While color is easy to see and describe, it has little to do with animal performance. We have encouraged producers to get a hay analysis done so that they may accurately determine the needs for supplements. However, it defeats the purpose of the test if you find yourself staring at a page full of acronyms in utter confusion. Components of a forage plant divided into cell wall and cell contents. Before we get into the terminology of forage quality, it is important to understand what is being measured within a forage plant and why.
All biological systems start with the basic building block of a cell.
However, utilization is limited by intake and rate of passage of the forage through the digestive system. Cell walls become thicker as the plant matures. This thickening of plant cell walls increases the fiber content of the total plant, and decreases the cell content portion of the plant. It is this relationship, the amount of cell content vs. the amount of cell wall content present, that is measured by a forage test. Cell contents are measured as protein and energy.