{"id":316,"date":"2019-12-06T09:13:35","date_gmt":"2019-12-06T14:13:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/forageteam\/?p=316"},"modified":"2019-12-06T09:34:27","modified_gmt":"2019-12-06T14:34:27","slug":"will-my-hay-supply-be-enough","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/forageteam\/2019\/12\/will-my-hay-supply-be-enough\/","title":{"rendered":"Will my hay supply be enough?"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Roger Gates<\/strong><\/p>\n

Whitfield County CEA<\/em><\/p>\n

Livestock producers who have had to purchase hay in dry years do not need economists to describe the impact of supply on price.\u00a0 The value of an adequate supply becomes increasingly obvious as winter transitions to spring if pasture growth is slow or delayed.\u00a0At least four factors contribute to whether this year\u2019s supply will be adequate:<\/p>\n

Hay Inventory<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

Measuring the supply of hay on hand would seem to be a straightforward matter of counting the number of bales and knowing the average weight. Published weights of \u201cstandard\u201d size bales can range from less than 600 pounds to more than 1500.\u00a0 Density of the crop and compaction of the bale contribute to variation. Actually weighing a representative sample of bales (weighing a truck or trailer loaded and unloaded) might be a wise investment\u2026 variation from assumed values can be considerable.<\/p>\n

Hay moisture content is also variable. Hay should be below 15% to store safely without risk of heating and molding, but under dry conditions, bales may contain less than 10% moisture.\u00a0 For a 1000 lb bale, that difference amounts to 50 pounds.\u00a0 Information on moisture content alone could justify the cost of a obtaining and submitting a forage sample.<\/p>\n

Standing Forage<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

In addition to counting bales and assigning weights, remaining grazable forage should also be included in the feed supply inventory.\u00a0 Past grazing records and experience will help in assigning values for dormant perennial pasture forage. Estimating the number of \u201ccow grazing days\u201d may be the most useful approach to estimating the feed available.\u00a0 Intentional stockpiling and intensive allocation of pasture forage with subdivision using temporary fencing will increase the efficiency of grazing and extend the quantity of feed available.<\/p>\n

Consumption<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

Estimating demand is the \u201cbalance\u201d to determine whether the hay inventory is sufficient.\u00a0 In simplest terms it is knowing how many animals will need to be fed, how much hay they will eat and how many days hay will be provided.\u00a0 Hay consumption is controlled to a large degree by animal size.\u00a0 Accurate estimates of animal weights will improve the accuracy of hay consumption estimates.\u00a0 Without a scale, knowing the pay weight of culls may serve as an estimate of mature cow weights.\u00a0 As a \u201crule of thumb\u201d dry cows will meet their nutritional needs by consuming from 2.0 to 2.5% of their body weight as hay dry matter.\u00a0 For example, a 1300 lb cow will consume 26 to 32 pounds daily.\u00a0 If hay contains 10% moisture, that will be 29 to 36 pounds.\u00a0 Younger, lighter weight, animals will consume proportionally less.<\/p>\n

Hay quality is extremely variable.\u00a0 Cattle are well adapted to \u201cprocess\u201d fibrous feeds like pasture and hay; but that capacity can be limited by the composition of the fiber fraction.\u00a0 The rumen might be compared to a \u201cprocessing vat\u201d that has a fixed capacity.\u00a0 When it\u2019s full, no more feed can be added until some of the contents are removed.\u00a0 Removal occurs through digestion and passage.\u00a0 In basic terms, the more mature and fibrous a hay is, the slower the digestion and passage rates are.\u00a0 Slow removal from the \u201cvat\u201d reduces intake.\u00a0 While lower intake might make a particular hay \u201clast longer,\u201d the consequences for animal performance are not beneficial.\u00a0 Mature hay is sometimes deficient in protein.\u00a0 Without proper supplementation, digestion will be further limited and intake reduced.<\/p>\n

Properly sampling and testing the hay supply will identify nutrients that will be adequate or better as well as potential deficiencies. A summary value, Relative Forage Quality or RFQ, can provide guidance about hay intake, which is needed to forecast the adequacy of the hay inventory.\u00a0 An RFQ value of 100 is comparable to full-bloom alfalfa hay.\u00a0 Hay of that quality should support adequate intake for dry, pregnant, mature cows.\u00a0 RFQ values much below 100 will be result in lower intake (potentially below 2.0% of body weight) which will compromise performance.<\/p>\n

Many producers have more than one \u201clot\u201d of hay that is available to support the herd.\u00a0 A \u201clot\u201d is hay refers to one cutting from one field. Knowing the nutritional value of different hay sources will allow wise decisions to be made about which hay to feed to which animals to meet nutrient requirements least expensively.<\/p>\n

A hay test that identifies moisture content and nutritional value of the hay supply is a wise investment.\u00a0 Most County Extension office have equipment available and can assist in obtaining representative hay samples.\u00a0 Results for samples submitted to the UGA Feed and Environmental Water Lab will often be available in less than one week.<\/p>\n

Waste<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

With estimates of hay quantity, animal consumption and a target for the number of days hay will be fed, supply and demand can be compared to determine whether the hay on hand will last\u2026\u00a0 EXCEPT\u2026<\/p>\n

No feeding program is 100% efficient.\u00a0 Losses can accumulate in storage, and during feeding. Animal selectivity will also limit consumption to less than what is fed.\u00a0 Oklahoma State University Emeritus Extension Animal Scientist, Dr. Glen Selk, suggests that waste can vary from 5 to 20% and suggest using a figure of 15% when predicting hay requirements.<\/p>\n

A substantial deficit in the hay supply materializes in the\u00a0hypothetical example described in the following tables:<\/p>\n

Cattle Inventory<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
<\/td>\nAverage Weight<\/p>\n

(lb)<\/td>\n

Intake Rate<\/p>\n

(%)<\/td>\n

Daily Intake (lb)<\/td>\nFeeding period (days)<\/td>\nTotal Hay Demand (lb)<\/td>\nWaste Allowance +15%<\/td>\nHay Supply Needed (lb)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
43 mature cows<\/td>\n1300<\/td>\n2.2<\/td>\n28.6<\/td>\n90<\/td>\n110,682<\/td>\n16,602<\/td>\n127,284<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
13 replacement heifers<\/td>\n900<\/td>\n2.5<\/td>\n22.5<\/td>\n110<\/td>\n32,175<\/td>\n4,826<\/td>\n37,001<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Mature bull<\/td>\n2400<\/td>\n2.0<\/td>\n48.0<\/td>\n75<\/td>\n3,600<\/td>\n540<\/td>\n4,140<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Yearling bull<\/td>\n1350<\/td>\n2.3<\/td>\n31.1<\/td>\n110<\/td>\n3,421<\/td>\n513<\/td>\n3,934<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\n172,359<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Hay Inventory<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
<\/td>\nBales<\/p>\n

(#)<\/td>\n

Bale weight (lb)<\/td>\nMoisture<\/p>\n

(%)<\/td>\n

Bale DM<\/p>\n

(lb)<\/td>\n

Hay Supply Available (lb)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1st<\/sup> cutting,<\/p>\n

T Fescue<\/td>\n

127<\/td>\n850<\/td>\n12%<\/td>\n748<\/td>\n94,996<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2nd<\/sup> cutting, T Fescue<\/td>\n88<\/td>\n750<\/td>\n14%<\/td>\n645<\/td>\n56,760<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\n151,746<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Inventory Shortage<\/strong><\/td>\n20,613<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

The hay shortage of over 10 tons represents the hay needed to feed 43 cows for about 2 weeks.\u00a0 Favorable weather might allow the producer to shorten the winter feeding period from 90 to 75 days.\u00a0 On the other hand, severe weather, or a spring dry spell might result in the need for even more feed.\u00a0 Projecting supply and demand before or early in the hay feeding season would allow locating additional feed, hopefully at a reasonable cost.\u00a0 Facing an unanticipated feed shortage in the spring could require unplanned herd reduction sales or purchase of replacement feed at high cost.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Roger Gates Whitfield County CEA Livestock producers who have had to purchase hay in dry years do not need economists to describe the impact of supply on price.\u00a0 The value of an adequate supply becomes increasingly obvious as winter transitions to spring if pasture growth is slow or delayed.\u00a0At least four factors contribute to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":75,"featured_media":303,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[42,8,65],"tags":[125,124,112],"class_list":["post-316","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cattle","category-hay","category-winter-feeding","tag-hay-inventory","tag-hay-supply","tag-winter-feeding"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/forageteam\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/316","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/forageteam\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/forageteam\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/forageteam\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/75"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/forageteam\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=316"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/forageteam\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/316\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":327,"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/forageteam\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/316\/revisions\/327"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/forageteam\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/303"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/forageteam\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=316"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/forageteam\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=316"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/forageteam\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=316"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}