WHEN TO CUT TIMOTHY 25 



fed in too large amounts to horses and the excess of nu- 

 triment fed them must be eliminated and that fact makes 

 them sweat more and tire sooner than had they not been 

 overfed. The plain truth is that timothy hay is safest 

 for horses ordinarily because it is not much more than a 

 filler, the animals getting nourishment from grain. 



When to Cut Timothy Hay. Timothy hay is not a 

 suitable forage for dairy cows, fattening animals, or 

 sheep ; it is too woody and unnutritious for that unless it 

 is cut early. Early-cut timothy hay is tender and digest- 

 ible. As it ripens it becomes more and more woody. Prof. 

 H. J. Waters, when Director of the Missouri Experiment 

 Station, made some very valuable investigations as to the 

 effect of harvesting timothy hay at various stages of de- 

 velopment. Briefly, it was mown when in full head but 

 not in bloom, when in full bloom, when the seeds were 

 formed, when the seeds were in the dough and when the 

 seeds were fully ripe and some of them shed. It was ex- 

 pected that a large increase in yield of weight of hay 

 would be found as ripening progressed. This did not 

 prove to be true. The tests were carried through several 

 years and varied in results considerably, yet usually nei- 

 ther the first nor last cutting made the greatest weight 

 of hay; sometimes it fell to that cut when in full bloom, 

 sometimes to that with seed just formed and in one in- 

 stance to the cutting made before bloom. Usually there 

 was considerable shrinkage in the hay cut before bloom. 

 The evidence, judged by weight alone, seems to point 

 conclusively to cutting just when the seeds are formed. 

 Cutting at that time also produces hay of the highest 

 market quality. 



