BELLVILLE — The Annual Youth Forage Contest was held Oct. 4 at the Austin County Fair in Bellville. This event is sponsored by the Austin County Beef & Forage Committee utilizing hay samples submitted for the Hay Show.
Youth apply their knowledge of forage to identify species common to pastures and evaluate hay based on physical properties. The youth apply the information learned directly to forage production.
There are three components to the contest. The first is placing the hay sam ple classes, which are judged based on physical ranking, maturity, texture, leafiness, purity and color. The next compo- nent is plant identification, consisting of 20 native grasses, legumes, and weeds. The last component is a 20-question knowledge exam on forages.
