Burning Your Bottom Line: How Hot Hay Changes Forage Quality

Ben Beckman, Nebraska Extension Educator Testing forage quality of your hay, whether it’s your own or purchased, is a critical first step to optimizing hay use. Photo credit Troy Walz. Hay put up too wet can lead to a number of issues, most notably mold and heat.  Moisture keeps otherwise dormant microbes and fungi active, decreasing forage quality and creating heat.  Too much heat can actually create a risk of combustion.  However, even…

Continue ReadingBurning Your Bottom Line: How Hot Hay Changes Forage Quality

Reducing Hay Storage and Feeding Losses

Jessica A. Williamson, Ph.D., Extension Forage Specialist, Penn State Storage losses of uncovered hay can be upwards of 30%! On most livestock operations, the greatest operational cost is stored and harvested feed, so it only makes sense that striving to reduce storage and feeding losses of harvested feeds as much as possible can help improve forage quality, quantity, and overall profitability of an operation. Reducing waste, even by a few percent, can have…

Continue ReadingReducing Hay Storage and Feeding Losses

Hay Sampling

Rory Lewandowski, OSU Extension Agriculture & Natural Resources Educator, Wayne County I have received several phone calls recently where the caller describes their hay; date baled, whether or not it got rained on before baling, general appearance, and sometimes smell. The question is how to best use this hay, is it suitable for horses or cows or sheep to eat?  Physical evaluation of hay is useful to sort hay into general categories such…

Continue ReadingHay Sampling

Do Your Herd and Your Bank Account a Favor – Test Your Hay!

Mary Drewnoski, Nebraska Extension Beef Systems Specialist Every year I get calls for help with balancing rations and most don’t have a hay analysis. All hay of the same species is NOT created equal.  For instance, smooth bromegrass hay can range from 48 to 58% total digestible nutrients (TDN) with crude protein (CP) ranging from 6 to 11% CP. This can be the difference between a growing heifer losing 0.25 lb/d or gaining…

Continue ReadingDo Your Herd and Your Bank Account a Favor – Test Your Hay!

Buying Hay; Consider Quality and Value

Garth Ruff, Agriculture and Natural Resources Extension Educator, OSU Henry County Extension While there are some visual and sensory characteristics to look at, the only sure fire way to determine quality is to pull a sample and do a forage analysis. As 2018 was a lousy year for making dry hay across the state, 2019 wasn’t much better or perhaps worse yet. For those who have to purchase hay this winter there are…

Continue ReadingBuying Hay; Consider Quality and Value

MU Extension releases winter feed cost dashboard

COLUMBIA, Mo. – Beef producers will soon spend a lot on hay and supplement. Just how much can vary and depends on many moving factors, say two University of Missouri Extension specialists. Agricultural business specialist Brent Carpenter and livestock specialist Gene Schmitz looked at how current prices affect winter feeding costs for several different diets. “Winter feeding is a critical time for herd health and production. It’s also the most expensive time on…

Continue ReadingMU Extension releases winter feed cost dashboard

Your Hay Storage Impacts Quality and Quanity

David Dugan, OSU Extension Educator, Agriculture and Natural Resources, Adams County Where and how hay is stored can have a huge impact on the quality and quantity that’s available to be used for feed With the calendar turning to November, and the temperatures dropping below freezing several mornings now, the time to feed hay is near, if not already here. Several have been feeding hay due to the pasture situation following a dry…

Continue ReadingYour Hay Storage Impacts Quality and Quanity

Tips to Improve Cow Performance While Consuming Low-quality Forages

Rob Ziegler, UNL MS Animal Science StudentTravis Mulliniks, UNL Beef Cattle Nutritionist, Range Production Systems Because of the challenges faced last spring and this year’s projected lower quality hay crop, supplementing cattle this year with protein will be an effective way to increase intake and digestibility of low-quality forages. Photo credit Troy Wal Low-quality range pasture and cold wet winter left cows in thinner than normal condition coming into spring this year. The…

Continue ReadingTips to Improve Cow Performance While Consuming Low-quality Forages

What to Do with Wet Hay

Ben Beckman, Nebraska Extension EducatorHannah Greenwell, Nebraska Extension Educator While some weathering of bales is to be expected, those that were put up a bit wet, have been sitting in water, or were otherwise saturated need some special considerations. Photo credit Troy Walz. With the wet weather this year, putting up quality hay and keeping it protected from the elements has been a challenge.  While some weathering of bales is to be expected,…

Continue ReadingWhat to Do with Wet Hay

Hay, just how bad is it?

Ted Wiseman, and Dean Kreager Extension Educators in Perry and Licking County Much of Ohio’s 2019 first cutting grass hay was beyond optimum maturity when it was harvested. Laboratory analysis indicates little if any first cutting has adequate quality to meet the nutritional needs of bred cows in late gestation or lactation. You may be thinking enough already with the hay quality talk. Many articles have been sent out on this topic starting…

Continue ReadingHay, just how bad is it?