What are the characteristics of a good quality forage?

What are the characteristics of a good quality forage?

Forage quality includes characteristics that make forage valuable to animals, the capacity to supply animal requirements, the characteristics affecting consumption and utilization which are palatability, chemical composition, and digestibility.

How is forage quality determined?

Forage quality can be defined in many ways. Forage quality is associated with nutrients, energy, protein, digestibility, fiber, mineral, vitamins and, occasionally with animal production. For beef, dairy, horse, sheep or goat production, the ultimate quality test of a forage is animal performance.

What are three important factors for forage quality?

Six major factors affecting forage quality (not yield), ranked by their impact on forage quality, include: maturity, crop species, harvest and storage, environment, soil fertility, and variety. The relative importance of these factors, and some exceptions to the ranking, are described as follows.

What is the ultimate measure of forage quality?

The ultimate measure of the quality of a forage is animal performance (for example, milk production, weight gain, reproductive efficiency). Animal performance is a function of forage nutritive value (that is, the results from laboratory analysis of forage tissue samples) and forage intake (what animals eat), Figure 1.

How do you improve forage quality?

Something as simple as reducing the shade on a field can improve the sugar content of your forage. Additional environmental factors that must also be considered when increasing sugar content are temperature and the availability of water and nutrients.

What is a good relative forage quality?

Hay with a Relative Forage Quality index of less than 90 should not be considered acceptable for any class of livestock. Hay with a RFQ of 90 to 110 is acceptable, but may need supplementation depending on the class of livestock.

What is crude protein in forage?

Crude protein is a chemical analysis of the forage that calculates the amount of nitrogen, which is the building block for amino acids that form proteins. This number reflects a forage’s potential to provide protein that certain livestock require.

What is difference between forage and fodder?

Fodder refers mostly the crops which are harvested and used for stall feeding. Forage may be defined as the vegetative matter, fresh or preserved, utilised as feed for animals. Forage crops include grasses, legumes, crucifers and other crops cultivated and used in the form of hay, pasture, fodder and silage.

How do you maintain forage?

Major processes in conserving forage are mowing, field curing, baling or chopping, storage, and feeding. Dry matter (DM) losses and quality changes occur during each of these processes reducing the quality of the final product.

What is modern feeding standard?

Feeding standards are statements or quantitative descriptions of the amounts of one or more such nutrients needed by animals. The nutrient requirements are generally expressed in quantities of nutrients required per day or as a percentage of diet.

How do you assess the quality of forage?

Appraisal of a forage based on sight, smell, and touch can provide some general information, but chemical analyses are needed to asses the economic potential of the forage. At a recent forage meeting, approximately 80 forage producers and industry people were asked to rank four bales of hay by a visual appraisal of their forage quality.

Does forage quality vary from crop to crop?

However,forage quality varies greatly among and within forage crops,and nutritional needs vary among and within animal species and classes. Producing suitable quality forage for a given situation requires knowing the factors that affect forage quality,then exercising management accordingly.

Is crude protein the best measure of quality in forages?

This certainly is true in forages. As forages mature, their crude protein is diluted with increasing fiber content. Forage fertilization practices can alter this relationship, suggesting crude protein should not be solely used as a quality criterion without evaluating fiber content.

Does forage fertilization influence the relationship between crude protein and fiber?

As forages mature, their crude protein is diluted with increasing fiber content. Forage fertilization practices can alter this relationship, suggesting crude protein should not be solely used as a quality criterion without evaluating fiber content. Energy content is often used to compare feeds and evaluate quality.