By: Ray Hicks, University Of Georgia Extension
Forages are the basis of most of our livestock enterprises. Moreover, the nutritional make up of that forage should be the foundation of a balanced diet for our livestock but many times this is took for granted. Many factors (e.g. variety, maturity, growing conditions, handling practices, etc.) affect forage quality prior to the time it is fed. As a result, predicting forage quality values from standard books often grossly overestimates or underestimates feeding value. A better way to determine feeding value is to have a representative forage sample tested by a laboratory that uses proven and accepted methods of forage analysis. [READ MORE]