Another mineral analysis question

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sonjafoers

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I've finally decided to take the plunge & ordered my grazing analysis from ForagePlus so I'll be walking the fields scissors in hand all weekend.

I have to be realistic about this & I understand that there will be lots of nuances because horses and grazing are living things and Mother Nature is not a constant, so the results will be an overview rather than an exact picture of what we have.

In view of this how necessary is it to do a haylage analysis when my horses live out and only come in for a few hours a day in winter to get them out of the weather. I don't mind paying for it it's just that it's not easy for me to get a sample of 10 bales especially at this time of year.

I have emailed my supplier to see if they have any 'wastage' I can buy but if that draws a blank I'm not sure what to do.

Is there anyone out there who balances their minerals based on grazing only, but still feeds haylage over winter? If so what made you decide not to get your haylage done and are you happy with your results?
 
Is your supply off the same field?

It isn't an issue for us as we take hay off our grazing (hence deciding to analyse in the first instance).
 
No ester it's not from our fields, I buy haylage in from a large supplier. This is my first winter on the yard so I'll see how the grazing goes and if there's plenty we will look at making hay next year.

Slinkyunicorn I know this is an issue, not just with long fibre but in hard feed too.

I think I'm going to have to get the haylage analysed as well, I was just trying to avoid it really!
 
I only did grazing in two yards as the haylage or hay came from different sources or a wide area.

Plus it's all very well saying do 10 bales but in one place I was at the haylage was cropped from a fairly wide area. Without knowing how the bales had been stored I could take 10 bales and they could be from the same fields or they could be different ones.

I decided to just do the grass as that was a constant.

In the most recent place, moved at christmas, started feeding adjusting minerals in feb, there is a very clear event line and better growth so this approach seems to have worked.
 
Thank you Criso, you've said exactly what I wanted to hear - how much do I owe you?!!

As I buy from a large supplier I have the exact same concern about the haylage analysis as they own and cut from a huge area. I also buy hay from my feed store for summer travelling and I know they use a variety of suppliers so it's just never going to be accurate.

It's good to hear you've had results even without doing the haylage, so perhaps I'll stick to my original thoughts and not do it.
 
No, sorry what I meant is does your supplier get it all off the one field. If they buy in/take from a wide area it wouldn't think it worth it- which I see you have now confirmed, I wouldn't bother.
 
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