HAV AND SILAGE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 8 April 1940, Page 9

HAV AND SILAGE

PROGRAMME AT RUAKURA. TRYING OUT MODIFICATIONS. A great deal of work has boon done in recent years in other countries on the time of cutting, composition and feeding value of grass for hay and silage and also in connection with the alteration and loss in nutritive value which occurs during the processes of making hay and silage under varying conditions. At the last meeting of the Ruakura Farm Advisory Committee it was stated that the proposals for the programme of work to start in 1940-41 were being drawn up and the aim was! to try out modifications of the farm’s present methods of hay and silage making. The proposals ' also included modifications to give hay and silage of high nutritive value and which appeared to be practical and would not unduly increase the cost of production. It was pointed out at the meeting that as pasture growth matures for hay and silage crops the protein decreases and the fibre increases with maturity. Although a great deal of work had been done overseas on the stage of cutting in relation to yields of dry matter, protein, etc, information on the yields and composition of Waikato pastures cut for hay and silage was quite inadequate. On the feed flavour farm at Ruakura it was proposed to close fields which had been hard winter grazed and early winter grazed; to shut up sections of these fields early and late; to measure the production and composition of the green material and aftermath production. This work would be repeated for three or four seasons.

LOSS FROM RAIN. Rain, it was stated, caused the greatest loss at haymaking, while losses were also caused by sun bleaching, largely through mechanical losses of brittle leaves. The aim in haymaking should be to dry quickly and yet avoid overbleaching by the sun. When the weather was favourable hay might be made, if expeditiously collected. When light rain slightly delayed the curing, the loss might reach 25 to 30 per cent and when considerable rain rendered the drying slow the tosses might reach 30 to 40 per cent. These represented the total loss in feeding value, which herbage underwent under conditions of good hay management in the interval between cutting the grass and feeding out as hay five to seven months later. With really bad weather and indifferent curing losses might reach 66 per cent of the total digestible nutrients. Hay made by modern machinery is often inferior to that .made by old hand methods. The general practice is to mow the crop, leave it in the swath, for several days wjth little or no swath turning or tedding, until it is practically dry right through, when it is raked together and stacked. Generally the top layer of the swath becomes over dried and bleached. Experiments in shaking out the swath immediately after cutting have shown that, the drying rate is increased. A broken swath must, however, bo windrowed in the evening, but breaking the, l swath is harmful if rain intervenes.

TREATMENTS TO BE TESTED. To secure data on the drying rate of hay under varying conditions of management the following treatments will be given to each of the special fields at the farm: —(1) Bulk of the field left in the swath to cure; a small area turned early, a small area turned and windrowed and a small area tedded early, and windrowed. (2) Bulk of the field' tedded soon after cutting and windrowed; a small area left to cure in

swath. (3) Bulk of field tedded, windrowed and cocked (with a small area of cocks built in tripods) and small areas left in swath and windrows after tedding. Moisture samples will be taken hourly and bulk samples at time of stacking.