You can’t manage what you don’t measure, including feedstuffs!

Maybe never more than now, during what has become known as perhaps the worst drought in Ohio history, has the adage “you can’t manage what you don’t measure” been more valid or meaningful to those trying to feed a beef cow. With cattlemen looking for alternative feedstuffs in the absence of adequate pasture and hay supply, it’s important for those who are balancing the needs of cows in various stages of production to know the nutritional value of the feedstuffs they are utilizing. In this excerpt from one of the OSU Extension Beef Team’s 2021 Beef School sessions, Perry County Educator Ted Wiseman goes over the interpretation of a forage analysis and how various quality of forages may need to be supplemented.