12 BULLETIN 977, IT. S. DEPARTMENT OF 'AGRICULTURE. 



A knowledge of the labor requirements in haymaking will be neces- 

 sary in arriving at the market value of uncut hay, as it will enable 

 both seller and buyer to calculate how much should be deducted from 

 the market price for this labor. 



MARKETING windrow oe cock hay. 



Selling hay in the windrow or in the cock is seldom practiced in 

 the tame-hay sections. Of the two methods, selling cocked hay occurs 

 oftener than selling in the windrow. There is little time to find a 

 buyer when selling windrow hay; and if this method is to be fol- 

 lowed, the producer should make the sale before the hay is cut. Hay 

 in the cock may safely remain in the field longer than that in the 

 windrow, but hay in the cock seldom has a good color if left for 

 more than a week. The logical market for hay sold in the windrow 

 and cock is the local market. Feeders of loose hay often purchase 

 enough during haymaking time to last for several months, and it is 

 this class of feeders who furnish a market for the comparatively 

 small percentage of the hay crop sold in the windrow or cock. In 

 arriving at the actual market value of windrow or cock hay it will 

 be necessary to estimate how much to allow for the extra water con- 

 tained in the hay. 



The average of all available analyses shows that the maximum 

 water content of timothy hay ready to be put into the barn or stack, 

 which has been cut early to full bloom, is about 29 per cent, and for 

 that cut late bloom to early seed about 22 per cent, Under average 

 conditions timothy probably does not contain more than about 20 

 per cent of water when put into the stack or barn. The average 

 water content of alfalfa and clover is a trifle higher than of timothy 

 when ready to be put into the stack or barn. 



MARKETING BARX AND STACK HAY. 



The general practice in the timothy and clover section is to sell 

 hay loose in the barn or stack. That is. the terms regarding price 

 per ton are made before the ha.\ is baled. This practice results in a 

 very material loss to thousands of producers every year, and causes 

 country shippers to lose money in many instances. Sometimes the 

 producer alone loses, sometimes the shipper alone loses by this rather 

 crude method of marketing. 



The trouble with this method is that the shipper can not tell what 

 kind of hay he is buying by merely looking at the hay in the top 

 of a mow or on the outside of a stack. The producer ordinarily 

 has a knowledge of the percentage of the different grasses, clovers, 

 Aveecls, stubble, trash, etc.. in his hay, but he is not likely to say much 

 about this knowledge when trying to sell his hay. 



