ON THE DAIRY FARM

Te Ao Hou, December 1960, Page 59

ON THE DAIRY FARM In my letter of the last issue of this journal I covered the selection of paddocks suitable for closing up for hay and sileage. So I will now set down a few useful hints for the harvesting of these crops. The grass in the early closed paddocks will be the first ready for harvesting, though as the weather will not yet be settled and rain can be expected at any time it will be wise to turn this grass into sileage. Sileage is easy to make but to be sure of having good silage and to avoid undue waste, care must be taken in the preserving of this grass. The first point to decide on is whether or not to put the saved grass into a stack or a pit. If the former, be careful not to start your stack too large at the base as the green grass is very apt to spread and if great care is not taken you will end up with just a big heap of grass. The buckrake built stack seems to save time and feeds out well but it is never a very pleasant sight. If a pit is available the grass can be swept straight into it and providing this is reasonably evenly spread, no further care need be taken. One good hint is don't cut too much of the grass at one time. Just cut sufficient to fill your pit or to build your stack up to head height for the first day. Leave this to settle or consolidate for 24 hours and build onto again after being allowed to settle. If a stack or pit is used the grass must be covered and weighted down. Earth can be used for this purpose but where granulated lime is plentiful this can be used. First place the bags on the outside then cover the remainder of the stack with loose lime taking care that the centre is built to a crown to turn the water. The making of hay in these modern times is a simple matter. If it is proposed to have the hay baled, a contractor should be employed to do this work. The arrangements to employ this contractor should have been made well before the grass is ready to cut. The main point in making ing good hay is to be fairly sure of having fine weather and sure that the grass is ripe. By ripe I mean the rye and clover should be just in flower and the flowers not too old or the stalks will be tough and hard. On all farms where hay is to be baled it is essential to have a hay barn in which to store the bales. Many thousands of pounds worth of good hay is ruined each year through being left uncovered and allowed to get wet. There is nothing more harmful to the health of animals than to be forced to eat mouldy or rotten hay.