Soil and forage quality testing is vital for producing high quality pastures and hay. Our forage fields can vary widely in nutrient distribution and soil pH. It is important to understand the variability in our fields to produce the optimum yield of high quality forage. In addition, understanding the farm variability guides us to apply fertilizers and lime more efficiently, and save us some money on input costs.
With grant funding from the USDA NRCS, the UGA Agricultural & Environmental Services Laboratories (AESL) is offering free soil and forage testing kits for pasture and hay producers interested in understanding soil and forage variability in their fields. Each kit includes sampling instructions, six (6) standard soil sample bags, one (1) soil sample submission form, one (1) shipping label, three (3) 1-gallon Ziploc bags for collecting forage samples, one (1) forage sample submission form and one (1) forage sample shipping label. There are no charges for any samples submitted through this program that use the appropriate submission forms and shipping labels. However, the soil testing kits and shipping labels can not be used for any other fields/crops but forage crops.
AESL is also offering free soil variability maps program for interested participants. However, growers must also submit GPS coordinates for the soil sampling locations and field boundaries along with their samples to generate the soil variability maps.
I highly encourage the forage and livestock producers in our county to utilize this program. If you have not tested your soil and forage before, I would be happy to train you on how to collect a representative soil and forage sample. If you have any questions, please call me at (229) 436 – 7216 or email at vivek.bist@uga.edu or visit our office at 125 Pine Ave. Suite 100, Albany, GA 31701.