22 NEBRASKA CATTLEMAN October 2024 PRODUCTION Hay Day Precipitation across Nebraska is reminiscent of the childhood story of Goldilocks. Some people have had too much rain, some people have not had enough, and if you’re in the sweet spot of receiving enough to get your hay to grow without getting too much and ruining it, well, it probably feels like you’ve won the lottery. Despite the widely varying precipitation levels, as a whole, Nebraska has seen a significant increase in hay stocks in 2024, meaning supply is up. Although the rise in hay supply is a benefit for those looking to buy, in general, the quality may be down. “Prices have gotten better for people because people held over hay from last year. Because of that, I think you’re going to see people wanting to sell for maybe a little better price than last year,” explains Randy Saner, Nebraska Extension educator. “The hay this year, probably quite a bit of it at least, has gotten rained on, so we need to really check the quality of it. It’s basically the early cuttings that are worrisome, then it kind of dried off and people got some good cuttings put up later on. I would recommend people test the hay and look at the quality, because it may not be as good as what they think due to getting rained on or being more mature.” Hay Testing Hay and forage testing facilities offer a variety of tests to ensure that you know precisely what you’re feeding your animals through nutrition analysis. This can help reduce overfeeding, which ultimately results in wasted feed and increased feed costs. There are many certified labs across the state, but today we are talking with Ward Laboratories in Kearney. They are members of the NIRS Forage and Feed Testing Consortium, meaning that all the samples that come to their lab are run under the same robust calibrations as every other lab that is in the consortium, guaranteeing accurate, repeatable results, regardless of where the sample came from. “People need to get a hay test so that they can see what the quality is that they’re feeding,” Saner says. “They’ll be able to tell if they need to supplement more protein or energy. There is a lot of really good hay out there, so I recommend getting a hay test before buying if you can.” Every year, Ward Laboratories processes more than 30,000 samples from all over the country, with the majority of those coming in as hay samples from producers in Nebraska and surrounding states. They work closely with Extension to help educate producers on the importance of testing hay and how it can improve the quality of hay over time. “Our goal has been to educate producers on the importance of testing forage and hay and helping them to understand the value in the process,” says Rebecca Kern-Lunbery, feed testing product manager at Ward Laboratories. “We share information on our website, on YouTube and through social media to help people see the value that this can add to their operation.” In drought years, increased nitrate levels are more of a concern. However, just because there has been more moisture this year does not mean that you should skip the testing. In spite of varying moisture levels across the state, hay supply is up in Nebraska. Photo courtesy of Jemi Nielsen.
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