Alfalfa, red clover, orchardgrass and timothy were harvested in the vegetative stage, wilted and stored as hay, or ensiled in small batch silos (20 kg) at 60, 40 or 20% (direct cut) dry matter and were analyzed for compositional differences. A ruminally cannulated lactating cow, consuming 50% of her dry matter intake from hay crop silage, was used to measure in situ dry matter, N, neutral deter...