I love Standlee hay, it’s the best way to get high quality alfalfa or timothy hay in South Carolina, but recently the quality has taken a nose dive, has anyone else noticed it? The last few bales of timothy have had weeds and several pounds of dirt baled in. The alfalfa/grass mix has looked like a weird very fine bermuda with a few leaves of alfalfa mixed in. 
Since they’ve changed to the green opaque wrapping, it seems the bales aren’t as pretty. And the last two I bought were labeled straight alfalfa on the outside wrapper, but were actually alfalfa/grass when I opened them.
Alfalfa is hit or miss around here. I have one mare who will ONLY eat alfalfa hay, so I end up begrudgingly buying the Standlee bales when everyone else runs out of alfalfa or gets a lousy shipment. I appreciate the convenience factor, but I’ve always thought they were way overpriced for what they were.
I’ve found this to be the case, too. I’ll buy some once in awhile to tide me over until the next hay run, but haven’t been pleased with the quality. I’ve ended up soaking it in a small hay net to get the dust out.
[QUOTE=Duramax;7662923]
I love Standlee hay, it’s the best way to get high quality alfalfa or timothy hay in South Carolina, but recently the quality has taken a nose dive, has anyone else noticed it? The last few bales of timothy have had weeds and several pounds of dirt baled in. The alfalfa/grass mix has looked like a weird very fine bermuda with a few leaves of alfalfa mixed in. :([/QUOTE]
Hey duramax - I feel your pain. It’s ridiculous to pay what we have to pay for any kind of alfalfa and then have weeds or mold. My last alf purchase was not-compressed, Midwest hay. It’s crap. My horses are wasting 80-90% of it. Including the horse who normally hoovers every last crumb of anything alfalfa. I bought the not compressed because the last standlee I bought was dusty and way too much leaf shatter. Before that, I had some really nice compressed, but it was Anderson, not Standlee. I live where you live so probably use the same suppliers. :mad:
My Standlee alfalfa is packaged just like it used to be with purple plastic tapes around it. It is just as tasty as always according to my 26 year old picky eater.
I was really happy with their beet pulp shreds for the first few bags, and then got a couple that were dark and dusty. I guess beet pulp is just difficult. I did find that their alf bales were too shattered and dusty. Have been consistently happy with their alf pellets, just wish our TS would keep them in stock …
[QUOTE=AKB;7663085]
My Standlee alfalfa is packaged just like it used to be with purple plastic tapes around it. It is just as tasty as always according to my 26 year old picky eater.[/QUOTE]
Do yours not have plastic on the outside of the bales? Mine always have had an outer wrapping over the purple tapes. Used to be clear, now looks like this:
Mine does not have plastic around it. I wonder if Standlee only uses the plastic for certain parts of the country. We are in VA.
[QUOTE=AKB;7663206]
Mine does not have plastic around it. I wonder if Standlee only uses the plastic for certain parts of the country. We are in VA.[/QUOTE]
The only place I have seen the plastic wrapped bales is at Tractor Supply. The private feed store where I buy most of my hay - including the Standlee compressed bales - still has the regular bales without plastic wrap.
In New England the Standlee Alfalfa used to come in clear plastic and was always available. Lately TSC has only carried Timothy/Alfalfa mix in green bags. Last 2 I purchased were drenched with white powder. I returned them and the store pulled them off the shelf. Haven’t seen any alfalfa since.
TSC does not carry Standlee anymore they carry Dumor, their own brand and from who knows where.
I contacted all the suppliers listed in my area of W. MI on the Standlee webpage and they were all surprised they were listed there as they did not carry Standlee products.
I liked the alfalfa cubes and just gave up and hope to get some baled fresh alfalfa locally - except now I’m concerned about hoary allysum, which grows in alfalfa fields and is hard to find in the bales.
Perhaps that is true of your TSC stores, but not the several around me.
I think TSC is slowly trying to replace Standlee with their own product, Dumor.
They did it to my store in SC, and then when I moved to NY, I found they were doing the same there.
A shame, I loved their alfalfa cubes and pellets. They soaked SO well and smelled so good and were never dusty or filthy.
I was never impressed with their baled alfalfa and hay though.
My horse use to love the alfalfa mini-cubes. Haven’t seen them in over six months.
Thankfully I have better options. I find the Standlee hay to be very dusty.
[QUOTE=beowulf;7663499]
I think TSC is slowly trying to replace Standlee with their own product, Dumor.[/QUOTE]
That is the case for the stores near me, too.
Can I just say that I hate that a natural renewable part of the beautiful cycle of life that used to leave behind nothing but wonderful manure- now comes in small packages wrapped in plastic? It makes me so sad.
I buy pelleted bedding and I just hate those plastic bags and wish I could just get it by the scoop like I did when I used to get shavings from the sawmill.
Dumor is made by Standlee for TSC.
I see the compressed bales here at Rural King, they never have plastic on them. Never bought any, so can’t say what the quality is/was.
I hate their alfalfa pellets though, I don’t think they soak up worth a darn. However they process them with the shiny-ness on the outside makes them take forever and a day to soak up.
[QUOTE=ponygirl;7669233]
Dumor is made by Standlee for TSC.[/QUOTE]
I called Standlee and no, it’s not, per them. TSC likes to say that to not lose customers from what I understand.
