Minimizing Losses in Hay Storage and Feeding

STORAGE AND FEEDING Each year more than 60 million acres of forage crops are harvested for hay in the United States. Annual production from this acreage is over 150 million tons of hay valued at more than 12 billion dollars. Hay is the most widely grown mechanically-harvested agronomic crop in the United States. As a source of nutrition for livestock, hay offers numerous advantages. It can be made from manv different crops; when protected from the weather it can be stored indefinitely with little nutrient loss; package sizes and shapes can vary greatly; and harvesting, storage, and feeding can vary from being done by hand to being completely mechanized. Hay often can meet, or almost meet, the nutrient needs of many classes of livestock. Because of its many merits, hay is the most commonly used stored feed on livestock farms across the nation. Unfortunately, losses of hay during storage and feeding are often high, particularly with round bales stored outside in high rainfall areas such as the eastern United States. It is estimated that the total value of hay storage and feeding losses nationwide exceeds three billion dollars annuallv! On some farms, such losses account for over 10% of the cost of livestock production. These are real, and not just potential, losses (time, labor, and monetary inputs are lost along with the hay). Unfortunately, many producers probably do not realize how large their losses really are, or that with relatively little effort or expense they could be reduced considerably. The purpose of this publication is to provide information as to how and why hay losses occur, and how thev can be reduced. TYPES OF STORAGE LOSSES Hay storage losses vary greatly depending upon several factors, but storage technique is of utmost importance. Losses of dry hay stored inside a barn are usually of little concern. However, even for barn stored hay, losses rise sharply as moisture levels increase above 2O%, and losses from round bales stored outside under adverse conditions can be much larger. During storage, hay can be subject to dry matter losses as well as losses of forage quality.