Commodities: Field Crops: Forages: FAQs
Info on Relative Forage Quality
Relative Forage Quality is a new index that is currently being used in the UGA Feed and Water Testing Laboratory to evaluate hay samples. This single number index evaluates hay and silage based on the predicted forage digestibility. Because of this digestibility-based quality measure, RFQ is a more accurate determinant of hay quality than old equations based on NDF and ADF concentrations. The University of Georgia has worked in cooperation with the University of Wisconsin to include warm season forages like bermudagrass, bahiagrass and perennial peanut in the RFQ equations. RFQ will be used in Georgia to judge many upcoming hay contests. Georgia Farm Bureau, Piedmont Hay Contest, and the Southeastern Hay Contest will all utilize RFQ as the major judging criteria. Links are provided below for more information on RFQ.
- Relative Forage Quality: A new method for evaluating and marketing quality hay (PDF) John Andrae, Paul Vendrell and Ann Blount
- Relative Forage Quality
Dan Undersander and John Moore - Relative Forage Quality. Indexing Grasses and Legumes
Dan Undersander and John Moore. (Equations for calculating RFQ) - Understanding Relative Feed Value and Relative Forage Quality (PDF)
Peter Jeranyama and Alvaro Garcia