# Potassium levels



## coloradohay (Aug 8, 2014)

I have received my first question on my hay about potassium levels. Has anyone here been asked if their hay is high/low in potassium? What is considered high or low? Our tests came back at .63%. I'm not sure if this percentage is good or bad for horses. All current horse owners that buy from us have never complained.

For reference purposes we grow a grass mix of wheatgrass and brome.


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## hay wilson in TX (Jan 28, 2009)

That is low for potassium ( K ).

California with their irrigated alfalfa they consider 1.70% K as sufficient.

If you are in Colarado with irrigation 0.63% K should work. For Cows the month before calving that would be worth a premium value for the hay. At least for alfalfa hay. I actually want my grass hay to be as high in K as the alfalfa hay, for water use efficiency,

Here with no irrigation I have to work hard to get into the 2.00% K range. Here for water use efficiency we want 2.60% K.

Do you know Bill Kroskob from Fort Morgan, Co? He and I were on the same crew for a little over a year at Abiline, TX. I wish we could have flown together another 3 or more years.

A true Gentleman. His Father had a small dairy operation when I knew him.


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## coloradohay (Aug 8, 2014)

That's funny. Our family does know the Kroskobs. Small world. 

We don't irrigate our hay, so I was curious what those levels would imply. We don't strive for any level of potassium, but have a horse customer who requires low levels. Thanks for the input.


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## Teslan (Aug 20, 2011)

coloradohay said:


> That's funny. Our family does know the Kroskobs. Small world. We don't irrigate our hay, so I was curious what those levels would imply. We don't strive for any level of potassium, but have a horse customer who requires low levels. Thanks for the input.


I have never been asked that by a horse owner, but for alapacas that is very important.


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## endrow (Dec 15, 2011)

Everyone here that dairies wants low potassium grass hay for dry cows . Grass hay that had chicken manure usually tests high I am told .


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## Fossil02818 (May 31, 2010)

We regularly spread wood ash from the biomass utility plant on our fields which I believe explains the high potassium content in our mixed alfalfa/ grass hay. Our hay samples consistently test at 2.5%--3.5% for potassium. I have never had a customer ask about it and appreciate Hay Wilson's comments. Are there other mineral levels that we should monitor in the hay? We pretty much have only focused on crude protein, TDN and RFV for our hay analysis and monitored the minerals in the soil samples. Don't mean to hijack this thread ,but, am curious about what others look for in their hay analysis besides the three measurements I mentioned.


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## hay wilson in TX (Jan 28, 2009)

Lord Love a Duck.

All this just shows to go you how conditions vary from place to place. Politics come in as well as the climate, soil type, and management style.

A theory behind higher potassium levels is as follows. The little holes in the leaves ( Stomata ) are designed to close when the moisture is paying hard to get. Down in the 1.00% K range the stomata may take hours to close, They tell me that up in the 2.50% K range they can close in less than 15 minutes. 
HERE our climate is for an Annual Summer Drought. Being this far South we can cut alfalfa in bud stage the last week of March. We can expect little or no rain in July & August. It rains again in time for dove season the first week of September.
This soil is calcareous with 8,500 ppm Ca, 8 pH, plus 6% free lime. All this calcium makes our potassium not very available. Plus the soil is a high shrink clay. When it is drier essential elements can hide in the openings, and when damp the clay swells trapping the elements. Especially potassium. Here we need a soil test at 400 ppm just to get the same effect as 140 ppm K will have in other soils.

Now in the plant the percentage of potassium has a wide sufficiency range. HERE 170 or maybe 190 ppm K will do. For ideal yields 2.60 to 3.00 is probably close to optimum. I have no idea how high the percent of K has to be to cause a loss in yield.
When our grass test 1.40 maybe 1.80% K the potassium will be in the 1.40% K range. Dump on Potash the potassium levels go up while the calcium levels come down.

I suspect for typical soils hay with higher percentages of K will also have close to a deficient level of Ca. This may be the root cause for Milk Fever in Dairy Cows. The high level of potassium is listed as the villain when it is the lack of calcium that is the problem. No matte in most areas, high potassium in the feed is a good indicator that Milk Fever is possible after the cow calves. With out a $5,000,000 research grant no one will explore the subject.

Coloradohay Your haying challenges are something to write a book about. I expect your conditions are foreign to 98% of those on these pages.

Bill Kroskob was the best Aircraft Commander I Ever flew with. We had a very good crew and that is always a pleasure.


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## hog987 (Apr 5, 2011)

I can not remember the ratio of K to Ca that the dairies want/need but it is the ratio. Most guys are like me read it somewhere and forgot but remember that hay with the K too high might cause problems with the cows so they avoid high K hay. I will have to check my feed test when I get home that will jog my memory.


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## Fossil02818 (May 31, 2010)

Hay Wilson Thanks,

Our most recent 2nd cut alfalfa/grass hay tested as follows:

17.8% crude protein

62% TDN

132 RFV

with .74% calcium, .45% Phosphorous, .24% magnesium, 3.02 % Potassium

Soil samples from that field last Fall were:

1050ppm calcium

78ppm Magnesium

221 ppm Potassium

40ppm Phosphorous

CEC was 8.7 and Ph at 6.7

I try to keep the soil components at levels recommended from our extension service , but, have never understood the infinite variables that effect the resultant hay analysis. Thank you for the information on stomata and potassium. We've had a couple cases of milk fever in our sheep, but they were both ewes who were nursing large triplets and I suspect that they just could not consume enough calcium from feed and free choice minerals to satisfy their needs. Milk fever is a tough condition to treat since you have so little time to recognize, diagnose and treat before the rumen shuts down.


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

Teslan said:


> I have never been asked that by a horse owner, but for alapacas that is very important.


So potentially alpaca owners could be a bigger pain in the butt than horse owners? Never thought I'd see the day.


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## Hayman1 (Jul 6, 2013)

there is always a bigger pain in the butt than you have previously met and experienced, the trick is to not work to hard to find them.


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## coloradohay (Aug 8, 2014)

Great information. While most horse owners haven't asked me about protein, moisture content or TDN, figures I get one that cares about Potassium. Everything around here is bought on smell and touch. I don't get it.


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## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

coloradohay said:


> Everything around here is bought on smell and touch. I don't get it.


Well, smell and touch are pretty good early indicators of quality hay....smell to see if it has that good smell to it and that there is no mold smell. Touch...pull out some hay from the inside of the bale and see what stage it was made....just right or too mature. If I go to someones farm/ranch and they ask me "what do you think of this hay?", I do the smell and touch! 

Regards, Mike


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## deadmoose (Oct 30, 2011)

Vol said:


> Well, smell and touch are pretty good early indicators of quality hay....smell to see if it has that good smell to it and that there is no mold smell. Touch...pull out some hay from the inside of the bale and see what stage it was made....just right or too mature. If I go to someones farm/ranch and they ask me "what do you think of this hay?", I do the smell and touch!
> 
> Regards, Mike


That's how I have learned. Also that's what the cattle do as well.


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