The key to building a healthy and profitable beef herd is to build a strong forage program. When one local farm family sought help from Extension in improving their herd's health and productivity, their hay was a key starting point. The county extension agent collected samples of the various hay stockpiles on the farm and submitted them to the Kentucky Department of Agriculture's forage testing facility. The results revealed deficiencies in protein that the family was not adequately compensating for, allowing them to explore options for improving the ration they offered their cattle. In addition, the results clearly underscore the difference in quality between samples collected from hay stored outdoors and hay stored indoors. Research shows that a 5' bale stored outdoors with no protection will lose up to 40% of its total content, which essentially doubles the cost of producing and feeding the hay. The protein content can drop from roughly 58% of dry matter to 42% without protection. The family is now investigating choices for improved storage facilities or repurposed materials for covering hay outdoors.