FEEDING FACTS
FORAGE TESTING FINDING WAYS TO LIMIT FORAGE NEEDS B Y J I M M Y PA R K E R While forages are absolutely necessary in the diets of any livestock that are grazers, there are ways to limit the amount that they require and with the cost of growing grass and hay at record levels, this may be the year to take a long hard look at ways to limit forage needs. Cattle, horses, sheep, and goats all need a minimum of about 1% of their body weight in forages every day. Most years it makes sense to feed as much forage as possible. This year that dynamic is a bit different with fuel, fertilizer
and most other inputs needed to grow and harvest forages at all-time record prices. The cost of stored forages, hay, haylage and silages will likely also be at record levels. This will make forage testing more important than ever before. Hay prices will also likely cause producers to cut and bale things that would normally be left in the field and will produce some hay with little or no feed value. There will be many rolls of hay bought this year for record prices that have little feed value but at least you will
Cattle, horses, sheep, and goats all need a minimum of about 1% of their body weight in forages every day.
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Cooperative Farming News
