8 BULLETIN 977, U. S. DEPARTMENT OP -AGRICULTURE. 



PRODUCTION OF UNDESIRABLE MIXTURES. 



The production of undesirable mixtures for the market Trill cause 

 a loss to the producer as long- as the market does not want such 

 mixtures. In other words, certain mixtures are discriminated 

 against regardless of their true nutritive or feeding value. The pro- 

 ducer may know positively that certain mixtures are palatable and 

 contain more total digestible nutrients than the kinds now in greatest 

 demand, yet he is powerless to make feeders realize their value. 



The introduction and general use of a new kind or mixture of hay 

 is a very slow, laborious undertaking. It has taken a long time to 

 create a demand on the market for clover, even alsike clover, and it 

 took even longer for alfalfa to find its proper place on the market 

 as a feed for horses. 



At present " grassy " hay is discriminated against very severely 

 and is often referred to as " trash,' 5 yet the producer, in many in- 

 stances, prefers this kind of hay to straight timothy. If such hay 

 as redtop, properly cut and cured, and timothy, containing appre- 

 ciable amounts of fine grasses, properly cut and cured, are generally 

 found to be equal to or better than straight timothy, then the dis- 

 crimination against them will gradually disappear. But this will 

 take time, and until the true worth of such mixed hays is determined 

 by actual feeding test it is folly for producers to continue to expect 

 to get top prices for this kind of hay. 



It is only when hay is very scarce and consequently high in price 

 that certain kinds of " off-grade " hays are profitable to the pro- 

 ducer. Good timothy with a mixture of perhaps 80 per cent of fine 

 grasses having a natural green color, better than the timothy itself, 

 has been graded as " sample " hay. which commands a very low price 

 in comparison with that of timothy hay. 



An undesirable mixture often causes considerable trouble. This 

 trouble begins when the producer undertakes to dispose of it to the 

 country, shipper or to ship it himself. In the first place, to the pro- 

 ducer it is first class or No. 1 hay, and in his opinion should com- 

 mand top prices. If he sells it to an experienced shipper, the price 

 received will not be satisfactory to the producer, because he knows 

 that it is perhaps excellent in color and is, to him. the best grade of 

 hay. Under the circumstances he is likely not to believe the shipper 

 when told that such hay is not Xo. 1. but is "sample*" hay under 

 present rules for grading. If the producer becomes suspicious, or is 

 dissatisfied with the price offered by the shipper, and attempts to 

 market it himself, he may think that the receiver is trying to deceive 

 him when he claims that the hay is not of the grade called for in the 

 contract. About the onlv way to avoid trouble with undesirable 



