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Heart of Texas Hay Show names top winners |
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By MANDY JOHN | Central Texas Edition |
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October 17, 2002 -- The Heart of Texas Hay Show, held Oct. 8 in Waco, allowed ranchers to put their forage samples to the test in order to win top honors. Blue ribbons were presented in seven classes, as well as plaques presented to the Grand Champion and Reserve Grand Champion. Twain Butler, assistant professor and Extension agronomist for the Stephenville Research and Extension Center of Texas A&M University, was on hand to discuss hay nutritive values and the forage evaluation process. "Forage quality is defined as how many pounds the forage puts on a cow," explained Butler. "The animal is the number one criteria in deciding on the forage quality." He explained when evaluating the forage nutritive value in the lab, one must look at two factors - the crude protein, or the available protein in hay; and the ADF, or the acid detergent fiber. "When looking at the crude protein, we multiply whatever the nitrogen in the hay is by 6.25. That number is the crude protein that is available in the hay," he said. "The ADF sample is how we find out how digestible the hay is for the animal." Butler said that the sample must have both the ADF and the crude protein tested in order to be placed in the state hay shows. "Crude protein by itself is not enough for us to evaluate hay samples. These results are what we use for judging the hay. Before, we used the chemical score and the physical score. Now it's the crude protein with the ADF. "We take a one hundred score for the ADF and subtract the ADF number. This is now the new hay index and the reason we use the ADF."
Butler stated that a new computer program is being used to evaluate the forage value and how it will relate to an animal's performance. He said that the score card giving the sample's results can be processed through the program to see how animals will perform based on the hay evaluated in the show. The program can be found at http://forage.tamu.edu. "It's an excellent resource to use so you can see how your animals will perform based on the ADF and the crude protein." Twain recommended getting multiple samples of a field in order to get a good sample. "You should always pull hay out of the center of the bail because the hay is not weathered. I recommend taking out 15 samples per bail to send to the lab for a sample so you get a good representation of your hay. I also recommend that you probe from the side of the bail and not from the end so you can get a cross-section of your hay." He also stated that it is a good idea to probe the hay bail with a forage probe. "I also want to add that it's important not to use hay that has been rained on because the rain leeches out nutrients of hay so it's not as digestible." Blue, red, and white ribbons were handed out during the event. Blue ribbons were given for high quality hay. Red ribbons were given for medium hay quality and white ribbons were given for low quality hay. Top hay show award recipients were: • Grand Champion Bail - Bill Wilson • Reserve Grand Champion - Steve Denton • Class A (Coastal Bermuda) - Bill Wilson • Class B (Other Bermuda grass) - Steve Denton • Class C (Other perennials) - Van Massirer • Class D (Mixed grasses) - Ron Grigsby • Class E (Summer annuals) - Jerry Neuman • Class F (Winter annuals) - Paul Simpson • Class G (Legumes) - Bill Wilson |
