Testing feed

[The Big Cowhuna]

Do you ever have your feed tested to make sure it contains the proper nutrients? I haven't done it and don't even know where you'd start. Do you send it off to a lab? I didn't realize it was a thing until I read about it.

 

[RichZ]

I've never had commercial feed tested, but I've had my hay tested. When I got my feed from Cargill, it was a service that they provided. My feed was custom made to my specifications, so if my hay was lacking in a nutrient, they could increase that nutrient in my feed. Luckily, my hay was really good and I never had to have my feed adjusted.

 

[OhSusanna]

@RichZ, where do you send your hay for testing? I used to follow the "test, don't guess" motto, but the ag school here quit offering the service and I haven't found anyone else yet.

 

[RichZ]

Susanna, your cooperative extension will be able to set you up to have your hay tested.

 

[OhSusanna]

They did and it's super affordable, but since the local ag school isn't doing testing right now because of the pandemic, my samples would be shipped to another lab. I just feel weird about that. The mail runs slower than ever, so what if the shipping period affects the nutritional content? Maybe it wouldn't and I'm worried over nothing, but previously I could drop my samples off. I guess I'll have to take this route though. Thanks for the help!

 

[RichZ]

You're welcome!

It takes a fairly long time for the nutritional content of hay to degrade. Shipping should'nt be a problem.

 

[The Big Cowhuna]

I appreciate the conversation between RichZ and OhSusanna because it helped me see that I misunderstood what the guy was talking about. To me, "feed" is the commercial stuff you buy. It didn't occur to me that the guy was talking about hay or pasture or anything but commercial feed. That's just what most folks call it here. Although the nutritional content of feed is available, I thought the guy was suggesting we police them by having it tested ourselves. I had never heard of that before. I thought there must've been some big recall or something else that happened. Now I see I just misunderstood.