The planning and selection of equipment for harvest and handling of forage crops can greatly impact the performance and profitability of a farm. The type and size of equipment used affects the harvested yield and nutritive value of the forage crop as well as production costs. Through interactions with other parts of the farm, these effects can impact market value of the forage, animal intake and performance, delays in other farm operations, other production costs, and ultimately farm profit. Standard procedures and relationships have been developed for determining the most appropriate equipment for a given production system. Because of the large number and complexity of the computations involved, software tools have been created to simplify the process and to develop more comprehensive evaluations that include interactions with forage yield and nutritive value and other parts of the farm. Proper planning and selection of equipment can help assure a profitable operation that meets current and future goals of the farm
