Because of the high number of livestock producers in the county, I realized that one of the across the board factors that would be impacting the financial viability of many farmers was hay quality. Hay costs significant money to produce and/or purchase, so much so that it is often one of the primary expenses for livestock producers. If hay is not of sufficient quality then animals will not be able to perform at the height of their potential, and they will eat more hay than they might otherwise. More hay making less weight is not a good equation for any farmer. 

Once I realized this I decided to offer free hay testing to the county for 6 months. The catch? All hay would be entered into the central KY hay contest, being put on by Central Kentucky Extension Offices. This allowed me to do high quality, comprehensive hay testing, for very little cost to the county or the individual farmers. 

All told I took over 75 hay samples from 52 different producers all across the county. Hay that was being made, hay that was being bought and sold, and some hay that was being donated. Hay that was made to be fed to cattle, horses, sheep, goats, llamas, alpacas, even oxen! All told these hay samples would've impacted well over 1000 animals!

Going forward, with the continuation of the programs, I will aim to increase hay testing to over 100 samples per year and eventually used the data collected to create some financial projections for the hay being produced and fed here in Anderson County.