Forage Analysis

Queenbee

Queenbee

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A few musings here and a couple of questions.

Thinking about forage analysis, now with regards to the field my boy is in, that is all fine and dandy, he is in that field all year round. However, when it comes to hay/haylage, say you cut from 8 fields, I am assuming you should test each of those fields, even if they are adjacent to one and other, they can vary significantly or am i wrong? Also what is the cost of forage analysis? It isn't something I have majorly looked into in the past but now, well I am curious :D
 
I recently had my hay done. We use big bales, all cut from the same field, so I took some from each end of the bale and some from the middle.

I had the vit/mineral analysed and the general service, and it cost me about £56 iirc.

It was interesting, but I'm not sure how useful it is! :-/
 
I believe the way to do hay from various fields is take samples from all and mix them to get an average. Testing labs give instructions how to collect samples.
 
Thank you :D it was reading up on supplements etc that got me thinking... Not so much about what is in the forage, but more so, what is or could be lacking. YO cuts own hay, but it may be something I look into next cut, I know she would be happy for me to test it :D
 
If you are sampling hay and haylage baled from a few different fields I would take samples from several bales. Depending on what the dry matter off your hay is (probably around 88% DM) or haylage (75%) you want around a 200g sample.

If you just have it tested for dry matter, oil, protein, ash, NDF, sugar, lactic acid, pH etc you will only need it test my NIR which won't cost too much and the interpretation is fairly easy.

If you want minerals and trace elements then it will need to go for Wet Chemistry which will cost a bit more and you will probably want an interpretation and possibly a mineral recommendation.
 
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