True or false: Hay is priced, along with other farm commodities, with its value dictated by recent and local auction prices.

To effectively condition hay or haylage, we need to understand the forage drying process:

Feed mixing and delivery is one of the most important activities on the dairy. Mixing and feeding a total mixed ration (TMR) is a multiple-times-per-day activity. Doing this job accurately and consistently time and time again, batch after batch and day after day is critical to production (volume and components), animal health and overall farm economics.

Recent USDA reports provide a picture of the hay situation across the U.S. Dec. 1 hay stocks were down a scant 0.6% year over year for the entire U.S.

Supplementation plays a vital role in your cow herd both economically and in animal welfare. It can improve body condition scores (BCS) of your cows, improve calving and enhance the utilization of forage resources. The most important factor to the utilization of supplements is forage testing.

A general rule of thumb is: It takes 2 to 3 tons of hay to winter a beef cow. If $125 per ton and feeding for 150 days, it’s going to cost $1.70 to $2.50 per cow per day in feed expenses alone – without labor costs and machinery expenses.

Getting the most out of your winter feeding program is important to keep costs down and make sure cows come through the winter in good shape.