"HAYING IN THE RAIN" 

 A STUDY OF GRASS SILAGE 



By J. G. Archibald, Research Professor, and C. H. Parsons, 

 Assistant Professor of Animal Husbandry. 



"Haying in the rain\ What nonsense is this?" asks the hardheaded Yankee 

 farmer. "Those fellows better go and have their heads examined." Ten years 

 ago nobody would have questioned this terse dismissal of such apparently fanciful 

 tommy-rot. But now! Haying in the rain, or at least in weather entirely un- 

 suited to ordinary haymaking, is not only possible, it is actually being done by 

 hundreds of these same hardheaded farmers scattered all through the north- 

 eastern United States. 



And how is it being done? By the simple device of storing the grass as ensilage, 

 instead of by the time-honored method of drying it into hay if and when the 

 weather permits. It all seems so simple, now that the practice has become estab- 

 lished, the wonder is that it wasn't thought of long ago. 



As a matter of fact the idea of ensiling grass is not new. It was tried a good 

 many years ago when corn was first stored in this way, but without much success, 

 because those who tried it failed to recognize one fundamental difference between 

 corn and grass. 



Corn, because it is high in sugar and starch, ferments readily in the silo with 

 the production of sufficient acid to act as a natural preservative. Grasses and 

 legumes do not contain enough of these readily fermentable substances for their 

 proper preservation in the silo; hence the large percentage of failures when they 

 were ensiled like corn. 



This difficulty has been overcome in recent years by the addition of preserva- 

 tives to the chopped grass at the time the silo is filled. Perfection of this prin- 

 ciple in practice has been the key to success in the ensiling of such crops. Its 

 discovery has been responsible for the recent phenomenal development of this 

 method of preserving roughage. 



Advantages of Ensiling Grass and Legumes 



The advantages of storing grass and legumes in the silo are listed in what is 

 considered the order of their importance, and for the most part are so obvious 

 as to need only simple mention. 



1. The crop may be harvested in any sort of weather short of a heavy rain. 



2. The crop is all saved — losses of ordinary haymaking which run as high 

 as 40 percent or even higher in unfavorable weather, due to shattering of leaves 

 and leaching by rains, are largely eliminated. The quality of the feed is superior 

 to the best of dry cured hay. 



3. Much space is saved — a ton of dry matter stored as silage occupies about 

 one fourth as much room as it does when stored as long hay. 



4. The fire hazard is eliminated. 



5. The haying operation may be started earlier, with less delays because of 

 cloudy weather, thus completing the harvest sooner and having less of the crop 

 cut when overripe. 



