Desert heat degrades quality of stored alfalfa hay

Alfalfa Hay Quality Testing

Alfalfa is the most productive and highest quality forage species. Over one million acres of alfalfa have been harvested each year in Montana since 1960. Yield and forage quality of alfalfa vary widely across environments and operations. Currently there is much interest in targeting specialized hay markets. Most Montana producers can consistently produce alfalfa that is of fair to good quality....

The Future of Alfalfa Forage Quality Testing in Hay Markets

Forage quality testing defines the language of value between the dairy and forage sector. From a nutritionist’s viewpoint, forage quality consists of many analyses that, together, provide a prediction of performance in a balanced ration for the dairy cow. Marketing systems, on the other hand, require a few simple criteria that can be related to value and price discovery. Currently, most trading...

Changing Forage Quality Testing for Alfalfa Hay Markets:

There is ample evidence that our current fiber-based marketing system is inadequate in predicting some of the most important features of alfalfa and other hay products. Worse, our current system has the potential for abuses. Seven of these abuses are described here. One key misuse is the over-emphasis of small differences in fiber concentration (as translated to TDN or RFV), while ignoring impo...

Nutritional Value of Eastern Gamagrass Hay Compared with Alfalfa Hay

A feeding trial utilizing lactating dairy cows was conducted to compare Eastern gamagrass (Tripsacum dactyloides) and alfalfa hay. Response criteria included feed intake, weight change, and yield and composition of milk. Dry matter intake and milk yield of cows fed alfalfa hay exceeded that of those fed gamagrass hay. There was no significant difference in milk composition, and average weight c...

Effect of yeast culture supplementation of alfalfa silage or alfalfa hay fed to lactating dairy cows