Beef

*This is an excerpt from Beef Cattle Management in Uncertain Times

Nutritional analysis of feed and forages is an important tool to develop strategic supplemental feeding strategies for beef cattle. Understanding the nutritional level of available feeds and forages can help manage input costs more closely and meet the nutritional demands of the herd more accurately. As hay season approaches in Alabama, conducting a forage analysis can help inform producers of relative forage quality and be a valuable tool for marketing hay.

The Auburn University Soil, Forage, and Water Testing Laboratory conducts analyses for producers’ forage and feed samples. Samples are routinely analyzed for percent moisture, crude protein, acid detergent fiber, neutral detergent fiber, nitrate (N), ash, pH, crude fat, lignin, and total digestible nutrients (TDN). Relative forage quality (RFQ) will be provided for known common grass species when the analyses are done using near infrared reflectance (NIR). The turnaround time is normally within two weeks. Learn more about submitting a forage or feed sample for analysis and interpreting a forage analysis for beef cattle.

Read more about Beef Cattle Management in Uncertain Times