Characteristics such as nutrient profile, digestibility, leaf-to-stem ratio, smell and appearance, cleanliness (free of toxic weeds, dirt, and trash) and natural colour determine the condition of the roughage. When we talk about the quality of a roughage we mostly refer to the nutritional value (energy, protein, soluble sugar etc) and digestibility of the roughage. The nutritive value and digestibility are affected by maturity and harvest time. When forages are cut at a mature growing stage the roughage is very stemmy, which makes it less digestible and nutritious due to the higher levels of poor-digestible crude fibre and lignin. Higher quality roughage will be more fine-stemmed, soft and leafy and will have a higher digestibility