Hay harvest

“ Now it is just before, or during, or at the very end of that rain—but not later—that grass should be cut for hay. True, upland grass, which is always thin, should be cut earlier than the grass in the bottoms and along the water meadows; but not even the latest, even in the wettest seasons, should be left (as it is) to flower and even to seed. For what we get when we store our grass is not a harvest of something ripe, but a thing just caught in its prime before maturity: as witness that our corn and straw are best yellow, but our hay is best green. ”

“ When grown for seed, the tendency of the pods to split and to drop the seed compels early cutting, and that makes curing more difficult. The mower is the only practical harvester on most farms, and the swath must be turned out of the way of the horses to save tramping. A side-delivery attachment can do the work. This is the best practice when cut for hay. When used for mixing with corn in a silo, the self-binder is satisfactory. The hay and seed crop must have thorough field-curing in windrow and bunches, and the harvest comes in a season when cold rains may prevail. ”

“ It required but half the expense and labor to make it ready that either of the others required, and no sooner had he drilled in the wheat than there came a shower that made it spring up, so that he could almost see it growing.
The planting being done, he waited patiently for the harvest. Then the stony field yielded him a good crop of hay, which he got safely into his barn without a single wetting; the field with the thin light soil gave a fair crop of oats—enough to feed his stock during the winter ”

“ The seed will germinate and grow as easily as common oats. 2d. It maintains a deep green color all seasons of the year. 3d. Its roots descend deeply into the subsoil, enabling this grass to withstand a protracted drouth. 4th. Its early growth in spring makes it equal to rye for pasturage. 5th. In the next year after sowing it is ready to cut for hay, the middle of May—not merely woody stems, but composed in a large measure of a mass of long blades of foliage. The crop of hay can be cut and cured, and stowed away in stack or barn, long before winter wheat harvest begins. ”

“ The increase in the acreage of hay has been especially rapid since 1880, the area devoted to it having doubled between 1880 and 1900, the greatest part of this gain being made in the earlier of the two decades, corresponding to the period in which there was a decadence in wheat culture. The prairie region was easily adaptable to the raising of this crop. Moreover, the increased attention given to cattle and horses, and the need of putting the soil under grass to improve its productivity in the older States, have tended to develop this crop. ”

“ 'Never mind the milk, comrades!' cried Napoleon, placing himself in front of the buckets. 'That will be attended to. The harvest is more important. Comrade Snowball will lead the way. I shall follow in a few minutes. Forward, comrades! The hay is waiting.'
So the animals trooped down to the hayfield to begin the harvest, and when they came back in the evening it was noticed that the milk had disappeared. ”

“ The high content of protein makes it exceptionally valuable for young animals and milk cows, and the manure contains a high percentage of nitrogen. The difficulty in making the hay is a drawback, but this is over-rated. While rain discolors the vines and makes them unattractive in appearance, the hay remains more palatable and nutritious than good timothy, if the leaves are not lost in curing. When the first pods turn yellow, the crop should be harvested. The vines can be left in the swath until the top leaves begin to burn and then be put into windrows with a sulky hay-rake. ”

“ Nor is this mistake in haymaking peculiar to the west coast, but much too common over all the country. Even in Morayshire and about Inverness the hay crop is, as a rule, allowed to ripen over-much. If it were cut ten days or a fortnight earlier it would weigh more, smell sweeter, be more nutritious, and better every way than under the present system, which allows it not merely to ripen, but to more than ripen, to wither up and lose most of its sap and seed before it is cut and secured. It may, perhaps, be laid down as an axiom that root crops cannot be allowed to ripen over-much ”

“ The yield will depend upon the land and on the moisture supply, and cannot be prophesied. One grower reports three tons of hay per acre near Napa. If the land usually yields a good hay crop, it should yield a greater weight of vetch. In mowing for hay purposes it is desirable to raise the vetch off the ground to facilitate the action of the mower. Oats would be better than wheat, because rather quicker in winter growth. If the vetch is to be fed green, rye is a good grain, but not good for hay purposes because of the hardness of the stem. ”

“ Up to my ears in soft grass laughs the fat ox. Sweet pastures make sound butter. Soft hay makes strong wool. These are some of the maxims of the meadow. The grass seed to sow depends upon the soil and here every man must be his own judge. Not every farmer, however, knows the grass adapted to his soil. If he does and seeds by the bushel, or other measures, he is apt to be misled.
Including millet and Hungarian there were in Kansas this year 3,730,150 acres of land devoted to the raising of hay. The yield per acre was 1.61 tons, or a total product of 6,002,576 tons. ”

“ Like the cow and sheep, he may be made to subsist on animal food, fish, and almost every species of nutritious vegetable. But his natural and proper aliment is the grasses, grain, and roots. In the middle and northern sections of this country, his dry forage is almost invariably good meadow-hay, generally timothy, which is the richest of the cultivated grasses. At the South, this is often supplied by the blades of Indian corn. But in all the states, a great variety of the grasses and clover are used.
When put to hard labor, grain ought always to accompany hay in some form. ”

“ Under these circumstances it will not surprise those who care for such matters to hear that our hay crop, about which we were in such anxiety, has been secured in splendid condition, in such condition, indeed, as we can rarely boast of in the West Highlands. Our meadow hay crop, too, is this year unusually heavy, and already, in obedience to the adage which teaches that it is well and wise to make one’s hay while the sun shines, we are all busy getting it cut down and secured, although the old, orthodox season is not yet for a fortnight to come—about old Lammastide. ”

“ The stones and small rocks have been removed, leaving the surface of the soil smooth, and allowing the use of the sub-soil plow, which with the under-drains have more than doubled the productive power of the farm. Sufficient labor is employed to cultivate with improved tools, extensive root crops, and they invariably give a large yield. The grass land produces a yearly average of 21⁄2 tons of hay per acre. From 80 to 100 bushels of corn, 30 bushels of wheat, and 45 bushels of oats are the average of the crops reaped. ”

“ Great big slices of bunloaf, dark and full of soft, juicy raisins, and tea, the best tea you ever tasted, for tea never tastes so nice as when you drink it under a hedge and out of a ginger beer bottle.
Haymaking is better fun than sheep-washing and lasts longer. It is not all over in a day. There are such a lot of things to do. The hay has to be cut and tossed and dried and piled into haycocks before it is ready to be heaved high on pitchforks on the top of a waggon that is to carry it away to the farm. And after all when you have made hay in one field you can go and make it another. ”

“ The six-rowed varieties—notably Mensury and Odessa—have been found best adapted for general cultivation. They can be sown later than any other grain, and mature so early as to escape danger from autumn frosts. It nearly always happens that the straw is stiff and bright and that the ears fill well.
With regard to fodder crops, I learnt that farmers in newly-settled districts have no need for them, abundance of excellent hay being obtainable from the natural prairie grass on the lower lands and water meadows. ”

“ But where there is much seed in the land that has been self-sown, a less quantity will suffice. Where hay crops are wanted from year to year on the same land, it may be obtained by simply disking the land and re-sowing. If the [Pg 287] hay is allowed to approach maturity before being cut, sufficient seed will fall to re-sow the land for the next year's crop, but the quality of hay so ripe is not so good as if cut earlier. In pastures, the grazing must not be too close when self-seeding is wanted.
Pasturing.—Japan clover is much used in providing grazing in the South. ”

“ We think our farmers err in not sowing enough kinds of seed together.
The objects to be secured are very early grass in the spring, a heavy body of hay, a rapid after-growth, and the greatest amount which the soil can yield. No one grass can be found capable of meeting all these ends. Some are very early, but not heavy enough or sufficiently nutritious for the main crop; others are admirable for hay, but do not start readily again after cutting. ”

“ The term "wild and woolly West" is said to have originated from the "prairie wool," or natural hay, which is specially luxuriant on dried-up sloughs. It is a grass with a fluffy, golden-brown plume. But this natural hay can only be cut every other year, hence many farmers are sowing hay seeds as well. The wagon which they use for carting hay and wheat has enormously high rack-like sides. On this farm, when carting hay, an immense canvas sheet with rings at the corners is put in the wagon and the hay piled up on it. ”

“ It is but one-third, or one-half the labor to do this, that the other mode requires, and the saving in this makes up, and perhaps more than makes up for the increased quantity of forage consumed. Again, climate may equally affect the mode of winter feeding the stock. The winters may be mild. The hay may be stacked in the fields, when gathered, or put into small barns built for hay storage alone; and the manure, scattered over the fields by the cattle, as they are fed from either of them, may be knocked to pieces with the dung-beetle, in the spring, or harrowed and bushed over the ground ”

“ Stiff or clayey pastures should never be overstocked, but when fed pretty close the grasses are far sweeter and more nutritious than when they are allowed to grow up rank and coarse; and if, by a want of sufficient feeding, they get the start of the stock, and grow into rank tufts, they should be cut and removed, when a fresh grass will start up, similar to the aftermath of mowing-lands, which will be eaten with avidity. Grasses for curing into hay should be cut either at the time of flowering, or just before, especially if designed for milch cows. ”

“ Farmers Guide says:—With alfalfa more generally grown throughout Indiana we are hearing less complaint regarding hay crop failures. In fact, some farmers who have taken our advice and tried the crop are now saying that they are having all they can do to take care of their crops of hay. Think of cutting four or even three crops of good hay from the same area each season. Isn’t it worth being busy and not going fishing when a farmer can do that? It means an enormous saving in high-priced land when ten acres will produce as much hay as thirty or more formerly did, and hay better in quality also. ”

“ I know that for me it is far better to purchase what hay will be needed to feed through the winter than to attempt to grow it. Besides, our village lots are much too small to be profitably converted into hay fields, and even if there should be more land than is necessary to furnish the soiling crops for summer feeding, it is usually much better economy to employ the same in the cultivation of small fruits, which, as I have before stated, more than pays for what hay is required, besides supplying us with many luxuries. ”

“ In earlier times, making grass hay that would be nutritious enough to maintain the health of cattle required cutting the grass before, or just at, the first appearance of seed stalks. Not only did early harvesting greatly reduce the bulk yield, it usually meant that without concern for cost or hours of labor the grass had to be painstakingly dried at a time of year when there were more frequent rains and lower temperatures. ”

“ The hungry cattle would graze down all the soft, juicy young buds and leaves, wandering at will over the valleys, under charge only of the herdsman. When haymaking became general the cattle were confined in spring and early summer, and the fields of "mowing grass" appeared, and nourished year by year the plants peculiar to this form of cultivation. The proof that this is so may be seen in the New Forest. There the private fields, carefully protected during the spring, from the tread or bite of cattle, and mown yearly in the summer, have all the wealth of flowers peculiar to our hay-meadows. ”

“ The choice of hay may be one between a crop of beggar weed and no crop at all. All are agreed as to the renovation which it brings to soils; hence, when grown or allowed to grow on unproductive soil for a few years and then plowed under, the soil becomes productive. Since it grows late rather than early in the season where the seed is in the land, it will not interfere with the growth of the corn, but will come on later, and thus exert a beneficial influence on the soil. ”