Hay is an essential part of any winter feeding program. It is used to supplement cattle’s nutritional needs when forages become dormant. However, when it comes to feeding harvested forages, you need to know what you have in order to understand what to provide.
Quality is essential when it comes to hay, as with any other feed. You must know what is being provided in order to understand what needs to be supplemented. Additionally, the overall quality will dictate just how much you will need to provide to do the job. With lower quality, you will need to offer more, thus making it more expensive.
The key is to be as efficient as possible here. You will need to find that delicate balance between better quality and lower price. On top of that, with the conditions we have experienced this past year, finding high-quality hay can be difficult.
