02/08/06 AM/PM hay

AM/PM Hay Will hay feeders want to know when hay was cut before they buy it? I'm Jeff Keane; I'll be back in one minute to tell you the answer. I just read a short article that reported in a recent test, cattle liked both tall fescue and alfalfa hay cut in the evening better than the same hay cut the next morning. USDA/ARS scientists set up a test starting with cutting alfalfa hay grown in Idaho at the mid-bud stage. The paired sample hay was cut in the same field with one sample cut late in the evening of a sunny day and the other sample cut early the next morning. All paired hay samples were baled without rain on the same day. These samples were then fed to 700- pound steers and the results showed the steers ate 10.7% more of the hay cut in the evening than the morning cutting. Digestibility was higher in the P.M. cutting. Analysis of the hay revealed the evening cut hay was higher in sugars and starches; which means it was more palatable to the steers resulting in higher intake. More tests need to be conducted to compare animal weight gain per day between the samples. Higher digestibility causing higher intake should produce higher gains, but that needs to be proved. We all know there is a difference in hay quality depending on the stage of plant maturity, but I thought time of cutting having an effect on quality was interesting. Technically, this means a producer could ask a hay grower for hay cut in the evening for his higher producing classes of cattle. Ketch Pen January 2006