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Show Doauor Bounty former's to improve alfalfa hay Both buyers and sellers in Utah and other western states want to improve the way they buy and sell alfalfa al-falfa hay, notes Valden T. Pitcher, Cornish, chairman Intermountain Hay Marketing Market-ing Association. Producers of hay in Beaver County have expres- Pitcher is chairman of a group that has organized into in-to a committee to develop and foster an equitable unified uni-fied program for pricing and marketing alfalfa hay. This group is considering the interests in-terests of buyers, sellers, processors, and handlers of alfalfa hay. Committee mem -bers are Robert Munk, Amalga; Paul Thain, Benson Ward; Eldon Smith, Newton; and Earl Glenn, Wellsville. sed an interest in producing produc-ing top quality hay. Some are interested in &-sampling and testing program, according ac-cording to Grant Esplin, County Agent. Dairymen and beef producers are highly interested in-terested in buying top quality qual-ity hay. Generally speaking, speak-ing, excellent, hay is produc -ed in Beaver County. Pitcher points out that this interest in better hay marketing mar-keting methods stems from the fact that alfalfa hay varies var-ies in its value as feed for dairy cows and other livestock. live-stock. Yet, under present methods of marketing, those differences in quality are not reflected in the prices currently cur-rently paid for the hay. Generally Gen-erally all hay in a locality sells for about the same price, whether it is excellent, excel-lent, medium, or poor quality. qual-ity. Hay prices vary accord -ing to location as affected by supply and demand, because of the high cost of transport -such a bulky commodity. The committee is working with Utah State University, Utah State Department of Agriculture, Ag-riculture, and the UJS. Department De-partment of Agriculture Market News Service. They are developing a program adaptable to Utah for collecting col-lecting and reporting current prices of hay and grain at various locations. Also, they are instituting a program pro-gram of chemical analysis of hay samples to determine the true nutritional value and are correlating these analysis into a pricing index. Buyers and sellers of hay can use the test information and the index to determine the relative value of hay that is being bought or sold, Pitcher Pitch-er explained. "He said, "Our aim is to have a method that is accurate, ac-curate, fast, and inexpensive inexpen-sive and one that will be acceptable ac-ceptable to all parties concerned, con-cerned, including both buyers buy-ers and sellers." The analysis proceedures include testing alfalfa hay for moisture, protein, and acid detergent fiber as measures mea-sures of determining true feeding values of different batches of alfalfa hay. Dr. Doyle J. Matthews, Dean of Agriculture, has coordinated the testing facilities of the university so that these tests of hay samples can be expedited. ex-pedited. Testing will be un-dersupervision un-dersupervision of Reuel E. Lam born, laboratory director. direc-tor. A table of values developed develop-ed by the committee can aid both the buyer and the seller sel-ler in pricing the analysed alfalfa hay according to its relative feed value. This information in-formation should be used in conjunction with visual appraisal ap-praisal of the alfalfa hay for leafiness, color, maturity, etc., Pitcher pointed out. He also stressed that in order for this testing program pro-gram to be effective and reliable, re-liable, correct sampling procedures must be followed. |