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Self unloading wagon dumps chopped hay into silo blower. 



At DeKalb grassland field day farmers: 1. Watch grass come 

 from rolls of new hay machine, pressed for quicker drying. 2. 

 See hay harvester pick up, chop, and blow hay into self un- 

 loading wagon. 3. Show interest in new seeder which handles 

 brome grass seed well. 4. Look over orchard plow useful 

 "iffyi 'or pasture renovation and popular in far west. 5. Observe 



-^'^ operation of new one-man baler which makes a round bale. 



NEW WA YS TO 

 HARVEST GRASS 



HAY MAKING is the only Kg job on the farm that has 

 changed httle since the Civil War. For most of the na- 

 tion's farmers it is still the same hot, hard, and dusty work 

 it was 80 years ago. Only recently have new ideas arisen 

 to challenge the old. 

 At the grassland field day held this summer in DeKalb 

 county farmers had a look at new ways to make hay. They 

 .saw how hay can be cut in the morning and stored in the mow 

 ill the afternoon without loss of leaves or color- — and without 

 once being handled by hand. 



This is done by using a hay roller in combination with a 

 held chopper which cuts and blows the cured hay into self-un- 

 loading wagons. The new hay roller — still very e.xpensive — field 

 dries hay twice as fast by cracking the coarser stems. This pre- 

 vents sap from flowing into the leaves. 



The men at the field demonstration took to the field chop- 

 pers like a bee to honey. Many said they hoped to buy one soon. 

 "It takes the back work out of haying," they said. And for that 

 reason they believe it will win out over hay balers. 



Grass silage? "It has a real future in Illinois," farmers 

 believe. The hay cut during the field demonstration went into a 

 large silo. Grass silage makes a high protein feed and fits well 

 into conservation farming. Farm Adviser \X'. C. Mummert, De- 

 Kalb county, estimates 200 tarmers are trying it in his county 

 this summer. 



Why grow grasses at all? DeKalb county has fertile soil, 

 good for corn and grain farming. Why? Because no soil can 

 stand the drain of constant cropping. One of the speakers 

 said: "You can earn more with .". five year rotation (corn, corn, 

 oats, meadow, meadow) than from your grain alone. Your 

 hay will be e.vtra." 



The grassland field day was sponsored by the DeKalb 

 county soil conservation district with the help of the DeKalb 

 County Farm Bureau, the local radio station, machinery dealers, 

 and others. Pasture improvement and field spraying demon- 

 strations were held in tlie morning and hay handling methods 

 in the afternoon. 



I. A. A. RECORD 





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