Programming in Most Profitable Hay Feeding Days and Stocking Rate 2020-2021

Hay feeding is typically highlighted as the biggest cost in a beef cow-calf operation and many extension specialists say that if cattle farmers can reduce hay feeding they will be more profitable.  While this simplistic statement is true for many farms, it will not be true for all farms.  The basic message in my programming in this area is that there is a tradeoff between hay feeding and stocking rate: trying to reduce the amount of hay fed will require a reduction in stocking rate, holding your management constant.  Reduced hay feeding will lower costs, but the corresponding decrease in stocking rate will reduce revenues.  Thus we need to account for both factors to determine how much hay feeding will be most profitable.  I have integrated forage production, cattle forage utilization, stockpiling dynamics, and many other factors into analysis that evaluates the optimal hay feeding (and hence stocking rate) in the Upper South, based on multiple farm cost structures.  Farmers choose the scenario that is most representative for their farm to determine the most profitable number of hay feeding days.

While I have been doing programming that analyzed the most profitable hay feeding days and stocking rates for almost ten years now, the last few years the demand for this topic has really taken off.  It slowed with county-level meetings due to Covid-19, but two regional level webinars last winter kept out-of-state interest up on the topic.  Due to the national and regional exposure, I was asked and presented the topic for North Carolina State Extension agent training webinar last September.  I also wrote a two part article series on the topic in the Hay and Forage Growers magazine (circulation of 52,100, 75,000 online).  The first part came out in spring 2021 and the second part is coming out in late July.  This article has resulted in a flurry of emails and phone calls on the subject in Kentucky as well as from all over the country (See some of these below).

Hay and Forage Grower Magazine Article: How Hay Became a Four-Letter Word:

“Greg, I appreciated your article on hay!  Great point on management, herd size, and acreage driving production decisions.  I think everything comes down to helping producers understand the right questions they should be asking of themselves and others they rely on for advice”

Oldham County Extension ANR agent, Traci Missun

“I was just reading your article, How Hay Became a Four Letter Work, and would like to have you come on my podcast and discuss this a little further”

Rockcastle County ANR Agent, Garrard Coffey

“I loved it! You hit the new age grazing "laws" right on the head. Don't be ashamed!”

Missouri Cattle Farmer, Steve Freeman

Note: The “Don’t be ashamed” was an inside joke referencing a sentence in the article

“What an awesome article. Believe it or not, it will fit beautifully with my article…Yes, I would love to work with you on a similar article later. Thanks so much!”

Progressive Farmer writer, Becky Mills

North Carolina State Extension Agent Training:

“THANK YOU so much!  That was an awesome presentation.  Lots of great info!”

Livestock Extension Agent North Carolina State University Extension, Kim Woods