Author: Keenan Bishop
Major Program: Hay testing
The majority of livestock producers do not test their hay. Determining and understanding forage quality is necessary to provide a balanced nutrition plan. Hay testing can provide data that producers and Cooperative Extension Agents use to ensure the nutritional needs of the animal are being met. Without testing, producers are under or over feeding - leading to poor allocation of resources, inadequate animal needs and wasted money. The Central Kentucky Hay Contest was created to
Author: Brittany Brewer
Hay and horses are two of the most common agricultural products in Scott County. Both products work hand in hand, however, they also have their own set of challenges. I got to see these challenges on a first-hand basis in March when a horse owner called wanting her hay tested. The owner was concerned about the nutritional value of the hay they had just purchased because they have metabolic horses. I scheduled a farm visit with the owner and explained the need and importance of a hay test. After
Author: Adam Thomas
The problemForage quality has long standing an misunderstood concept in animal nutrition. Most producers goal is to produce a quantity amount of forage instead of a quality forage. Historically most stored forages in Kentucky are late maturing grasses with lower levels of adequate nutrition components.The educational program responseIn response to the lack of knowledge relating to forage quality a program was established to collect and and analyze stored forages. As part of a f
Author: Tad Campbell
Producing quality hay is important to most farm owners due to reducing the added costs of supplementation for winter feeding to livestock. The eastern part of Kentucky Agriculture Agents have worked together to develop the East Kentucky Hay Contest to give incentive to producers to utilizing hay testing as a tool to producing quality hay. The contest was developed to visualize the importance of testing hay and how it is tied to rations and meeting the needs of the livestock. Producer
Understanding a producer’s forage quality is the backbone of providing a balanced nutrition plan. Hay testing can provide data that producers and Cooperative Extension Agents use to ensure the nutritional needs of the animal are being met. Without a test, farmers are blindly feeding leading to wasted resources. The Central Kentucky Hay Contest was created to generate friendly competition among producers and educate producers about forage test analysis and the economic imp
Author: Charles May
It was another great year for the annual forage testing program and hay contest. We received more than 453 samples from 17 eastern Kentucky Counties. Samples were down slightly this year, which was to be expected. Several Counties had vacant ANR positions and other Counties were still dealing with the July 2022 flood. Several hay fields were impacted by the flood and have not been brought back into production. The forage testing program
