Around
Our State
WVU student
earns national
scholarship for
farm-to-table
efforts
A childhood
spent on
a small
farm in
Greenbrier
County
gave Jordon
Masters a
grounding in agriculture and
horticulture. That lifelong
interest earned the West
Virginia University student
a national scholarship
from the Garden Club
of America.
Masters, a fifth-generation
farmer, earned the Katharine
M. Grosscup Scholarship,
created to encourage the
study of horticulture and
related fields. Masters
will complete his B.S. in
horticulture, take a semester
off to further establish
his business, Allegheny
Genesis (which focuses on
research and education in
gastronomy and agriculture)
and return to
WVU’s Davis
College to
pursue a
Ph.D.
Fall 2015
Forage testing: the first step in winter feed
management
B
ecause of the recent year’s wet
weather, many farmers put up
late cut hay that is of questionable
quality. However, forage testing can
tell us the actual nutritional quality
of the hay so that we can determine
what supplements, if any, are
needed.
The right tool
these feeds evaporate during drying.
Instead, freeze the sample and ship it
to the testing laboratory by overnight
delivery to ensure a fresh sample is
provided.
Testing process
Forage testing laboratories can measure
many nutritional components and offer
different testing packages. To ensure
proper testing, fill out the information
sheet provided by the laboratory.
In order to collect a proper forage
sample, you need to start with the
right tool.
The testing
Purchase
package that
or borrow
should be
a forage
requested depends
sampler, such
on your farm
as the Penn
management. For
State Forage
example, a beef
Sampler
operator may only
(Fig. 1). This
need a measure of
sampler is
digestible energy,
a sharpened
Fig 1. Penn State Forage Sampler.
protein and major
tube that
minerals. This analysis can be conducted
drills into a hay bale to cut out a small
subsample. Forage samplers are relatively
at a low cost using near infrared (NIR)
inexpensive and are a vital part of your
analysis. However, a dairy operator
farm management kit.
may also want neutral detergent fiber,
protein fractions and trace minerals,
Proper sampling
which will require a more costly
Proper collection and preparation of
combined NIR and wet chemistry
the sample is important. Divide the
procedure.
hay into lots based on field and date
After completing the information
of cut, making note of any special
sheet and properly preparing the
characteristics of the field such as forage
samples, you can send them to the
species and rain damage. For each lot,
laboratory. A copy of the results will
randomly select 12 to 20 bales taking
be returned to the address listed on
a cored subsample from each. When
the sample information sheet.
sampling round bales stored outdoors,
take the sample from below the weatherOnce you have the nutrient analysis
damaged cap if the animals will not be
of your hay crops, you can develop a
forced to eat this material.
feeding program to meet your livestock
needs. Further information on this
Combine these 12 to 20 cores in a
process is available from your local
plastic bag. Press the bag to remove
WVU Extension Service office.
all the air and then seal it. It is
By Ed Rayburn, WVU Extension
important not to dry haylage samples
Specialist – Agronomy
since the organic acids that preserve
Insert provided by WVU Extension Service and Davis College of Ag., Natural Resources, and Design
14 West Virginia Farm Bureau News