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What kind of increase in quality of my hay can I expect when I grind it before I feed it to my cows?
Grinding forage will not change the quality. The quality of a forage is influenced by stage of maturity at harvest and not by processing. Grinding reduces the size (length) of the particles. Reducing particle size allows for greater feed intake because the ground forage does not have to stay in the rumen for as long as non-ground forage. As the length of time that the forage stays in the rumen decreases, there is an increase in forage intake, and cows are more likely to meet their nutrient requirement when consuming low- to medium-quality forages.
Grinding does allow you to mix forages together to make a mixture that may better meet the nutrient needs of the cow herd.
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