THE FARM.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXV, Issue 4644, 4 January 1924, Page 1

THE FARM.

HAYMAKLW POINTS.

Apart from the degree of maturity reached by the crop before it is cut, the quality of hay depends largely upon the condition in which it i.s secured. When grass is dried, the plastic contents of the cells shrivel and crack, and if it ic subsequentlysoaked with rain the soluble matter is more or less completely washed out.

A,s much as 20 per cent, of the nutritive value may be lost in this ■way, and as the soluble substance is the most readily digested, the reduction In nutritive value is far greater than the figure mentioned would •.'ppear to indicate. In extreme cases the hay may be rendered absolutely worthless.

Hay which has been repeatedly dried and wet again is invariably musty. It is, therefore, distasteful to the animals, and is considered nio-e or less deleterious to their health.

When hay is well dried it suffers little or no change in the stack, and consequently retains the faint greem tolour which dried grass exhibits if s ecured without wetting. Meadow hay if cut before the flowers open and preserved under these conditions is practically free from moulds, and also in point of chemical composition is the best obtainable. The process of fermentation, whicn occurs when hay is stacked before the sap is completely dried out, resembles slow combustion in some respects, some of the nutritive substance is consumed, with consequent loss of weight and deterioration of quality, and heat is given out.

'"'.(’he rate of fermentation depends cheifly upon the amount of moisture. When it is fairly rapid, the temperature rises to a point at which caramelisation (burning) of the carbohydrates begins, and the product is ca’led brown hay. It has a strong, but not objectionable, odour, and is relished by the animals partly because the alcoholic and ethereal residues impart an agreeable flavour ,to it, and partly because the temperature attained destroys ot inhibits the growth of moulds. More often than not, probably, in stacking hay the rakings are gathered when all the rest of the hay has been carted in. It is better and more economical to incorporate the rakings with the bulk of the hay by bringing hi portion of them from time to time ivs the stack is being built. The rakings are of course drier than the bulk of the hay, and the occurrence of layers of rakings in the stack is particularly valuable if hay is being stacked before it has been dried as completely as one would like.