MAKING HAY.

Otago Witness, Issue 3802, 25 January 1927, Page 12

MAKING HAY.

There is plenty of green grass available fi this season for making either hay or h silage. Every stack of hay or silage t; made means so much less turnips, a crop n of which this year is by no means yet 1; assured. No time should be lost. The c mistake is too frequently made of allow- e ing the grass to reach a stage when it is more suitable for threshing than for e hay. The--best stage to cut the hay crop o is when the grain is formed, and just a after the flowering stage, and before the nutrient ingredients in the stem have all 1< migrated upwards to aid in maturing the d seed. In the making of hay—i.e., the con- e version of green grass into hay—the loss I of _ moisture is immense, inasmuch as r freshly-cut grass contains from 70 to 80 t per cent, of water, compared with 14 to c 16 per cent, in hay. Well-saved hay may' 5 be fed in quantity to all kinds of stock f without fear of causing impaction in winter 1 time. If the grass is cut early, and not i allowed to ripen its seed, there is every prospect of the grass coming again before ] the dry weather sets in. Although the 1 climatic conditions have a deal to do with ( the making of the hay, a good deal i depends upon the oversight. A fair amount of hay is spoilt yearly owing to : injudicious handling. After cutting, the loss handling, pro- ; vided the crop is dry, the better. It is comparatively easy to make hay of a sort, but it takes close” observation and skill to make good hay, particularly if there is much clover. Once the blossoms of clover begin to turn brown it is time to be on the alert. They must not be allowed _to ripen. The longer it is left after blooming the more indigestible it becomes. As the sun quickly dries the thin leaves, and causes them to become brittle and fall off the stems, it is best to do as much as possible of the curing of clover hay in the shade. The leaves are the most valuable part of the crop. Once they have thoroughly wilted in the swath, the clover should be turned gently, as too quick drying of the leaves closes the natural channel for the moisture to escape out of the stems. The hay should be kept in the windrows, so that- the wind can cure, but yet so that the sun’s hot rays can do no harm. Some experience is necessary before one can determine the degree to which clover must he cured before it is safe to pack it away. Clover cured in the windrows, or in the cock does not become dry and stiff, as does that exposed to the sun in the swath for a day or two. The stems are soft and pliable, and they form a cock of hay that will shed much' more water than when cured in the swath by exposure to the hot sun. If the clover hay. is to be stacked, it is advisable to provide a good bottom of brushwood, or something of that nature, as it readily spoils if left in contact with the ground for any considerable length of time, while, of course, having succeeded in stacking the.hay, it is but common sense to provide a covering of some sort. The hay crop,, generally speaking - , is fully as exhaustive of the soil’s fertility a's any of the cereal crops. Such crops as wheat, barley, oats, etc., require no more nitrogen, phosphorus, potash, lime, etc., than a heavy, mixed hay crop. Anyone who has had occasion from year to year to make hay will no doubt have observed the dire results, of the annual removal of grass if fertilisers are omitted. The growing of corn crops year after year in the same paddock is bad enough, but in the making of hay there is just as much depletion of minerals. Although there are different methods of curing hay, the main points in all methods embrace cutting at the proper time and the curing in the shade as much as possible. Over-curing and the hastv drying up of the leaves are fatal to the making of good clover hay.