OklahomaHorses Magazine November 2023

10 OklahomaHorses • November / December 2023 Make Hay While the Sun Shines McCracken Hay Company Specializes in Alfalfa Cubes by Casie Bazay | Photos courtesy of McCracken Hay Company T he McCracken family settled in Oklahoma in 1901, six years before statehood. It wasn’t long before they began to farm and to produce hay and, later, hay products. That continued for four generations. However, in 2022, the family decided to sell their hay company to Parker Zimmer, a cowboy with a pas- sion for horses who grew up on a ranch in northeastern New Mexico. After graduating from New Mexico State University with a degree in agricul- tural business, Zimmer first worked in the electrical distribution industry. But when the opportunity to move to Oklahoma and purchase McCracken Hay Company came along, he couldn’t pass it up. That’s how he and his wife, Brandi, wound up in the small town of Elgin in southwestern Oklahoma and became the proud new owners of this longtime hay business. Although the McCracken family started out by baling and selling traditional bales, they later made compressed bales — smaller and denser bales that are more efficient to ship, which helps to keep prices more affordable. The McCrackens also made cubes from the extra hay that otherwise would have gone to waste. The company quickly discovered a huge market for alfalfa cubes and decided to home in on it. Now owned by Zimmer Hay Co., LLC, McCracken Hay Company continues to deal in a variety of hay and hay-bale packages. It specializes in compressed alfalfa cubes that are popular with many horse owners who have found that their horses look great and perform well on the product. “Our target customers are perfor- mance-horse trainers such as those that do cutting, cow horse, and reining. We also sell to a lot of rodeo people,” said Zimmer. Although McCracken uses alfalfa in most of its products, the company doesn’t grow it in Oklahoma, which isn’t always conducive to producing that type of hay. Instead, McCracken sources its hay from western states such as Arizona, New Mexi- co, Colorado, Utah, Idaho, and Wyoming. Because of their dry, sunny climates, those states are known for producing top-notch alfalfa — often referred to as the “queen of forages.” “Alfalfa is a great protein source,” said Zimmer. “And the benefits of feeding cubes over straight alfalfa are that you can control how much you’re feeding by weighing your rations. There’s also little to no waste, and the horse ends up getting more nutrients in the end.” McCracken Hay-Cube Products McCracken Hay Company makes three hay-cube products — red-tag premium alfalfa cubes, which make up 90 percent of overall sales; blue-tag alfalfa-grass mix, which often includes prairie, orchard, bromegrass, or timothy hay; and white-tag stock cow cubes, made from alfalfa and a mixture of grass hays. To make the hay cubes, Zimmer ex- plained, they begin by laying the hay out and then grinding it with a tub grinder — a machine that reduces the size of the forage. “From there, the hay goes into a commodity stall where it is loaded onto a conveyor called a meter bin, which pro- vides a consistent supply of ground hay to the cuber,” explained Zimmer. “Water is added, and the friction between the press wheel and dies creates heat, which binds the hay to make cubes.” What differentiates McCracken hay cubes from many other brands is that they contain no fillers, preservatives, or binders — the McCracken products are purely hay. McCracken’s cubes, often referred to One-ton crates of McCracken hay cubes are made in Elgin, Oklahoma.