Permanent winter hay-feeding stations concentrate soil nutrients in Kentucky pastures

Authors

• Alan J. Franzluebbers, North Carolina State UniversityFollow
• Jeffrey W. Lehmkuhler, University of KentuckyFollow
• Matt H. Poore, North Carolina State University
• Arjun Kafle, North Carolina State University
• Rodolfo Zentella, North Carolina State University
• Tommy Yankey, Kentucky Cooperative Extension Service
• S. Ray Smith, University of KentuckyFollow
• Gregory Halich, University of KentuckyFollow

Abstract

Distribution of soil nutrients as a function of centralized winter hay-feeding stations can lead to inefficient nutrient utilization and environmental quality concerns, but distributions have not been adequately characterized across a diversity of soils. We investigated spatial distribution of soil nutrients and organic matter fractions on three farms with concrete feeding pads for winter hay feeding. Soils were silt loam at the Princeton and Oran Little Research Stations and silty clay loam and silty clay at the Eden Shale Farm in ≥20-year-old tall fescue (Lolium arundinaceum) pastures in Kentucky. An anticipated impact zone of 0.7–1.0 ha around the winter hay-feeding station was sampled at 0- to 10-cm depth on a 20-m grid and the remainder of the 10- to 18.5-ha pastures was sampled on a 30-m grid. Most soil properties were greater in the impact zone (≤80 m from the hay-feeding structure) than the remainder of the pasture, most notably total soil N (4.69 ± 0.11 vs. 3.73 ± 0.05 g kg⁻¹, respectively; mean ± standard error), Mehlich-3 phosphorus (179 ± 8 vs. 67 ± 4 mg kg⁻¹), and Mehlich-3 potassium (532 ± 21 vs. 227 ± 10 mg kg⁻¹) (each p < 0.001). Grid sampling also identified a modestly enriched zone of extractable K around a hilltop water trough in one of the pastures. Unequal distribution of soil nutrients was detected in all three pastures despite very high extractable P throughout the Oran Little pasture. We confirmed that minerals in conserved forages fed at permanent winter hay-feeding stations are not being distributed effectively, leading to both enrichment in hotspots and occasional deficiency in larger parts of the pasture.

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

7-1-2026

Notes/Citation Information

Publisher Copyright: © 2026 The Author(s). Agronomy Journal published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of American Society of Agronomy. This article has been contributed to by U.S. Government employees and their work is in the public domain in the USA.

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

10.1002/agj2.70506

Archival?

Archival

Repository Citation

Franzluebbers, Alan J.; Lehmkuhler, Jeffrey W.; Poore, Matt H.; Kafle, Arjun; Zentella, Rodolfo; Yankey, Tommy; Smith, S. Ray; and Halich, Gregory, "Permanent winter hay-feeding stations concentrate soil nutrients in Kentucky pastures" (2026). Animal and Food Sciences Faculty Publications. 99.
https://uknowledge.uky.edu/animalsci_facpub/99