Hay Production

Harvested hay is a valuable product and necessary for supplemental feeding throughout Oregon. Learn about making hay, managing fields, and testing.

Haymaking on the Westside - Reality indicates good quality hay can be produced on the west side of Washington (and OREGON) State with proper knowledge, skills, equipment, storage, and perhaps a bit of luck. Aside from luck, this publication provides insights on the other issues of west side hay production.

Making High Quality Hay on the Westside (presentation slides) by Steven Fransen, WSU

Fertilizing for Hay Production - Forages and all green plants require moisture, nutrients, heat, and light for growth. To make hay, you need good nutrition to maximize on productivity and quality of the final product. You might want to treat hay fields and pasture fields differently in terms of when you apply fertilizers especially nitrogen even when soil test results are the same.

Testing Hay - A "how-to" guide for testing hay. Includes information about analyses, labs and lab methods too.

Understanding Forage Test Results - Once the forage results are in hand, this publication will help decipher what the results mean and how to best use them to make management decisions.

Measuring Moisture in Hay - Knowing forage moisture is essential for proper harvest and storage management and for fair marketing. In this publication, the basic protocols are described for several methods of determining moisture.

Matching Hay Quality with Animal Nutrient Requirements - As feed costs account for a majority of the cost of livestock production, knowing hay quality and animal requirements can have a significant impact on profitability.

Endophyte Toxins in Grass Seed Fields and Straw: Effects on Livestock - Grazing animals on grass seed fields and feeding grass seed straw can benefit both livestock producers and grass seed growers. Problems may develop, however if livestock eat varieties of tall fescue and perennial ryegrass intended for use as turf. Some turf varieties are infected with an endophyte, which produces toxin harmful to livestock. This publication has all the details.