By Stan Smith
Once again when discussing hay harvest, we find ourselves in the midst of a conversation about timeliness and resulting quality concerns. It’s beginning to sound like a broken record or at very least an annual event. About all I can say is what most any Midwest farmer might say been there, done that.
Yet again, in what’s seemingly become this annual occurrence of delayed hay harvest, quality forage, especially dry hay is in short supply throughout Ohio. This time it results largely from drought last summer, followed by wet, poor hay making spring weather of 2025. Combine that with spring pastures that matured quickly and became trampled due to wet grazing conditions and now, in mid-2025, we find the inventory of quality hay in much of Ohio remains critically low.
Unfortunately, it seems this may have become the norm for Ohio. With the National Ag Statistics Service (NASS) estimating Ohio hay making progress was less than half of normal at the end of May, after a similar lack of favorable hay harvest conditions continued throughout June, it’s apparent that Ohio cattlemen will again be faced with finding ways to make “feed” from hay that was harvested way past it’s prime.
As an example of the hay quality we’re seeing, a summary of six recent forage analysis’ from mixed grass hay made in June from throughout Ohio shows TDN of only 52% and an average Relative Feed Value of less than 90 on a dry matter basis.
Source : osu.edu