CHAPTER XVI 



COARSE DRY FODDERS 



Hays. In the opinion of the vast majority of practical men, 

 the best way of preserving herbaceous green fodders, such as 

 grass, clovers, etc., is that which has been practised from 

 time immemorial, namely, to make them into hay by drying 

 in the sun. By this means, under favourable conditions, the 

 moisture can be reduced to about 10 per cent, or even less, 

 and the processes of fermentation are thereby almost entirely 

 arrested. In the climate of England good hay generally 

 contains from 12 to 15 per cent, of moisture, and when it is 

 tightly packed in the stack, fermentation takes place very 

 slowly. When the percentage of moisture is greater, fermenta- 

 tion proceeds more rapidly, and if it amounts to about 20 

 per cent., the product acquires some of the properties of 

 ensilage, and is known, from its colour, as brown hay. 



The nutritive value of any sample of hay depends chiefly 

 upon three conditions, as follows : (i) the nature and quality 

 of the herbage from which it is made ; (2) the changes and 

 losses, if any, incidental to the process of making ; (3) the 

 changes which occur after it is stacked. 



Grasses, clovers, vetches, lucerne, rape, mustard, in fact 

 almost any herbaceous plant that can be quickly dried, can 

 be made into hay. Cabbages and other similar plants can- 

 not well be preserved in this way. They would undergo 

 fermentation, i.e. decomposition, and become unfit for use 

 as food before all the moisture evaporated. 



Grass hay is, quantitatively, the most important in this 

 country. In fact the unqualified term "hay" always refers 



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