18 BULLETIN 873, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
a destruction of dry matter, because such hay does not contain 
enough water to engender a temperature sufficiently high to injure — 
the dry matter. 
It should not be inferred, however, that such loss from well-cured 
hay in the stack will be no greater than in the same kind of hay in the 
barn. Itis a matter of common knowledge that there is often quite 
a serious loss when hay is stacked for el months. An unavoid- 
able loss, caused by the action of the sun and rain, is sustained when 
hay is stacked and left uncovered. The sun bleaches the outside of 
the stack and rain often causes the hay to discolor or even to rot. 
The amount of loss in such cases depends largely upon the skill exer- 
cised in building the stack, and while the greater part of the loss is 
caused by discoloration, which lowers the grade and, consequently, 
the market value, there is also an actual loss of dry matter because 
of mold and rotting. 
Lipscomb ” in 1907 showed that there was a decided loss through 
discoloration by rain, when hay had been stacked for several months. 
Two stacks of nee hay were put up in July. At the end of four 
months 20 per cent of the hay i in one stack was found to be unsalable 
and fit only for bedding or feed as roughage. There was a loss of 
about 40 per cent in the other stack at the end of eight months. As 
a matter of fact, there was, strictly speaking, no great loss of dry 
matter, but such hay is considered as worthless or lost since it is not ~ 
marketable. 
METHODS OF MAKING HAY TO PREVENT UNNECESSARY SHRINKAGE. 
There is no method known whereby hay can be so cured that it will 
retain, indefinitely, a larger percentage of water than*is normally 
contained in such hay after it has gone through the sweat and is 
thoroughly cured. The water in hay~is not chemically locked up as 
is the dry matter, and, for this reason, the haymaker is unable to con- 
trol, except within very narrow limits, the water content of hay after. 
it has once become entirely cured. A knowledge of these facts should 
not cause the haymaker anxiety, for, as will be shown later, the loss 
of water or shrinkage does not ordinarily entail a real money loss to 
him. 
It is very important that a close watch be kept on the water con- 
tent, or rather on the rapidity with which water is being taken from 
hay while in the various stages of curing in the field, not with a view 
of checking the shrinkage to take place later in the barn or stack, but 
because loss by shattering depends upon the dryness of the hay when 
handled. The more dry hay becomes in the windrow or swath the 
more it will lose by shattering, and this is a real loss of the most nutri- 
tious part of the plant, especially of legumes. Hence, it is highly 
22 U.S. Department of Agriculture, Farmers’ Bulletin No. 362. 1909, p. 26. 
ee ey 
