Highest quality alfalfa, bermuda grass and oat hay and seed

About Us:

We grow Alfalfa, Bermuda Grass and Oat Hay in the Imperial Valley, just east of San Diego.: Our specialty is providing dairy quality hay to livestock, beef & dairy cattle, horse breeders and horse trainers. We're proud of our high quality products and our outstanding customer service.

Relationships, Expertise, Reputation.: The foundation for our success lies in long standing relationships with our customers. They depend on us to deliver the right quality for the right price, so we strive for excellence in every area from growing to harvesting to delivery. Our reputation reflects exactly who we are...and every day our customers see our reputation on display in the way we run our business.

Jerry Preece Jr. Farms is a family operation.: Jerry is a 3rd generation farmer and has been running PREECE since 1979. Jerry's sons Justin and Ryan work the business with him.; Justin oversees many of the operational functions, maintaining the high quality and efficiency that has made PREECE an industry leader.; Ryan stays busy with school work but is always willing to lend a hand with whatever needs doing.

Dairy Quality Hay:

Dairy cattle nutritionists value alfalfa hay for its high energy value which supports milk
production, its rapidly rumen digested structural fiber which stimulates feed intake, its
coarse structural fiber that stimulates ruminative chewing and salivation which results in
rumen buffering, its structural fiber which has a high buffering capacity, its high protein
level which supports animal protein needs, and the relatively high proportion of its
protein that escapes the rumen undegraded which minimizes dietary requirements for
high cost protein supplements.

01.

ENERGY

Alfalfa hay generally contains between 25 and 30% of its dry matter as rapidly
digested non-structural carbohydrates (NSC), such as pectins, sugars and starches, that quantitatively contribute to the level of total digestible nutrients (TDN) in the hay.

02.

STRUCTURAL FIBER

Alfalfa hay fiber, measured as NDF, is ideal for stimulating ruminative chewing in dairy cows. This is not an insignificant nutritional attribute, as ruminative chewing (i.e., chewing the cud), stimulates the flow of saliva to the rumen. Saliva has a high buffering capacity and so its flow to the rumen will help prevent rumen pH from
declining and potentially inducing the metabolic problems associated with rumen acidosis. In addition, alfalfa hay NDF has a high buffering capacity, which increases the overall amount of buffering that results from intake of alfalfa hay.

03.

PROTEIN

Alfalfa hay generally contains a level of crude protein (CP) that is much higher
than in competing forages such as cereal silages. In addition, alfalfa hay protein has a relatively low proportion that is soluble in rumen fluid, often about half the level in cereal silages, and this leads to an undegradable intake protein (UIP) proportion of 25 to 35% of total CP.

04.

MINERALS

Alfalfa hay is relatively high in several minerals that are required by lactating
dairy cows. These include calcium, phosphorus, potassium and magnesium, although alfalfa hay also contains significant levels of most other macro and trace minerals. However, unlike the previously discussed nutritional attributes, minerals have a relatively low economic value, as they can be inexpensively supplemented to a dairy ration from
inorganic sources.