Beef cattle and forage production enterprises are the backbone of Morgan County’s agricultural economy. Baseline assessments five years ago indicated that farmers were utilizing only one third of their forage production opportunities and that their overall forages were too low in quality to meet expected animal performance requirements. Morgan County Ag Board leaders and ANR agent utilized the Morgan County Extension Educational Farm to conduct programs for forage producers including Master Cattlemen and Pasture to Plate.  Classes on wrapping haylage, soil sampling, growing summer annuals, mowing methods, and using moisture testers were also offered as well as free hay testing through the East Ky Hay Contest.  Newly adopted management strategies have resulted in greatly improved hay quality for the county as evidenced in this year’s East Ky Hay Contest results.  Morgan County had its first ever overall county hay quality win - outscoring 22 other counties. More importantly, the number of farmers testing their hay has tripled and Crude Protein and Relative Feed Values averages have increased significantly.  As one cattle farmer stated, “It finally clicked, the key to having good cattle is growing good hay the right way.”