Hay Australia was formed through the 2006 purchase of the existing Muchea Hay Plant. The plant was running 2 eight hours shifts, five days a week, exporting around 20,000t annually.

The Buschultz plant was six years old and in only average condition, however there was an understanding that with the excellent range of customers involved, some key retained staff and the foreseeable prospects for the export hay industry, there was significant potential to be gained from acquiring the plant.

For Troy McDonald and Steve Woods, the decision to make the transition into exporting hay was a relatively simple one. They had been growing oaten hay for other exporting companies since the first hay was exported from Australia to Japan in 1988.

The Hay Australia company had already been created ten years prior, being a vehicle for Troy and Steve’s development of a domestic hay market for compressed hay.

Taking on the challenge of the Muchea plant meant vertical integration of Troy and Steves’s businesses. It also meant for the first time they could deal direct with the dairy farmer in Japan who feeds his cows, the person who relies on the quality of the fodder supplied for milk production and their bottom line.

Andrew has a farming background with his parents and brother still running a property in Corrigin. After several years working for an agricultural bank, becoming a partner in Hay Australia was an opportunity to be involved in a company that takes quality Australian produce and markets it to the world.

Two years on from the first container of hay sent with the Hay Australia logo proudly stamped on the documentation, the Muchea site operates on a 24 hour, 7 day a week basis with teams doing an eight hour, rotating shift.