Allen County is a very rural and agricultural based county located in the south central part of the state. According to the 2017 agriculture census, Allen County ranks 21^st in total hay production in the state of Kentucky. Out of 49,314 total acres reported, 35,225 acres of land is contributed to hay production. 

In response to the large production of hay that Allen County has to offer, with the help of the agriculture council members, stakeholders and the Allen County Extension Agent for Agriculture an Allen County Hay Hotline was created. The hotline was designed to bring buyers and sellers together that are interested in hay and haylage. The hay hotline can be found by visiting the Allen County Cooperative Extension website and social media pages. Producers can also access the hay hotline list by calling the Extension office. With the hay hotline, producers can easily find buyers and sellers of hay in the local area. 

The hay hotline was started in the winter of 2019 and has been successful in a short time. We plan to have many more producers using the hotline in 2020, as it is a very useful tool to help our producers in spending their money locally, while finding good quality hay for livestock. Verbal compliments from producers like “this is a great idea and will be very helpful for us” have been made and they are appreciative of a new source to get information about purchasing hay locally.