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Forage is the entire vegetative part of a plant, intended to feed livestock, even after some transformations.

Fruits and seeds are included in forage if they are collected together with the vegetative part, otherwise if collected separately, the latter are considered concentrates.

The plant species that are used for the production of forage are defined as forage plants or forage crops.

Each forage crop is characterized by its quantities of fiber, proteins and carbohydrates.

Through the haying of forage, HAY is obtained, that is, grass dried in the field, collected and stored for the purpose of feeding livestock, in particular cattle, horses, goats and sheep, and small domestic animals such as rabbits and small rodents.

Hay is cut several times during the year, depending on the period it takes different names:

• first cut hay: called maggengo, harvested in May/June.
• second cut hay: called agostano.
• third cut hay: called September hay or grumereccio.

The energy value of a forage can be estimated with various systems. The most widespread in the past, the Scandinavian method, provides as a reference unit, called forage unit or UF, the energy contained in a kg of standard barley or in 2.5 kg of hay from a polyphyte meadow rich in Phleum pratense.

The system of classic forage units, still used today in the economic or estimative field, is considered obsolete in the zootechnical field as it underestimates the energy value of forage in the transformation into milk.

To this end, the Scandinavian method is now abandoned in favor of other more effective ones, such as the net energy method, adopted especially in North America, and that of the French forage units, adopted in Europe.