Quality hay tastes great and is less filling

Who can forget those old Miller Lite beer commercials when a variety of celebrities were enlisted to tout the product as either tasting great or being less filling? Of course, in the eyes of the Miller Brewing Company, the product was both.

The same can’t always be said for hay. High-quality hay, with excellent fiber digestibility, may take on the same advertised virtues of the beer, but poor-quality hay will definitely not.

This will be one of those winters when stored forage quality will exhibit a wide range on many livestock operations. With a large swath of the U.S. being deluged with frequent rains early in the growing season, hay harvests were delayed and forage quality suffered.

Then, as if somebody flipped the switch, rain became a distant memory for an extended period of time. This scenario made it easy to harvest high-quality hay but a lot less of it.

Soon, if not already, many cow-calf producers will shift animals from pasture to feeding stored bales. How much hay (or bales) will be needed hinges on several factors, but one of the most important is simply the quality of the hay.

High-quality forages contain larger concentrations of nutrients and generally make it easier to meet the nutritional needs of the cow. Further, cattle will consume more of a high-quality forage since it digests and exits the rumen more rapidly, allowing the cow to refill by eating additional forage. In other words — less filling.

According to Glenn Selk, an emeritus extension animal scientist with Oklahoma State University, low-quality forages are consumed by beef cows at a rate of 1.5% of body weight per day on a dry matter basis. High-quality grass hays are consumed at 2% of body weight. Over time and cows, that consumption difference can make a big difference in the amount of hay fed.

Excellent quality forages, such as good alfalfa or silages, may be consumed on a dry matter basis at a rate of 2.5% of body weight per day. For producers, the combination of improved nutrient content along with better forage intake makes high-quality forages extra valuable.

Selk notes that with an understanding of these intake relationships, producers can more accurately estimate the amount of hay needed for winter feeding. For example, a 1,200-pound pregnant spring-calving cow will consume 24 pounds of dry matter per day (2% of body weight) of a good-quality grass hay containing about 8% protein. If the hay is 12% moisture, the cow will consume about 27 pounds per day on an as-fed basis.

Another factor to consider is hay wastage. While it can be hard to estimate, it’s not uncommon for waste to account for 10% to 20%. Good- to high-quality hay will likely result in less waste than average- to poor-quality hay. In the previous example, if waste totals 15%, then about 32 pounds of grass hay per day will be needed for each cow. This calculation changes based on cattle weight, so having an accurate knowledge of average cow size in a herd is necessary.

Selk notes that after calving and during early lactation, the cow may weigh 100 pounds less, but she will be able to consume about 2.6% of her body weight of forage dry matter. From the previous example, this translates into 38 pounds of as-fed hay per cow per day.

Know the weight

The diameter and length of a bale, along with its density, type, and moisture content, will all influence bale weight. For this reason, weigh representative bales from each hay lot to get an accurate estimate of the amount of hay actually being fed.

This hay-feeding season, more than most, it will be important to forage test and determine the range of hay qualities available. Then feed the hay based on the stage of the herd’s gestation or lactation to meet nutrient needs.