THE ARTIFICIAL CURING OF ALFALFA HAY. 1 



By H. B. McCltjre, Assistant Agriculturist, Office of Farm-Management 



Investigations. 



INTRODUCTION. 



The need of some means for applying artificial heat to the curing 

 of hay has long been urged and was brought definitely to the atten- 

 tion of the Department of Agriculture some years ago by Mr. T. P. 

 Eussell, of Hayti, Mo. In many localities, as in southeast Missouri, 

 alfalfa and other legumes are well adapted as farm crops and produce 

 good yields, but considerable difficulty is usually experienced in 

 curing them, on account of the heavy dew and frequent rains during 

 the haying season. Mr. Eussell was formerly a lumberman, and his 

 experience in the use of drying kilns for curing lumber suggested 

 the feasibility of applying similar means to the curing of hay. 

 Experiments in the practical application of this idea have been in 

 progress since the autumn of 1907. 



KEEPING QUALITIES AND PALATABILITY OF THE HAY. 



The question has often been asked, " Will freshly cut hay covered 

 with dew or rain and containing from TO to 80 per cent of moisture, 

 cured in from 20 to 40 minutes into hay containing about 10 per cent 

 of moisture, keep if baled immediately or left loose in the barn? ' 

 Carefully conducted tests already made have shown that alfalfa 

 hay cured in this manner will keep indefinitely when baled as it 

 leaves the kiln. Loose hay will also keep well ; but whether baled or 

 loose it will absorb moisture until it contains about 14 per cent or 

 more. 



Horses and mules eat artificially cured hay readily and do not have 

 to be taught to like it. Eepeated tests have been made by placing 

 field-cured hay in one part of the manger and kiln-cured hay in the 

 other part. In every instance the animal ate the kiln-cured hay 

 first and often refused to eat the field-cured hay. No extensive feed- 

 ing test has been made, but it seems practically certain that the re- 

 sults of such a test if made would be in favor of the hay cured by 

 the new process. 



1 Issued Mar. 8, 1913. 

 [Cir. 11§] 27 



