THE SHRINKAGE OF MARKET HAY. 31 



Hot hay. — Hot hay is a term frequently applied to hay, especially 

 alfalfa hay that reaches the market while undergoing sweating. Hot 

 hay is in the final stage of curing. The heating may sometimes be 

 caused by tight packing in a car with a metal roof which becomes 

 hot and starts the heating. If new hay is a long time in transit it 

 often heats, whereas if it reaches the market quickly and is unloaded 

 and properly piled in a warehouse, heating may sometimes be avoided. 



Dry hay. — Dry hay is a market term used, especially in the West, 

 when hay has become so dry that it shatters easily when handled. 

 This kind of hay is thought by some feeders to lack paiatability. 

 The term "dry" is used locally to denote the condition of hay when 

 ready to be put into the barn or stack, and also to describe hay after 

 shrinkage has ceased. 



Green hay. — A term proposed for use on the farm to describe all 

 hay that has been field-cured but is not sufficiently cured to be baled 

 and marketed is green hay. Such a term would correspond, in a way, 

 to the term " green" as applied to unseasoned lumber to distinguish 

 it from air-dried or kiln-dried lumber, and would have no special 

 reference to the color of the hay. If this or some other more appro- 

 priate term were customarily used in speaking of hay in the barn 

 or stack while it is in the sweat or heating period, during which time 

 the larger part of the water lost by shrinkage occurs, it would tend 

 to correct the hay growers' impression that shrinkage causes an actual 

 money loss. After "green" hay has passed through the sweat it 

 becomes "new" (market) hay. 



Barn or stack cured hay. — The farm terms barn-cured or stack-cured 

 hay are sometimes used in speaking of hay that has passed through 

 the final (sweating) stage of curing and is ready to be baled and 

 shipped. Very little, if any, shrinkage is likely to occur in hay that 

 has been thoroughly cured in the barn or stack. 



Field-cured hay. — Field-cured hay is a very indefinite term embrac- 

 ing all of the terms given in the list on page 29. It is used to denote 

 the degree of curing in the field. When partially-cured hay is put 

 into the stack, barn, or bale it is said to be "field-cured." 



The degree of curing of this kind of hay is not always the same, 

 since it depends on how the hay is to be utilized. If hay is to be put 

 into the barn or stack, then field-cured hay, in sections where the 

 weather is subject to sudden changes, should be cured just enough 

 so that it will go through the sweat without developing temperatures 

 that will injure the hay. This is done to avoid, as far as possible, 

 any danger of loss by sun and rain which may occur if the hay is left 

 exposed too long in the field. A shrinkage of 10 or 15 per cent in 

 field-cured hay is to be expected as a part of the natural curing 

 process. 



