hod 
é "y \ 
THE SHRINKAGE OF MARKET HAY. 
| Tapie III. SS nt variously used by growers to describe the condition of hay when Duk : nye 
into the barn, stack, or bale. ae 
[Actual condition of the hay.] aes 
bie: 
. oe ed ba aes ; Overcured: Stems brit- 
Undercured: Stems full] content too high. avet cured: Entire) tle. Leaves dead, dry, ge 
-of sap but leaves dead | Highdegreeoffermen-| Plantcuredoutevenly; andsunburnt. Will be ih. 
and dry. Spontaneous! tation indicated, con-| 204Sufficiently. Will| little or no shrinkage; = 
combustion and heavy siderable shrinkage, have a normal shrink- | possibly a gain in wa- , 
shrinkage indicated. destruction of dry age and make “‘choice ter in storage. Will 
matter, and possibly hay. make medium to poor 
discoloration. quality of hay. 
GiGGll S Basase Ree aeE re GOCE ee ee EN cee Hera crc tall Sate epg seee seeee e pep ered ero 
Slightly green............ Slightlyrereeme ass ees eee SEN eas 
UND) a aa le SS FR ous ee es ae MAD Ted SAB eI aie oe 
“AD ENON) es ae eee aera PAIN PSA: ss jane she ee a= Damp ceaties scons 
Se FSS SO ae OO aan a Pairly OGY ose et ce ear hyc@bys oer 
eae ee eee no 524) Pairly welleured....222|)Kairly well curede. = 32: 
Re esse aS a nie ic Sees Sage eee aS wckiowins Wellcured............-- 
epee Sa Seas aieie wes SDT yps ese cies eS ea Ve Uy ERs Spee am er ae a ee a y 
Set SARC ee ee CunreGSaccece ec oon se EOCUTCO et eset seme ee (Our eds 
ie CES EM GRE Sees In good condition. ......| In good condition. ......| In good condition. 
pee puccess fully cured= 232 pupcesshay: Cunecdas ss Buccesstary cured. 
Tee eee mire Sree LAH Gx ners Ce tet ae eons | SUIAM Gis cp ee ee ree 
MCE EES Hsia Sears rep or ana eady GosnaWl ssc Readystovhaul- aa assee. Ready to haul. 
oe EEE ae SRS eS Ea ei Er eC Se A In good shape........-.- Tn good shape. 
SSSI E OR S COST SSO AC ESCs ape ree a espa eer Ready to bale...........| Ready to bale. 
Swath-cured=.-... 1.5. Swath-cured...........- Swath-cured.:....2:.-2. Swath-cured. 
Windrow-cured.....-..... | Windrow-cured......... Windrow-cured.......-- Windrow-cured. 
@unedsnicock= 22222223. Cunediim: cocks s22acse =e @uredamcocksseeees 5 -= Cured in cock. 
Cured in bunch.......... Cured in bunch......... Cured in bunch........- Cured in bunch. 
Micld-curedsa< =. sscesnases Hreld=cured ess. =e oe Field-cured........ Stee ese Field-cured. 
Many of these terms are used interchangeably, and often it will 
be found that a term which means one thing in one locality willmean  _ 
something else in another. Thus ‘‘tough’’ hay may be either hay 
that is undercured or hay that has been thoroughly cured out but has 
become dampened by dew or rain. The terms ‘“‘successfully cured,” 
“ready to haul,’ ‘‘swath-cured,’’ ‘‘bunch-cured”’ or ‘‘windrow- 
cured,’’ are all more or less confusing and are interpreted differently 
by individual haymakers. To one, ‘‘dry’’ hay in the field is hay 
that is ready to haul to the barn or stack but will be subject to a 
normal amount of shrinkage. To another, ‘‘dry”’ hay is hay that 
has been overcured, while those who bale from the field think of 
‘‘dry”’ hay as hay ready for baling without serious heating or loss 
of moisture in the bale. 
Tt is only natural that hay producers should occasonally describe 
conditions of field-cured hay in local terms that are misleading to 
farmers in other parts of the country. There is less excuse, how-— 
ever, for the spreading of the same confusion by official scientific —_ 
publications. : 
A review of the literature on shrinkage experiments shows that A 
sometimes investigators themselves do not understand clearly what 
constitutes hay, or at least they have not used terms that accurately 
describe the material with which they were experimenting. a 
In experiment 5, page 5, ‘‘well-cured” hay lost 22.6 per cent by = 
shrinkage, while in experiment 11, page 5, hay that was only “fairly a 
well cured”’ lost only one-half as much, or 11.2 per cent. 
