36 



BULLETIN" 917, U. S. DEPARTMENT OP AGRICULTURE. 



from July 18 to August 1, and the third from September 1 to 20. 

 These dates for cutting are approximately the same for the other 

 regions studied. 



The crew for mowing was in all cases one man and two horses, 

 cutting from 8 to 10 acres in a 10-hour day. After mowing, it was 

 customary to rake up the hay within a few hours, and not later 

 than 24 hours under normal weather conditions. If hay is left in 

 the swath more than a day the leaves become dry and brittle and 

 break off while it is being raked, causing great loss of feed value. 

 At Fort Morgan and Greeley almost all the farmers used side-delivery 

 rakes, but at Rocky Ford only a few used these implements. The 

 crew was one man and two horses for each type of rake, and by the 



Fig. 30.— Bunching alfalfa. After the hay has been raked into windrows by the use of a side-delivery rake 



it is bunched. 



side-delivery method 10 to 16 acres were raked in a day, while the 

 dump rake covered from 12 to 20 acres. After the hay is raked 

 into windrows it is bunched. The Fort Morgan and Greeley farmers 

 did all the bunching with bundling or dump rakes, either of which 

 is operated by one man and two horses. Such a crew can bunch 20 

 acres or more of alfalfa in a day. At Rocky Ford some growers 

 bunched or shocked the hay with forks, one man handling 4 to 6 

 acres per day. Only a very few men did not bunch the hay before 

 stacking it. 



As a rule, hay, is permitted to cure from two to five days in the 

 bunches before stacking, the methods of stacking varying greatly 

 in the different regions and on different farms. A few farmers at 

 Rocky Ford hauled the hay to the stack on wagons. This method 

 is not used by those having large acreages of alfalfa. Push rakes 

 and overshot or side-lift stackers were used by some men in each 

 district. At Fort Morgan most of the growers used overshot 



