2025 Southeastern Hay Contest Sets New Records

Celebrating Excellence in Forage Quality Across the Southeast

Adapted from the SE Hay Contest Press Release

The 21st edition of the Southeastern Hay Contest (SEHC) marked another record year, with 540 entries submitted from 10 of the 13 Southeastern States. This highest-ever participation reflects the growing emphasis on forage quality, and the fantastic effort our extension agents are putting towards helping their farmers understand and value hay testing is impressive!

This year’s contest had some impressive Relative Forage Quality (RFQ) scores. RFQ is an index used to evaluate and compare the feeding value of forages, based on total digestible nutrients (TDN) and expected dry matter intake, estimated as a function of neutral detergent fiber (NDF) concentration and NDF digestibility (NDFd).  RFQ is the standard index used to compare hay across different categories on an equal basis.  It improves upon older metrics like Relative Feed Value (RFV) by incorporating both fiber digestibility and estimated voluntary intake, two key factors that influence animal performance. The top entry in this year’s hay contest, an alfalfa hay from North Carolina, set an all-time record with an RFQ index of 400!

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The 2025 Top RFQ was in the alfalfa hay category from Beeson Farms from Climax, NC with an index breaking 400. Beeson Farms won the Grand Prize in 2022 and, therefore, was ineligible to win the Grand Prize in 2025. As a result, the Grand Prize went to Jon Pope from Coats, NC, with an alfalfa hay entry with an RFQ of 354.

Higher RFQ values indicate better forage quality, meaning animals will eat more of it and extract more nutrients. This makes RFQ a powerful tool for pricing hay, formulating rations, and making harvest decisions. For example:

• RFQ of 100 is considered average-quality grass hay.
• RFQ of 150+ is typical of high-quality legume hay.
• RFQ of 200+ is exceptional and often seen in contest-winning samples.

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The Best of Florida

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Florida producers made a strong showing this year, placing in the top three in two major categories:

• Other Legume Hays (including perennial peanut)
  • 1st Place: Bill Conrad, Malone, FL
  • 2nd Place: Walter Guettler, Chipley, FL
  • 3rd Place: Anthill Plantation, Quincy, FL
• Legume Baleage
  • 2nd Place: C&C Farms, McAlpin, FL

In addition, Mark Mauldin from Washington County earned recognition once again for submitting the most samples to the contest. Overall, Florida had 41 samples representing six counties.

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About the Southeast Hay Contest

The Southeastern Hay Contest is a collaborative initiative led by university forage programs, cooperative extension services, producers, and industry partners. It aims to promote forage testing, quality improvement, and market transparency across the Southeast. More information about past editions and contest guidelines is available at www.SEHayContest.com or by contacting your local county extension agent. If you are interested in entering the contest, please check out the rules and entry forms at https://site.caes.uga.edu/sehaycontest/contest-rules/. We accept entries at any time of the year. Prove your hay is top quality in the Southeast!