Sams is testing plants of a readily available variety, Heatwave, in his garden this year. One survey found consumers were willing to pay more for practices that improve beef safety, reported Jim Neel, a beef specialist with the Agricultural Extension Service at The University of Tennessee. But they favor irradiating meat for safety. Well, it may take its toll on you if you choose the hottest part of the day to cut hay. We can say this much.
Research done in Idaho shows cattle much prefer hay cut in the afternoon to hay cut in the morning.
That's because plants during daylight hours produce energy through photosynthesis faster than they use it or export it from the leaves. So carbohydrates build up in the plant. During the evening hours, the plant uses this energy for respiration or stores it in other plant tissues. So hay cut in the afternoon contains more energy than hay cut in the morning. Analyses of cuttings will show that afternoon cuttings consistently are higher in crude protein and carbohydrates and lower in fiber than the morning cuttings.