because it’s familiar. Maybe that’s who they’ve always ordered from, or they assume buying direct means dealing with minimum orders too large to be practical, freight headaches, or no real customer support if something goes wrong. Those concerns made sense years ago. They don’t always hold up anymore — especially with manufacturers who deliver locally and keep order minimums manageable.
What buying direct actually changes
When you buy straight from the manufacturer, you cut out that middle layer of margin. You’re paying for the product itself and what it actually costs to produce — not an additional cut for a business that’s just reselling it. Over the course of a year, especially for an operation feeding multiple horses daily, that difference adds up to real money back in your budget.
Buying direct also tends to mean more consistency. You’re dealing with the people who actually make the product, not a distributor reselling whatever they had available that week. If you have questions about a batch or want to know more about how something’s made, you’re talking to someone who actually knows.
What to look for in a direct supplier
Not every “direct” seller is really cutting out the markup — sometimes it’s the same chain with different branding. A few things worth checking:
- Are they the actual manufacturer, or another layer of resale?
- Do they deliver to your area, and is delivery included or an extra cost?
- Is there a minimum order, and does it fit how much you actually use?
- Can you get a straight answer about what’s in the product?
How Paramount Cubing fits in
Paramount Cubing manufactures alfalfa cubes here in Southern California and sells direct — no distributor in between. That means the price you’re quoted reflects actual production cost, not markup stacked on top for a reseller. Orders of two pallets or more come with free delivery throughout Southern California, so there’s no hidden cost tacked on at the end either.
No special equipment is needed to unload or store the product — cubes ship in super sacks or 50lb bags on pallets, ready to stack wherever you’ve got the space.
The bottom line
Markup isn’t dishonest, but it is avoidable. If you’re feeding horses every day, buying direct from the manufacturer is one of the simplest ways to lower your feed costs without changing what you’re actually feeding.
Want to know what buying direct could look like for your operation? Text Joe or visit paramountcubing.com.
