Maintaining a Healthy Herd of Cattle

When people associate healthy with their cattle herd they typically think about giving them their proper vaccinations or worming them or some sort of medicine related issue. In this case, we are talking about nutrition through the hay you may be feeding your cattle with a focus on hay quality since this is what your cows will be consuming right before they calve. According to Gary Bates, from the University of Tennessee Beef and Forage Center, the single most important factor influencing hay quality is the stage of maturity at harvest. He goes on to say this is the area where most livestock producers can make the easiest and greatest improvements in hay quality.

Mower Conditioner

I would agree with Gary that proper timing of harvesting your hay is a key essential to the quality of  hay you will have. In our operation, we always try and cut our alfalfa when it is in the mid bloom stage and once we are finished with that we go to our fescue then jump around to different grasses such as brome or timothy. I would also like to point out a few other factors that I believe can influence hay quality just as much as the maturity of hay at harvest.

Baler

The first factor I am talking about is how long a producer allows the hay to dry before making it into a bale. Many producers like to rush this process especially with equipment such as tedders that are now available for use today. Don't get me wrong, tedders can help dry out hay so it can be baled sooner but early in the season I recommend producers mow hay one day , let it dry the next day, and bale it the day after that for a total of three days.
The next factor I am talking about is getting your hay rained on once it has been mowed. Producers have to act on instincts when it comes to mowing hay especially early on the season which puts them at high risk of getting their hay rained on especially when they can't count on weather forecasters to predict the weather. Once this happens most of the quality is gone from the hay so it is a good idea to pile that hay in spots where you can get rid of it first once you start feeding hay. Overall, I believe the drying time on hay and the hay getting rained on is equally important to the stage of maturity at harvest when it comes to hay quality.