Hay has been and is still being baled across Van Zandt County.Every year’s hay crop and quality are different, even if you put it upat the same time, because of the changes in environmental conditions.Knowing the quality of the hay is a basic building block of a winternutrition program.

Cost effective forage production as it applies to beef or dairycattle nutrition is a factor of two steps. 1) providing the appropriatenutrients to feed the plant to optimize it's growth and 2) feeding thatplant to the animal to optimize the animal's growth. So it is necessaryto evaluate two phases of the study of nutrition – plant nutrition andanimal nutrition.

Of the more powerful tools available to provide information forthis process is the analysis of soils and forages. This is especiallytrue as we consider the rapidly increasing cost of fertilization. Tobest assess which analysis to use, the soil must be tested in order toget the most bang for your fertilizer dollar. So let's start with soils.Soil testing and analysis provides us with a picture of the nutrientsavailable in the soil. More accurately, it is a process by whichelements such as nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, calcium, magnesium,sodium, sulfur, manganese, copper and zinc are chemically removed fromthe soil and measured for their "plant available" content within thesample. The quantity of available nutrients in the sample determines theamount of fertilizer or nutritional supplement that is recommended tomeet the plant's growth needs. A soil test also measures soil pH,organic matter and exchangeable acidity. These analyses indicate whetherlime (limestone, calcium) is needed and, if so, how much to apply.

Forage testing allows us to balance rations, reducing costs andimproving overall nutritional plane the herd is on, thereby improvingperformance and profits. It gives us a picture of what the currentstatus of forage nutrient density is and can help the producer improvefuture crop management if present forage is of unsatisfactory quality.Finally, it can help us evaluate the value of the plant material as anutrient source and help us determine equitable prices for feedstuffsbased on nutritive value.

So what can be gained from testing one’s pastures or hayfields? 

There are a number of reasons:

• to optimize crop production (not necessarily the mostproduction)
• to improve the soil’s nutritional level
• to save money and energy by applying only the amount offertilizer needed
• to protect the environment from pollution by runoff andleaching of excess nutrients.

For my entire career either as an agriculture teacher or countyExtension agent, I have been a proponent of forage testing.  How elsecan you know how to meet the nutritional needs of your livestock?  Frompersonal experience I can tell you that producing and feeding a higherquality hay can save you money in lower supplementation costs.  Knowingthe feeding value of your hay lets you make decisions on when to feedcertain cuttings and if and how it needs to be supplemented.  If youfind out that your hay is lower in quality than you expected, you candetermine the cheapest way to supplement what you have.  It might berange cubes or cottonseed cake or a soybean hull/corn gluten feed mix ormaybe planting some type of winter annual.

There are lots of ways to feed an animal.  Your job as a manageris to find out what you need and what is the most economical way toprovide it.