Aaron Berger, Nebraska Extension Beef Educator Accurately testing hay takes time and money. Photo credit Troy Walz. Fall is here and the weather reminds us of the changing of the seasons. This is the time of year when many producers are hauling hay home for the winter as well as pricing and purchasing hay. There is a tremendous range in hay quality depending upon level of maturity, fertilization, growing conditions, harvest circumstances and…
Hay Barn Fires are a Real Hazard | Agronomic Crops Network (osu.edu)
Christine Gelley, Agriculture and Natural Resources Educator, Noble County OSU Extension Hay making requires a balance between nutritional value and when yield is maximized. Hay season is officially underway! In the years since I began working in Noble County there have been two years where conditions were right for making dry hay in May- 2020 and 2021. The smell of mowed hay drying in the warm sun and the sight of fresh round…
Chris Teutsch, UK Research and Education Center at Princeton Recently I presented a summary of ten years of hay testing results from the Kentucky Department of Agriculture’s forage testing program. This sample set included more than 14,000 hay samples. The full presentation can be viewed on the KY Forages YouTube Channel. Figure 1. Proportion of hay samples tested at the Kentucky Department of Agriculture over a ten-year period (2007-17) that would meet the energy…
By Donald Stotts STILLWATER, Okla. – The need for quality horse hay – shorthand for attributes desirable in hay fed to equines – has not quite lifted yet. “We’re still in hay feeding season as pastures have not greened up as yet; now is not the time to cut back on horses having ready access to hay to meet their nutritional needs,” said Kris Hiney, Oklahoma State University Extension equine specialist. Attributes of desirable horse…
Ted Wiseman, OSU Extension, Perry County (originally published in Farm and Dairy) We can certainly say this past year has had its challenges. However, quality of forages made in 2020 was much better for most compared to the previous two years. Weather conditions were more favorable especially for first cutting. The late frost in May set our forages back and for many first cutting forage yields were extremely low. Second, third and four…
By Donald Stotts STILLWATER, Okla. – Cattle producers are only halfway through the hay feeding season, so it’s a good time to double-check they’re not wasting that precious resource, said experts with Oklahoma State University’s Department of Animal and Food Sciences. “Management of input costs can mean the difference between operational profit or loss,” said David Lalman, OSU Extension beef cattle specialist and holder of the university’s Harrington Endowed Chair in Animal Science. “Costs…
Jeff Lehmkuhler, PhD, PAS, Associate Extension Professor My forage colleagues and I seem to get bombarded with questions on forage quality and interpreting forage test results this time of year. The timing coincides with folks starting to feed hay and looking at developing supplementation programs for the cattle receiving the forage. Getting the forage tested for nutrient content is the first step. Proximate analysis allows for separating a forage/feed into various macronutrient categories…
COLUMBIA, Mo. – Mature hay is hay. It may be brome hay, prairie hay or any other type of hay. But in the end, it’s just hay until it’s been tested. Forage tests tell the tale of whether hay is of good quality and nutrient-rich, says University of Missouri Extension livestock specialist Gene Schmitz. Nutrient content of hay, haylage or silage directly relates to its stage of maturity at harvest. As plants mature,…