Forage%20lab.pdf

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University Of Connecticut *

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Apr 3, 2024

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ANSC 1111/SAAS 113 Name: Forage lab – Due Sunday, March 10 th Station one: Hay Sampling/Analysis Describe this bale of hay. o Are there grass or legume plants or both? Grass, there’s more of a blade. o Are there more stems or leaves? More stems. o First cutting or second cutting? How do you know? This is first cutting, it has more stems and less leaves. First is for more mature animals. o At which stage do you believe this bale was harvested? This bale was harvested at heading bud. o Describe the color of the hay bale. What does the color of hay tell you about the quality? Bleach-colored, it had more sun exposure due to needing to be dried from rain. Rain removes nutrients. o How does the hay smell? What can the smell of hay tell you about the quality? It smells sweet and grassy. A sweeter hay has good quality. o Are there any weeds present? No, there are none present. o According to the data presented in Table 1, when should forages be harvested? Why? They should be harvested between the prebud and heading bud stages. It optimizes digestibility and yield at the same time. Table 1: Forage Quality related to Dry Matter Intake and Digestibility CP NDF NE L iNDF* Grass- leafy 18 55 57 23 Grass- boot 17 58 54 24 Grass- heading 9 64 48 36

Source: American Forage and Grassland Council Hay Marketing Task Force *iNDF = indigestible neutral detergent fiber ● Hay sampling o Using the hay probe, take a sample of hay. How many hay bales should you sample to obtain a representative sample of 500 bales of recently purchased hay? You should typically take 10% of the bale from the center and send it to the lab. There should be about 12-20 bales sampled. o According to the Dairy One Forage Laboratory forage sample form, how much would it cost to have a Basic (09) Wet chemistry analysis of this hay? It would be $26. Station two: Silage Sampling/Analysis ● Bunker face. Why is it important to keep the face of silage in a bunker silo perpendicular to the ground? It is important because there’s less surface area, reducing oxygen exposure and oxygen damage. ● Using Table 3, assess the color and odor of the corn silage sample. What are the goals? Why? The goal is typically sharp and sweet, and normal. This is important because it indicates the ideal fermentation. silage - sharp and sweet - normal haylage - tobacco - yellow

Measure the DM and pH of the samples and complete the table below: Corn Silage Grass haylage Dry matter (DM) 22.5% 97% pH 3.81 4.2 ● Compare the DM and pH data to the tables below. Are they good quality? Why or why not? They are good quality, as both of their pH levels were in the correct range. Corn Silage Grass Silage DM% 28-33% 28-33% pH 3.8-4.2 4.0-4.8

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Station three: Penn State Particle size separator ● Measure a 3-pint container of corn silage or haylage or Partially Mixed Ration (PMR) into the top sieve of Penn State Particle Size Separator and shake the stacked boxes 40 times per sample (5 x each direction and turn). Weigh each sieve’s contents, calculate percent per tray and record your answers in the following table: Corn Silage Grass haylage PMR Top weight (course) 9.1 Middle weight (medium) 183.2 Bottom weight (fine) 60.1 Total 252.4 Coarse particle % (Top) 3.6% Medium particle % (Middle) 72.5% Fine particle % (Bottom) 23.8% ● Why is the particle size separator a valuable tool used commonly by dairy nutritionists? All feed should have a specific percentage of top weight, middle weight and bottom weight of effective fiber. The proportion needs to be correct. ● Do the above percentages fall within the recommended values given by Penn State’s research team? If not, why not? No, not all of them. If we don’t take a proper representative sample, the values may shift.

https://extension.psu.edu/troubleshooting-silage-problems