PRESENTED BY MASSEY FERGUSON
Lisa Baxter, UGA | Liliane Silva, Clemson | Katie Mason, UT | Uttam Saha, UGA
The Southeastern Hay Contest (SEHC) has proudly recognized our regional producers who grow and harvest high quality hay for the last 21 years. The contest was originally developed by Extension agents for Southeast forage producers. Their involvement was pivotal to the success of the program during its development in 2004 and will continue to play an important role into the future. The SEHC continues to fulfill its mission to bring awareness to the importance of hay testing and managing livestock feed needs through nutritive value determination. The samples are ranked based on relative forage quality (RFQ) and the top 3 entries in each category receive a cash prize. The overall winner also receives a choice of the use of a new Massey Ferguson DM Series disc mower or RK Series rotary rake for the 2026 hay production season plus $2,000 in cash!
Entries into the 2025 SEHC surpassed previous years and set new record number of entries at 540 submissions from ten states across the Southeast. Despite climatic challenges over the last year, there has been some very high-quality stored forages produced. This year’s category winners are summarized in the table below. 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 (also alfalfa hay) and therefore is ineligible to win the Grand Prize in 2025. As a result, the Grand Prize goes to Jon Pope from Coats, NC from the alfalfa hay category with another incredible RFQ of 354.
The SEHC continues to increase its reach and strengthen its commitment to education. Again, we would like to acknowledge the efforts of our Extension agents, who engage producers and collect samples. The agent award winners are in the first table below. We encourage you to continue the tradition and “prove your hay is the best” by submitting samples to next year’s contest. Submissions are open year-round. Check www.sehaycontest.com for more information, or contact your local county agent or forage Extension specialist.
