THE FARM

Waikato Independent, Volume XXX, Issue 2426, 11 December 1930, Page 3

THE FARM

HARVESTING SEASON. HAYMAKING. Primarily because of the prevalence cf unfavourable weather at the proper haymaking period, much of the hay saved each year is of inferior quality, due either to waiting till favourable weather is experienced and thereby allowing the herbage to become far too mature and woody, or to mowing at the proper stage and being forced to save the hay under unfavourable conditions. In these facts lies part of the strong ease for ensilage over wide areas. Late mowing is objectionable not merely because it makes the production o.j infer-, ior stemmy hay a certainty, but also because it brings about greater weakening and opening-up of the sward, and militates against a really satisfactory aftermath which may prove valuable ns a source of succulent highly nutritious feed during the latter part of the summer. As so many advantages attach to the cutting of the hay crop at the proper stage of growth it behoves one to consider carefully all measures which will enable this to be done and at the same time the herbage to be saved in good condition. Cocking of the hay is one of the measures which should be considered more than it seems to be. Over much of the Dominion it is doubtful if a heavy crop, of hay can be well saved without cocking, and with average crops, after making due allowance for the, extra labour that cocking at times involves, it could with advantage be adopted on occasions when it is not practised. Cocking is to be looked upon as the ideal method of obtaining the best possible quality hay when the weather is not altogether reliable, and al* though ideal methods arc not always the best from the economic aspect they generally should not be departed from without sufficient reason. Cocking proves particularly valuable in the saving of good-quality lucerne and clover hay. In the building of the stack a good deal can be done towards securing good quality in the hay. The site should be well drained, and it should not be unduly shaded in a way which will remove the drying influence of winds. For the stack bottom there should be an ample supply of material, such as posts or rails or tree branches, which will favour a dry base of the stack. A high stack should be built so that the roof will be small in proportion to the

amount of hay. Although a square stack enables a greater bulk to be stored for a given amount of surface, yet long narrow stacks arc often to be preferred, because they admit of more ready drying and cooling of the stacked material. No one working on the stack should stand long on one place, as this causes uneven settling. If broken -weather occurs just after an area has been mown the herbage should within reason not be distrubed until good weather has returned. Any handling that mown material receives makes it much more subject to the detrimental influences of bad w r cather. If bad weather seems likely the cocking should be hastened, for the amount of washing-out of nutritive matter by rain is much greater when the-herbage is in the swathe than when it is in cocks. In cocks the herbage may cover only one-fifth of the ground it occupies in the swathe; nonce it will be subject to the washing-out influence of only onefifth the amount of water. The best time to cut lucerne cannot always safely be determined by the flowering development. A safer guide is the development of basal shoots. When fresh slmots coming from the base or crowns of the plants are about an inch long the lucerne should be mown.