DATE: 8/18/2006

CONTACT: Dr. John Andrae, 864-656-3504; jandrae@clemson.edu

WRITER: Tom Lollis, 803-284-3343, ext. 241; tlollis@clemson.edu

Deadline is Sept. 22 to enter hay contest

CLEMSON – Hey! Got hay?

Clemson University Extension Forage Specialist John Andrae is looking for some South Carolina hay producers to enter the third annual Southeastern Hay Contest. Winning entries will be displayed during the Sunbelt Ag Exposition in Moultrie, Ga. Oct. 17-19.

“The forage quality contest has six categories representing forages grown throughout the Southeast, and it’s open to any hay producer from Louisiana to Virginia,” said Andrae. Entries must be submitted by the farm where the forage was grown and certified by the farm’s local Extension Service agent.

Hay samples, entry fees of $10 per sample and an entry form must be received by the University of Georgia Feed and Environmental Water Laboratory by Friday, Sept. 22.

The six hay categories are warm season grass, cool season grass, legumes, mixed hay, grass baleage and legume baleage.

For more information contact your local county agent or Andrae at 864-656-3504 or by e-mail at jandrae@clemson.edu. Contest rules and an entry form may be found online at www.alabamaforages.com.

Warm season perennial grasses include bermudagrass and bahiagrass and are the most common species from which hay is produced in the deep South, according to Andrae. Cool season perennial grass hays include tall fescue and orchardgrass, which are higher quality than bermudagrass and more common in Upstate South Carolina.

Perennial peanut and alfalfa hays are often the highest quality hays entered in the contest. Perennial peanut is most common in coastal areas since it is very cold sensitive. Acreage is limited in South Carolina.

Mixed and annual grass hay includes ryegrass, oat, millet, sorghum-sudan and mixtures of grasses. Due to the high interest in round bale silage, two categories were added to the contest in 2005 – grass baleage and legume baleage.

END