HAY AND PASTURE CROPS 



107 



and can perform their function of drawing water from the 

 stems, and are not shattered off and lost. It is usually 

 wise to cock the hay the second day, if it is too green to 

 store, and leave in the cocks a day or two; then open up 

 cocks for an hour or so to the sun and wind; then put under 

 shelter, either in barn or stack. 



Damaged by Hot Sun. — The old adage, "Make hay 

 while the sun shines," is good advice, but may be overdone. 

 Hay, especially clover, that has been exposed to the sun 

 for very long is very materially injured, as the thin leaves 



Figure 47. — The hay sling in operation in unloading hay. Two or three sling 

 loads will take off a large wagon-load of hay and leave very little scatterings. 



are dried up and lost and little is left but stems. The heat 

 of the sun is very essential to evaporate the moisture from 

 the leaves and stems. This may be accomplished, how- 

 ever, by curing the hay in the cock or windrow and with- 

 out allowing the sun to shine directly on the leaves. 



Cock covers may often be used with profit. It seems 

 expensive when one first considers them, but if one con- 

 siders that bran is worth $20.00 or more per ton and that 

 good clover hay is worth very nearly half as much as bran 

 for feed, one must acknowledge that the difference in value 

 between good and poor hay is often more than the cost of 

 using covers. 



Cock covers are pieces of canvas or sheeting about four 

 feet square, with weights sewed in each corner, so that 

 when one is spread over a hay cock, the wind will not blow 



