Early October is when a lot of Texas ranches find out what kind of hay they actually made. Bales from the summer cuttings are stacked, the first cool fronts are on the way, and Texas A&M AgriLife Extension county offices run fall soil, water, and hay testing campaigns. In Fayette County, for example, the 2026 campaign runs October 7 through 28, with hay tests for protein, fiber, TDN, and nitrates. Across the Hill Country, from Fredericksburg to Kerrville to Comfort, ranches are settling winter feed plans right now.
A hay test is inexpensive next to what it can inform. The trouble is what happens after the report shows up. Too often it gets read once, filed, and forgotten. The supplement budget for the winter gets copied from last year. The test told you something real about the hay you have, and the books never heard about it.
What a hay test actually tells you
The Texas A&M Soil, Water and Forage Testing Laboratory in College Station accepts forage samples, and its FAQ points to the NIRS test as a good overall analysis of feed nutritive value. It recommends a bale probe over a grab sample, because a probe collects an unbiased sample that better represents the bale. It also suggests giving each sample an ID you will recognize later, like First Cutting or Old Hay.
AgriLife’s West Texas Rangelands team makes the case for fall testing directly. Nutrient levels can vary between cuttings, between fields, and even between bales from the same operation, and visual appearance is not a reliable guide. A test tells you the protein and the energy, measured as total digestible nutrients, in the hay you will actually feed. That is the starting point for knowing whether supplement is filling a real gap or just a habit.
Where the test usually stops
Here is a familiar pattern on a lot of family ranches:
- The lab emails the report. Someone glances at the protein number.
- The report goes into a folder or an inbox.
- The winter cube or tub order goes in for the same tonnage as last year.
- Every feed purchase lands in one account called feed.
Nothing in that chain is exactly wrong. It just means the most useful number you paid for this fall never touched a decision. And with one feed account, you cannot tell at the end of winter whether the supplement plan matched the hay.
How the result should move the books
The ration itself is a decision for you and your county Extension agent or nutritionist. The books’ job is to follow that decision and show whether it held.
That starts with a supplement budget built per hay lot instead of per habit. If you have two lots that tested differently, they are two different feeding plans, and the budget should say so. Texas A&M AgriLife’s Extension Agricultural Economics team publishes free farm and ranch decision aids built for this kind of work, including a worksheet for valuing hay based on chemical analysis and protein cost, a monthly feed fed record, a monthly purchased feed record, and an annual reconciled feed inventory.
Then record purchases by feed type: hay bought, protein supplement, energy supplement, and mineral. One feed line becomes four. It takes no extra time at entry, and it lets you compare the plan to what you actually bought, month by month.
The same thinking applies to hay you buy. Two loads at the same price per bale are not the same purchase if one tests far better than the other. The AgriLife hay value worksheet exists for exactly that comparison, and AgriLife’s Hay Production in Texas guide covers forage analysis and the buying and selling of hay. If a seller can share a test, the books can record what you actually paid for protein, not just for bales.
An illustrative winter supplement budget
Here is a hypothetical example. The pounds, days, and prices are made up for teaching only. They are not a ration recommendation or a price quote.
Picture a Fredericksburg cow calf operation with 120 cows. Last winter’s budget assumed 2 pounds of protein cube per cow per day for 120 days. That is 28,800 pounds, or 14.4 tons. At a hypothetical $400 a ton, the supplement line was $5,760.
This fall the ranch tests two lots. Lot A, an early cutting, tests well. Lot B, a late cutting that caught rain in the field, tests much lower. Working with their nutritionist, the owners plan to feed Lot A for the first 70 days with 1 pound of cube a day, and Lot B for the last 50 days with 2.5 pounds a day.
- Lot A: 120 cows x 1 pound x 70 days = 8,400 pounds
- Lot B: 120 cows x 2.5 pounds x 50 days = 15,000 pounds
- Total: 23,400 pounds, or 11.7 tons, about $4,680
In this example the test lowered the supplement line by about $1,080. In another year it could raise it, and that is just as valuable. Finding out in February that the hay could not carry the cows costs more than budgeting for it in October. Either way, the number in the books now comes from the hay in the barn, not from last winter’s guess.
A hay test to books checklist
- Every hay lot has a sample ID that matches what you call it in the barn.
- Test results are saved with the winter feed budget, not in a separate folder.
- The supplement budget is built per lot and per herd group.
- Feed purchases are recorded by type: hay, protein, energy, mineral.
- Hay you buy is valued on its test when you can get one, not just on price per bale.
- Plan versus actual supplement is reviewed monthly through the winter.
What to do this week
If the hay is not tested yet, check with your county Extension office about a fall testing campaign, or send samples directly to the lab in College Station. Use a probe if you can borrow one, and label each lot clearly.
When results come back, sit down with your agent or nutritionist before you place the winter supplement order, not after. Then rebuild the supplement line in the books by lot, and set up feed purchase accounts by type so you can read the winter as it happens instead of after it is over.
Let the test rewrite the feed line.
Let the test rewrite the feed line.
Sources
Texas A&M Soil, Water and Forage Testing Laboratory: FAQ Forage Testing (NIRS test, bale probe, sample IDs): https://soiltesting.tamu.edu/faq-forage-testing/
Texas A&M Soil, Water and Forage Testing Laboratory: Forage and Plant Tissue Testing (submittal forms): https://soiltesting.tamu.edu/forage-testing/
Texas A&M AgriLife Extension: Hay Production in Texas (forage analysis; buying and selling hay): https://agrilifeextension.tamu.edu/asset-external/hay-production-in-texas/
Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Agricultural Economics: Farm Ranch Management Decision Aids (hay value based on chemical analysis; feed fed and purchased feed records): https://agecoext.tamu.edu/farm-ranch-management-decision-aids/
Texas A&M AgriLife, West Texas Rangelands: Know Your Forage Before Winter: Why Fall Forage Testing Pays Off: https://agrilife.org/westtexasrangelands/knowyourforage/
The Fayette County Record: Fayette County Soil, Water and Hay Testing Campaign Begins October 7: https://www.fayettecountyrecord.com/news/fayette-county-soil-water-and-hay-testing-campaign-begins-october-7
