Haymaking Can Be Speeded-up by New Crushing Machine

Taranaki Daily News, 30 September 1940, Page 21 (Supplement)

Haymaking Can Be Speeded-up by New Crushing Machine

With the developmeot of a new implement, new. methods of haymaking are likely to facilitate the work of harvesting when it is marketed in Taranaki. A few years ago nobody visualised the savin'gs iri costs and time now made available through the use of bullclozers, rotary hoes and giant discs. Similarly, few people have been able to look ahead and foresee quicker and better ways of converting growing crops into stores of winter food. A new -machinb. has now made its appearance in America. It .s a crusher which trails behind a mowirig machine and picks up the hay immediately it is cut. Stecl fingers feed the newly-mown hay between two steel rollers, as wide as the cutter. bar and operating in the manner of the wringer rolls of a washing machine. "The rollers crusn the stems, bring much of the juice within the stems to the surface and permit a

speed-up of the curing process to nbt much more than half the time usually required by conventional haymaking methods. The advantages of quick curing of hay are several. There is a reduction in the hazard of rain damage when the time is reduced that the hay remains in the field. Loss of essential nutricnt material from the hay is similarly reduced. Colour, with its accompanying carotene or vitamin content, is maintained much better when the curing tinie is shortened. One of the early users of the new method, while still in its experimental stages of development, was Frank Alvos, California alfajfa grower. He says: "I made some comparative cuts with my neighbour across the road." ' I waited five days after he cut, then I commenced cutting. . In four V.dayS,. Ii/hadi'-ctit,'- removed, baled . and lparketed mv hay and m y neighbour still had to wait thrco days before he was able to bale. and market. The university extension service checked .thi's test," finding that I had removed my hay in four day.s against 11 ahd 12 for my neighbour. I graded U.S. No, 1 leafy, extra green, with pliable, soft ' stems, getting a premium above market of five dollars per ton, whereas my neighbour graded ;-tJ.S. No. 2 and received market price for that grada. I was also able to irrigate Six days sooner than he." An average of about 20 per cent. moist-

ure is considered to be the proper stage at which hay should be removed from the field. Numerous tests have been conducted under controlled conditions at several State experiment ktations to determine the length of time needed to reduce the moisture content- of hay to this figure by conventional methods of harvest and by the crushing method. The following table gives the results of one series of tests:— Moisture No. of Moisture Moisture at time of hours of crushed of mower-

It is claimed that hay which has gone through the crusher will falT on the ground in a fluffier and' looser mass than in the case of the swath .immediately following the mower. It is -.fecommended, however, that crushed . Hay be windrowed with a side-delivery rake, just the same as in the case of hay not crushed. Windrowing with a side-delivery rake provides greater protection against bleaching in either kind of haymaking. The crushing machine trails either a horse-drawn or tractor mower. It conr sists of a pick-up arrangement and two steel rollers powered by a 6 h.p. airr cooled benzine motor. The total. net weight of the machine is 9251b. It rolls on small rubber-tyred wheels.

cutting. cured. hay; . : cut hay. % hours % %; 68 ' 6i 16 25 68 6i 12 28 75 12 16 28 .75 8 16 30. 78 8i 10 35 v.: 77 6 20 58'