L.C. Strange Farm, Emanuel County, GA, captured first place in the warm-season perennial grass hay category of the 2011 Southeast Hay Contest. The winning entry had a crude protein of 19.5%, a TDN of 61.7% and a 142 relative forage quality (RFQ) score. Contest results were announced during the Oct. 18-20 Sunbelt Agricultural Expo in Moultrie, GA.
Other first-place winners, all from Georgia, included Vickers Still Farm, Coffee County, in the perennial peanut-alfalfa hay category; Duncan Legacy Farm, Carroll County, in cool-season perennial grass hay; and Verner Farms, Morgan County, in grass baleage. Coggins Farms, Echols County, GA, notched first-place honors in the mixed and annual grass hay and legume baleage categories.
Entries to the contest, open to growers in 13 Southeastern states, were down 42% compared to the 2010 total, notes Dennis Hancock, University of Georgia Extension forage specialist and contest organizer. Adverse weather in the Southeast played a role in limiting entries, he suspects.
"Just about every month during the summer of 2011 was at or near the record for heat and drought in the 117-year history of weather data. Many areas set records for the number of days with 90-degree-plus temperatures, and nighttime temperatures frequently brought no respite."
Significant declines in hay acreage, the elimination of a substantial number of local Extension-agent positions and the closing of some Extension offices may have also been factors in the drop-off, Hancock says.
For an interview with Hancock on Southeastern hay prices and supply, visit here. He comments further on the contest in this short video.
L.C. Strange Farm, Emanuel County, GA, captured first place in the warm-season perennial grass hay category of the 2011 Southeast Hay Contest. The winning entry had a crude protein of 19.5%, a TDN of 61.7% and a 142 relative forage quality (RFQ) score. Contest results were announced during the Oct. 18-20 Sunbelt Agricultural Expo in Moultrie, GA.
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