ARTIFICIAL DRYING OF FORAGE CROPS 



21 



the sun-cured based on a limited number of tests from the Jeanerette 

 station as shown in table 5. 



Table 5. — Grade and carotene content of samples of the same lot of forage sun- 

 cured and artificially dried 



Crop 



Sun-cured 



Artificially dried 



United States grade 



Carotene 



United States grade 



Carotene 



Alfalfa 



U. S. No. 2, Heavy Grass Mixed.. 

 TJ. S. No. 1, Extra Green 



Parts per 

 million 

 36 

 52 

 17 

 43 



U. S. No. 2, Heavy Grass Mixed.. 

 U. S. No. 1, Extra Green 



Parts per 

 million 

 104 

 75 



Do--- 



U. S. No. 1 . 



U. S. No. 2i 



U. S. No. 1, Extra Green ._ 



27 



Do 



..do 



64 









i Slightly scorched while drying. 



In sampling the forage at Jeanerette on which grade and carotene 

 determinations were made, a portion of an undried lot of forage was 

 spread on a screen bottom tray and set in the sun to dry. This ma- 

 terial was put under shelter at night and also when rains occurred. 

 The remaining portion of the forage was put through the drier and a 

 sample obtained as it came from the machine. This procedure, while 

 providing comparable samples, resulted in obtaining higher-quality 

 sun-cured hay than would have been possible under prevailing weather 

 conditions at Jeanerette, La. 



The protein content of the dehydrated product from the Jeanerette 

 station ran about 1 percent higher than for the sun-cured forage, 

 although this did not hold true in every instance. It should be borne 

 in mind that no feeding value is added in the dehydration of forage. 

 Obviously the manner in which the hay is harvested and artificially 

 dehydrated makes for more complete conservation of the feeding value 

 of the forage in that the leaf loss is minimized. Since one advantage 

 of artificial drying is to prevent weathering and reduce leaf loss, espe- 

 cially with alfalfa, dehydrated forage is likely to be rich in protein and 

 calcium as these elements are formed principally in the leaves. 



With grade Aberdeen Angus beef cattle there was a slight advantage 

 in favor of the artificially dried forage under prevailing test conditions 

 at Jeanerette as to gain per hundredweight of feed consumed. This 

 advantage amounted to about 2.5 to 6 percent. 



In feeding trials with dairy cattle at Jeanerette six Jersey bull 

 calves were castrated and placed on a ration consisting entirely of 

 artificially dried roughage, at 6 months of age. They gained an aver- 

 age of only 148 pounds each from 6 to 12 months of age, which was 

 only 60 percent of normal. Between 12 and 18 months of age, how- 

 ever, they made normal gains but, of course, were below normal weight 

 at 18 months of age because of the small gains made between 6 and 

 12 months. 



In an experiment now in progress five Jersey heifers were started on 

 artificially dried roughage with no grain at 12 months of age. They 

 have maintained slightly more than normal gains between 12 and 18 

 months of age. These and other experiments indicate that if Jersey 

 heifers are at normal weights at 1 year of age they can maintain normal 

 gains from that time on when fed machine-dried roughage of high 

 quality. 



