How to determine the value of that hay bale

Using a hay bale to supplement your cattle is a tried and true method that many producers use. It is reasonably priced compared to other feedstuffs. Though just like other feedstuffs the quality can vary depending on many different factors.

While looking at using a hay bale many people tend to just look at the upfront cost. While this may be good initially it is not always best to be the only way. You will want to look at how much that particular will cost per unit of energy or protein.

Like with other feedstuffs it is always a good idea to break the price down into these simple units so you can compare apples to apples. This is because though a hay bale may look to be a good deal initially in reality it may not be that good of a deal. Once you have broken down the price into those units you will find it will actually cost you more.

Factors affecting hay bale quality

The first factor that can affect the quality of your potential hay bale is how it was baled. In order to keep it of high quality the bale will need to be baled tight. If it was baled loose then that will allow moisture to get to the inside of it and diminish the overall quality. One way that you can test if a bale was done correctly is to press down on it. If you are able to press down more than 1/2 inch then it was not baled tightly.

Another factor that will play a role in the amount of Dry Matter present is how the bale is stored. Not being stored properly will mean that moisture will be able to get inside of the bale, Depending on how it was stored you could be looking at a loss of DM anywhere from 10%-50%.

The age of the bale and the forage’s stage of growth will also determine the amount of dry matter that will be available for your animals. If the hay bale has been sitting in storage for a long period of time then you will be losing key nutrients. Probably do not have to tell you but bales made from more mature forages will also not be providing all of the nutrients.

If you are interested in learning more about how storage can affect the quality of your hay bale then check out my previous post “5 rules for proper hay storage”.

This is why it is important to have any hay bales that you are looking to purchase tested so you can know what you are getting into.

Determine your Dry Matter

Dry matter is the amount of non-moisture portions in a feed. Having a high moisture content in your feed will mean that your animals will have to eat more to get the nutrients that they need.

The dry matter contains all of the essential nutrients within a given feed or forage. This is where you will find the things like the protein, minerals, and energy content of the feed.

The type of feedstuff that you are wanting to test will determine how you will collect the sample. To collect the sample from a hay bale you will want to collect from the core of the bale. If you are not sure about the way to do this then you can check an article from the University of Idaho “Hay sampling techniques”.

Once you have collected the sample you will then need to have it sent to a lab to be tested. Your local county extension office should be able to give you the name of a place to use.

When you get the lab results back they will be in 2 categories: As-fed and Dry Matter. The as fed will show what that particular feed provides with the moisture still in it. The dry matter column, of course, shows what it will provide with all of the moisture taken out of it.

Breaking down the hay bale price

Once you have the information back from the lab you can look at the price per unit of either protein or energy on a dry matter basis. Once you have it down to those units you can then compare it to other supplements to determine what will be the most economical option for you.

For the purpose of this example I took the information from the USDA Hay Report. It is updated weekly and can give you a good idea of what hay in your area is going for. The report for Central Texas shows that Good to Premium hay is going for $120- $140 per roll and has a Crude Protein of 9%- 13%. For the purpose of this example, I will split the difference and use $130 per roll with 11% CP. Typically a hay bale will have a dry matter percentage of 90%-80% so we will be using 85%.

Protein

The first thing that we will want to do is break this down to cost per unit of dry matter. The formula that we can use to determine this is Cost of feed/% Dry Matter (as a decimal)= Cost per Unit of Dry Matter.

So the formula will be 130/.85= 152.94. What we have is $152.94 per ton of dry matter.

Now to determine the cost per unit of protein we will use Cost per unit of dry matter/% Protein (as a decimal)= Cost per unit of protein.

So the formula will be $153 (I rounded up)/ .11 =$1,390.90 per ton of protein. To get the cost per pound you will divide this number by 2,000  to get $0.70 per pound.

Energy

While most people supplement using hay bales for energy instead of protein all is not lost. We can still use the same formula to come up with the answer we want. All we do is replace % Crude protein with the % TDN to get the amount of energy per unit.

Since we already have the cost per unit of dry matter we will not have to do that formula again. We can just go ahead with the second one. Depending on the stage of production Coastal Bermuda grass can be 65%- 55% TDN for young cutting. As the year goes on it drops to 40%-45% percent for the more mature variety. For the sake of this example I will use 55% since it seems more in the middle.

So the formula will be $153/.55=$278.18 per ton of energy. To take it down further we can divide this by 2,000 and get $0.14 per pound of TDN.

While doing it this way may take a little more effort it is helpful. Evaluating the feedstuffs on a cost-per-unit basis is helpful to everyone. The producer can develop a ration that will provide the nutrients that will not break the bank. The seller can be sure that the price that they are asking is far.