Eastern Kentucky Hay Contest Has Record High Number of Entries for Third Consecutive Year

Specialists Involved: Jimmy Henning, Chris Teutsch, Jeff Lehmkuhler, Bob Coleman, and Ken Adries (Kentucky State University).

The Eastern Kentucky Hay Contest (EKHC) is a cooperative effort between the county agents in Eastern and Southeastern Kentucky and local cattlemen’s associations and the University of Kentucky faculty specialists in animal science, plant and soil science and also specialists from Kentucky State University. The contest began 26 years ago and involved three counties and has grown to include 15 counties in 2020-21. The contest has seen an increase in the number of samples submitted. In the last two years, the contest has set record high numbers of entries. In 2018, the number of entries was around 450 and in 2019 that number increased 25% to 599. In 2020, the number of samples submitted was 625, the most ever. Producers that participate in the hay contest received a forage quality analysis from a accredited forage laboratory. For those producers who submit samples ration suggestions can be provided at their request. These ration suggestions give horse and other livestock owners direction as to how to maximize the use of the forage on hand to prevent either over or under feeding of their animals. In addition, the results of all samples give an excellent indication of the forage quality across the region for that production year.