222 FEEDS AND FEEDING 



makes soft flesh and may cause colic. Not until the sweating process has 

 been completed in the mow and the mass cooled off can new-crop hay 

 be fed with entire safety. 



332. Making hay under favorable conditions. On farms where large 

 acreages of hay are made, it is often unprofitable to cure the crop in 

 cocks, owing to the labor involved, even tho better hay is thus secured. 

 Under a system often followed the hay is mown in the morning and by 

 frequent tedding and turning is housed before the dew falls at night. 

 When the weather is very dry, even clover and alfalfa, if dry on the sur- 

 face of the swath, are often raked directly into small windrows by a 

 side-delivery or other rake, without previous tedding. After curing 

 here for a few hours the hay is loaded from the swath by the hay loader, 

 or, in the West, is hauled to the stack with a sweep rake. 



Another method is to cut the crop late in the afternoon so that the 

 dew will not materially affect the plants during the night, because they 

 are but little wilted. Even should rain come it will cause far less in- 

 jury than if the plants were partially cured. The following day, by aid 

 of tedder or rake, the drying is hastened as much as possible, and the 

 hay placed under cover or in the stack before night. 



When these methods are followed with the legumes, it is impossible 

 to avoid much loss of the leaves, for when curing in the swath or windrow 

 the leaves become dry and brittle long before the stems are dry enough 

 to allow the hay to be stored. Headden of the Colorado Station 56 found 

 that 40 to 60 per ct. of the weight of the alfalfa plant is in its leaves, 

 which carry four-fifths of the crude protein and over half of the nitrogen- 

 free extract and fat. Three-fourths of the fiber, or woody portion, of 

 alfalfa is in the stems. He further found that in the dry climate of 

 Colorado, with all conditions favorable, for every ton of alfalfa hay taken 

 off the field not less than 350 Ibs. of leaves and stems was wasted, and 

 with unfavorable conditions and careless handling there was lost as 

 much as 3,000 Ibs. In other words, it is possible for more hay to be 

 lost than garnered. 



In dry climates, to avoid undue loss of leaves and yet save the labor 

 involved in cocking hay by hand, especially with alfalfa and clover, 

 the hay is not allowed to cure long in the swath, but is raked into wind- 

 rows in the afternoon and allowed to remain there over night. The 

 next morning after the dew is off the hay is bunched with a rake and 

 should be ready to haul by afternoon. 57 



333. Aids in curing hay. Besides hay caps to protect the cocks of cur- 

 ing hay from rain, especially with such crops as cowpeas and peanuts 

 which are thick stemmed and succulent, devices are often used, under 

 unfavorable weather conditions, to allow the air to penetrate the cocks. 58 

 The simplest is the perch, which is a stake about 6 feet high with cross 

 arms 2 to 3 feet long. This is driven into the ground so that the cross 



66 Colo. Bui. 110. "Jardin and Call, Kan. Bui. 197. 



^Adapted from Piper, Forage Plants, pp. 26-28. 



