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I need to test my hay that I will be feeding to my beef cows for nutrient quality. What nutrients do I need to test for?

Last Updated: March 06, 2008

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Test the hay for crude protein, energy, and moisture. The energy will be estimated and be expressed in TDN (total digestible nutrients). If you think you have a mineral deficiency, then test for the minerals that you think are questionable. If you suspect the forage to be high in nitrates or is a summer annual, you would want to test the forages for nitrates.

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