By Chris Hicks, County Director – UT Extension Smith County
When you purchase a bag of feed, you’ve likely noticed a tag on the bag that has important information about that feed, such as the amount of protein, fat, and energy it contains. This is critical information, and most producers would be skeptical of buying feed without it. Think of that tag as being like a label on a can of soup at the grocery store that tells the buyer how many nutrients the soup has.
The problem is, most of what we feed animals during the winter isn’t store-bought feed with a tag; it is hay. This hay may be hay that we put up ourselves or that was purchased elsewhere, but it generally doesn’t come with a tag attached to it.
Hay quality varies significantly from one year to the next, and even from one week to the next. Last year we took hay samples on ryegrass that was cut on May 1 and May 11 from the same field. The protein went from 13.94% in the section of the field that was cut on May 1, to 9.42% in the section that was cut on May 11. In that 10-day period, TDN went from 62.51% to 57.37% and fiber increased by 6%.
The point is that your hay quality can vary significantly depending on when it was cut, along with several other factors. Why does the quality of the hay we feed matter? Because livestock have different needs based on their age, size, and stage of production. For instance, a lactating mare needs more energy than a yearling colt. A given bale of hay may be sufficient for that colt but lacking for the mare.
Whether we are talking about cattle, goats, horses, or some other species of livestock, animals need a certain amount of nutrients to maintain body condition and performance. Being certain about the quality of the hay that is fed will help in designing a feeding program that will effectively and efficiently carry livestock through the winter.
A forage test from the University of Tennessee will let you know if your hay is good enough to meet the needs of your livestock, based on their weight and stage of production. For instance, average quality hay has TDN (energy) of about 53%, while a 1200 pound cow with a one month old calf needs about 60%. In that scenario, the forage test would tell you that supplementation of energy is needed.
A basic forage test from the University of Tennessee is only $17 and will give you critical information when deciding what and how much to feed. Once we have this “feed tag” for your hay, we can design a supplementation strategy based on the feeds you have available.
Supplementing forage with grains or store-bought feeds can get expensive, and you don’t want to feed more than is needed. If the hay isn’t quite good enough to meet the animals’ needs, supplementation will be recommended. If it is good enough, then knowing that might save you some money in the long run since you might not supplement as you otherwise would.
If you have some hay you’d like tested, come by the UT Extension office at 125 Gordonsville Highway in Carthage. We have a core sampling probe you can use to pull subsamples from several bales and mix to send to the lab.
While hay typically doesn’t come with a feed tag, having it tested for quality can give you critical information that can help guide feeding strategies. If you would like more information on forage testing or ration balancing, contact the UT Extension office in Smith County at 615-735-2900.
