Pasture news

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From Dairy herd managment


Help for testing pasture’s nutritional value
Researchers at the USDA Agricultural Research Service Grazinglands Research Laboratory in El Reno, Okla., are working on a new spectral-reflectance tool to help graziers get a quicker handle on the nutritional value of their pastures. A small, hand-held optical remote sensor can calculate, store and display data on a forage’s nutrient quality. Near instantaneous results can then be used to modify nutritional supplements without waiting for traditional lab analysis

 

[Chuckie]

That would be a useful tool. To walk out at any time and test the quality of the pasture would be great. Then make adjustments to get it where it needs to be. Even though lime is slow acting, the quicker you get it down, the quicker it will be available for the grass. Then testing the quality of the hay field would be of real use to get the protein where it needs to be. Sending off samples of hay can get expensive. Hopefully they will make this hand held device where we can afford it.
Chuckie