Research trials in the eastern U.S, in which large round bales are stored outside without protection for six months or more, found dry matter losses of 30 percent or greater to be common.

Change is the inherent challenge to which forage-livestock systems are constantly subjected.

Prussic or hydrocyanic acid (HCN) is a natural compound that can sometimes build to toxic levels in plants. Among forage crops, plants in the Sorghum genus (including sudangrass, forage and grain-type sorghums, sorghum-sudangrass hybrids and johnsongrass) are most likely to cause this problem.

The nutritional requirements of animals vary, and ensuring that their dietary needs are met from grazed forages can be challenging.

One reason why forage-livestock production is challenging is that the value of forage is surprisingly dynamic. Forage value increases when forage growth is limited by weather, when alternative feeds are expensive or when pastures on a farm are stocked too heavily.

Studies on marketing psychology indicate that although people may think they make decisions based only on information and logic, they commonly make them based on emotion.

‘Everything has its limit – iron ore cannot be educated into gold.’ —Mark Twain Everything has boundaries. While some limitations can be stretched, there are points beyond which no amount of training, adjusting, modifying or educating can reasonably alter a boundary.