Hay season is always a challenge.  In most years it seems that the weather pattern never matches our grasses’ growth stage to harvest forage as dry hay at the peak of quality and quantity.  We may luck out and get one of our intended cuttings “made right”, but it is rare to have the perfect hay season.  Then there are years like 2024 when the weather was ideal for making hay all season, but there was little, or no, forage to harvest.   Livestock producers throughout much of Ohio may be feeling the heat from this year’s drought well into the winter, if not into next spring.  Pastures and hay meadows became nonexistent throughout much of the region, forcing producers to dip into their scarce winter hay supply.  Diminished hay supplies makes the bales you have on hand a precious commodity.  Although aggressive culling may be needed in some situations, there are steps you can take to stretch your current supply and get the most out of what you have on hand.

Storage method, loss study on round bales

Every step in the process of making hay, storing the hay, and feeding the bales results in some level of dry matter loss, and with the 2024 harvest season in the books I would like to provide some thoughts on hay storage and feeding practices to limit hay wastage.  A study conducted in 2019 at the University of Tennessee evaluated storage method and dry matter loss for round bales.  The hay was harvested in June, weighed, and stored until January when they were reweighed to determine dry matter loss.  They found that bales:

• Stored on the ground with no cover lost 37% of the original dry matter content
• Stored on tires with no cover lost 29%
• Stored on the ground and covered lost 29%
• Stored on tires and covered lost 8%
• Net wrapped and stored on the ground lost 19%
• Stored in the barn lost 6%

Best practices for outside hay storage

There aren’t many that are blessed with the ability to store all their hay under roof, but there are some standard recommendations for storing bales outside.  The key component is to choose a site that is well drained.  The ground should remain firm for most of the year and sloped so it quickly sheds water following a rain.  If you have issues locating an ideal area, you can consider installing a heavy use pad to provide a solid base for your storage area.  Bales can be stacked, and a rain tarp used to cover them, providing an additional shield to the weather.  If you are unable to use a multi-bale cover, bales can be placed in single rows, running north to south, with the flat edges butted tightly together, and about three feet between rows of bales.  The north-south orientation and space between bales helps them to dry faster following a weather event.  If you can’t place the bales north to south, place them up and down the slope so that they aren’t creating a water dam. Your feeding method can produce dry matter losses as high, or higher, than your potential storage loss.    

Reduce waste by limiting cattle access to hay

Research from the University of Missouri in 1973 found that cattle can waste up to 45% of the hay they were provided when allowed unrestricted access to bales fed on the ground without a hay ring.  To combat this, the simplest way to control loss is to limit the amount of hay provided at one time.  A separate University of Missouri Extension publication titled, “Reducing Losses when Feeding Hay to Beef Cattle” provided a comparison of potential dry matter loss between various feeding systems and the amount of hay provided.  When providing a one-day supply in a hay rack, losses were less than 5%, where unrolling enough hay on the ground to last a week resulted in a 43% loss.  The main benefit is that by feeding a set amount of hay each day, you help your animals develop a feeding routine that will encourage them to consume a greater proportion of the hay provided.  Although I couldn’t find a direct reference for this article, I have been told by reproductive physiologist that feeding cattle their hay allotment later in the evening will encourage them to calve during the day more often.

There isn’t one feeding system that will fit every operation, but there are several key concepts to consider.

• Feed your outside stored hay first
• Sample your forages and supplement when necessary to ensure you are meeting your livestock’s nutrient requirements
• Feed hay in small amounts.  Ideally this would be a one-day supply at a time.
• Utilize hay rings and/or bale feeders
• Feed hay in well-drained areas and rotate locations through the winter-feeding area
• If you utilize a bale grazing system, consider only setting out enough bales to meet your livestock needs for two weeks at a time.

November and December clinics

As a reminder, I have two dystocia/birthing management clinics scheduled for mid-November and early December.  The first is on November 19^th and will be geared toward small ruminant producers (Edit: This event has been postponed. New date forthcoming) and the second is on December 3^rd for cattle producers.  Both programs will run from 6:00 PM to 8:30 PM at Fisher Auditorium on the OSU CFAES Wooster Campus.  The programs will discuss: the normal birthing process, potential causes of birthing complications, correcting mispresented fetuses, and how to deal with post-birthing complications.  In addition to the presentations, you will get a chance to practice providing assistance with our dystocia/birthing simulators.  The programs are free and we ask that you make a courtesy reservation by calling the OSU Extension office.  As always, I hope that you have a safe and prosperous harvest season.  If you have any questions or would like to register for one of our programs, please contact me at 330-264-8722 or yost.77@osu.edu

John Yost is an extension educator IV, Agriculture and Natural Resources, at OSU Extension-Wayne County.
This article was previously published in The Daily Record.