As hay and other forages make their way into your feed storage area this fall, you might want to consider forage testing. Forage testing has value for your operation, it can be a useful tool for maximizing livestock production and can minimize feed costs. Testing forages not only helps determine if livestock requirements are being met, it also determines whether you need to supplement or could mix off with lower quality forages to avoid overfeeding.
Forage analysis is useful when looking at inventories and planning for winter feeding. If forage quality is high enough, there may be an opportunity to mix it with straw, thus stretching supplies and lowering overall feed costs. If forage quality is lacking in certain nutrients, it will be necessary to bring in some type of concentrate product such as cereal grain, screenings, dried distillers grains or canola meal for example, in order to maintain body condition of livestock on feed.
Generally, forage analysis should include the following parameters: moisture, dry matter, crude protein, acid and neutral detergent fibre, calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, potassium and sodium. In addition to these, the analysis will include a variety of energy estimates which may be reported as total digestible nutrients (TDN), digestible energy or net energy. Each of these nutrients play a role in the overall quality of the forage being tested.