ST. ISIDORE — Dairy farmer Arnold Kuratli has just opened up a horse hay packing plant east of Ottawa. He calls it the first commercial operation of its kind in North America. The beauty of his product is all in the packaging: Small 45 to 50 lb. bales that can be individually wrapped and sport an attractive label. "People like it" says Kuratli, who is holding an open house on Thursday, April 12. "It’s a tiny bale. Eighty per cent of all horse people are women and they can handle the bale easily." He thought of the idea on a visit to his homeland of Switzerland when he saw pre-packaged hay bales for small animals. He returned to Switzerland on a family trip in January, 2006, and found a company that agreed to build him a prototype of a double compressed packing machine. He has buyers lined up in the Caribbean and the United States. But the biggest market is Florida. The horse population in Florida doubles in winter, he says. "Every day (in winter months) Florida needs 80-rail truck loads of hay and only for horses," Kuratli says. With each rail car holding 40 to 90 tonnes, that means Florida horse owners need more than 5,000 tonnes of hay per day in winter. Compare that with Florida’s beef and dairy cattle needs of 1,000 tonnes per day, Kuratli says. "The Florida market is huge." He adds that while farmers across North America are producing more corn, the hay supply is tightening up and that means price will increase. "Demand for hay can be as high as for corn and soybeans in the next couple of years. And if grain prices stay up, the hay prices will adjust to remain competitive or we will run short of hay." The hay maker is a prototype and production suffered computer and mechanical glitches in January and February. But adjustments are being made each day and Kuratli hopes to be at full capacity by September, pumping out 300 horse hay bales per hour.  His horse hay maker – the size of a two-car garage – includes a double compressor to pack in the hay. For large shipments, the hay piles up on a palette and is then automatically wrapped in clear plastic. At full capacity next winter his company, North-South hay, expects to be sending three to four trucks per day to Florida. Each truck carries 22 tonnes of hay, he said. "We need 15,000 acres of hay in eastern Ontario to supply this plant." Financed by his dairy farm, Kuratli calls his new venture a new opportunity for farmers. "We get a fair price for a product exported. It brings money back to our country – to the rural areas."