Hay Quality Evaluator
To evaluate the quality of your latest hay harvest or potential hay purchase, fill in the score for each characteristic based on the range provided. Higher numbers are best and lower numbers are worst, except Penalty, where the lower score represents less foreign matter. Click on "Calculate" and your total score will determine whether the quality of the hay you are evaluating is poor, fair, good, or excellent.
Quality	Characteristic	Score
Harvest	a. before blossom or heading b. early blossom or early heading c. mid to late bloom, or head d. seed stage
Leafiness	a. very leafy b. leafy c. slightly stemmy d. stemmy
Color	a. crop's natural green color b. light green c. yellow to slightly brown d. brown or black
Odor	a. crop's natural clean odor b. dusty c. moldy, mousy, musty d. burned
Texture	a. very soft and pliable b. soft c. slightly harsh d. harsh, brittle
Penalty	trash, weeds, dirt, and other foreign material	00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35
Your Hay Is
Based on "High Quality Hay Production," Bulletin SP437A by Joe Burns & Gary Bates, Department of Plant Sciences, University of Tennessee, Knoxville.

PO Box 2067, Cedar Rapids IA 52406-2067 E-Mail:

12 March 2005