From an idea to a dealer network across half of Europe
Originally we baled straw in the field in the classic way – as practically every farmer does. We had (and have) plenty of experience in that and were also active on a large scale (more on this in our post „Strohpressen bis zum Gehtnichtmehr“).
From 2008, straw refining was added. At the beginning stood a simple idea: we didn't want to just press and sell our straw, but process it further – into a product that really brings farmers something. More comfort in the stable, less effort when bedding, an all-round better experience for the farmers who work with it every day. A nice side effect: this way we could offer our seasonal workers continuous employment for at least part of the year, instead of having to let them go again after the harvest.
The beginnings: dusty, loud and quite risky
There wasn't much professional about it at first. Dedusted straw as we know it today was out of the question back then – on the contrary: the first years were extremely dusty and, frankly, also quite a fire hazard. Anyone who has ever stood in a cloud of dust from chopped straw knows what we're talking about. It was a time of trial and error in which we learned above all one thing: that it couldn't stay the way it was.
Our own solutions, because ready-made ones didn't exist
The next big step was the switch to stationary balers – originally from the paper and waste industry, where completely different materials but similar requirements for compression density and throughput prevail. In parallel, the topic of dust removal moved ever more into focus. Together with the homogeneous stalk structure, over the years it became our most important product feature – the thing Manz-Stroh stands for today.
We developed and built most of our production plant ourselves. Not on principle, but out of necessity: ready-made plants for dust-free, chopped straw simply don't exist on the market – at least not in a form that would have met our standards. So we designed, tested, discarded and started again from scratch ourselves, until it fit.
Grown rather than planned
This process continues to this day: not a year has passed in which we haven't been tinkering with and improving our production somewhere. Our range has grown the same way – step by step, not planned on the drawing board. We started with fine straw. Over time chopped straw was added, and a few years later finally our meanwhile very popular product variant Premium, which today represents our top quality. And even though we are proud of what it has become: the next product variants are already in planning.
Why we rely on dealers instead of selling directly
From the very beginning we consciously decided against selling our straw directly to farmers. We see our strength in production and in the further development of our products – not in on-site sales. That is why we sell exclusively to dealers, who can do exactly that significantly better than we can.
We started purely in Austria. Over time the neighbouring countries were added, and meanwhile we also supply customers at a distance of more than 1,000 kilometres via our dealers.
Together with our dealers we can ensure that every farmer has a competent contact person on site – someone who understands the local conditions and challenges as well as possible. Our dealers also bring the straw right into the farmers' stables. As a pure producer we would not be able to do all this nearly as well.
What began with a few fields of our own and the wish to make life a little easier for farmers now supplies farms across half of Europe via our dealer network. We have remained what we always were: a family business that simply can't get enough of straw.
