HAY, grass mown and dried in the sun and used as fodder for cattle. It is properly applied only to the grass when cut, but is often also used of the standing crop. In the United States various legumes are cut for hay, as below described. Another word "hay," meaning a fence, must be distinguished; the root from which it is derived is seen in its doublet "hedge," cf. "haw-thorn," i.e., "hedge thorn." In this sense it survives in legal history in "hay bote," i.e., hedge-bote, the right of a tenant, copyholder, etc., to take wood to repair fences, hedges, etc. (see ESTOVERS), and also in "hayward" an official of a manor whose duty was to protect the enclosed lands from cattle breaking out of the common land.
The term "haymaking" signifies the process of drying and curing grass or other herbage so as to fit it for storage in stacks or sheds for future use. It was unknown in ancient times. Be fore its introduction into Great Britain the animals intended for beef and mutton were slaughtered in autumn and salted down; the others were turned out to fend for themselves, and often lost all the fat in the winter they had gained the previous sum mer.
Though every country has its own methods of haymaking, the principal stages in the process everywhere are (I) mowing, (2) drying or "making," (3) "carrying" and storage in stacks or sheds.
In a wet district such as the west of Ireland the "making" is a difficult affair, and large quantities of hay are of ten spoiled. On the other hand, in the dry districts of south-eastern England, it is of ten possible to cut and carry the hay without any special "making" as the sun and wind will dry it quickly enough to fit it for stacking up without much labour. This rule also applies to dry countries like the United States and several of the British colonies, and it is for this reason that most of the modern imple ments used for quickly handling a bulk of hay have been invented or improved in those countries. Forage of all kinds intended for hay should be cut at or before the flowering stage if possible. The full growth and food value of the plant are reached then, and further change consists in the formation and ripening of the seed at the expense of the leaves and stems, leaving these hard and woody and of less feeding value.
Grass or other forage, when growing, contains much water, and of ter cutting must be left to dry in the sun and wind, a process which may at times be assisted by turning over or shak ing up. In fine weather in the south of England grass is sufficiently dried in from two to four days to be stacked straight away. In the drying process the 75% of water usually present should be reduced to approximately 15% in the hay, and in wet or broken weather it is exceedingly difficult to do this. With a heavy crop or in damp weather grass may need turning in the swathe, raking up into "windrows" and then making up into cocks or "guiles," i.e., round bee-hive-like heaps, before it can be "carried." A prop erly made cock will stand bad weather for a week, as only the outside straws are weathered, and therefore the hay is kept fresh and green. Indeed, it is a good rule always to cock hay, for even in sunny weather undue exposure ends in bleaching, which is almost as detrimental to its quality as wet-weathering.
wide, but with the wide cut of the present day it becomes im practicable. If the hay is turned and "made" at all, the operation is now generally performed by a machine made for the purpose. There is a wide selection of "tedders" or "kickers" and "swathe turners" on the market. (See TEDDER.) It is a moot point, however, whether grass should be turned at all, or left to "make" as it falls from the mowing machine. In a dry sunny season and with a moderate crop it is only a waste of time and labour to turn it, for it will be cured quite well as it lies, especially if raked up into loose "windrows" a little before carrying to the stack. On the other hand, where the crop is heavy (say over 2 tons per acre) or the climate is wet, turning will be necessary.
With heavy crops of clover, lucerne and similar forage crops turning may be an absolute necessity, because a thick swathe of a succulent crop will be difficult to dry or "make" excepting in hot sunny weather, but with ordinary meadow grass or with a mixture of "artificial" grasses, it may often be dispensed with. It must be remembered, however, that the process of turning breaks the stalks (thus letting out the albuminoid and saccharine juices) and should be avoided as far as possible in order to save both labour and the quality of the hay.
The tipping is effected by pulling down a handle which sets a leverage device in motion, whereby the teeth are lifted up and the load of hay dropped below and left behind. On some rakes a clutch is worked by the driver's foot, and this put in action causes the ordinary forward revolving motion of the driving wheels to do the tipping.
The loads are tipped end to end as the rake passes and re passes at the work, and thus the hay is left loose in long parallel rows on the field. Each row is termed a "windrow," the passage of the wind through the hay greatly aiding the drying and "making" thereof. When hay is in this form it may either be carried direct to the stack if sufficiently "made," or else put into the cocks to season a little longer. The original width of horse rakes was about 8f t., but nowadays they range up to 16 and 18 feet. The width should be suited to that of the swathe as left by the mower, and as the latter is now made to cut 5 and 6ft. wide, it is necessary to have a rake to cover two widths. The very wide rakes are only suitable for even, level land ; those of less width must be used where the land has been laid down in ridge and furrow. As the swathes lie in long parallel rows, it is a great convenience in working for two to be taken in width at a time, so that the horse can walk in the space between.
The side-delivery rake, a development of the ordinary horse rake, is a useful implement, adapted for gathering and laying a quantity of hay in one continuous windrow. It is customary with this to go up the field throwing two swathes to one side, and then back down on the adjacent swathes, so that thus four are thrown into one central windrow. The implement consists of a frame carried on two wheels with shafts for a horse; across the frame are fixed travelling or revolving prongs of different varieties which pick up the hay off the ground and pass it along sideways across the line of travel, leaving it in one continuous line. Some makes of swathe-turners are designed to do this work as well as the turning of the hay.
Perhaps the greatest improvement of modern times is the method of carrying the hay from the field to the stack. An American invention known as the sweep rake was introduced by the writer into England in 1894, and now, in many modified forms, is in very general use in the Midlands and south of Eng land, where the hay is carried from the cock, windrow or swathe straight to the stack. This implement consists of a wheeled framework fitted with long wooden iron-pointed teeth which slide along the ground; two horses are yoked to it--one at each side —the driver directing from a central seat behind the framework. When in use it is taken to the farther end of a row of cocks, a windrow, or even to a row of untouched swathes on the ground and walked forward. As it advances it scoops up a load, and when full it is drawn up to where the stack is being erected. In ordinary circumstances the sweep rake will pick up at a load two-thirds of an ordinary cart-load, hut, where the hay is in good order and it is swept down hill, a whole one-horse cart-load can be carried each time. The drier the hay the better will the sweep rake work, and if it is not working sweetly, but has a tendency to clog or make rolls of hay, it may be inferred that the latter is not in a condition fit for stacking. Where the loads must be taken through a gateway or a long distance to the stack, it is necessary to use carts or wagons, and the loading of these in the field out of the windrow is largely expedited by the use of the "loader," also an American invention of which many varieties are in the market. Generally speaking, it consists of a frame carrying a revolving web with tines or prongs. The im plement is hitched on behind a cart or wagon, and as it moves forward the web picks the loose hay off the ground and delivers it on the top, where a man levels it with a pitchfork and builds it into a load ready to move to the stack. At the stack the most convenient method of transferring the hay from a cart, wagon or sweep rake is the elevator, a tall structure with a revolving web which carries teeth or spikes. The hay is thrown upon it in forkfuls at the bottom, a pony-gear causes the web to revolve, and the hay is carried in an almost continuous stream up the elevator and dropped over the top on to the stack. The whole implement is made to fold down, and is provided with wheels so that it can be moved from stack to stack. In the older forms there is a "hopper" or box at the bottom into which the hay is thrown to enable the teeth of the web to catch it, but in the modern forms there is no hopper, the web reaching down to the ground so that hay can be picked up from the ground level. Where the hay is brought to the stack on carts or wagons it can be unloaded by means of the horse fork. This is an adaptation of the principle of the ordinary crane ; a central pole and jib are supported by guy ropes, and from the end of the jib a rope runs over a pulley. At the end of this rope is a "fork" formed of two sets of prongs which open and shut. This is lowered on to the load of hay, the prongs are forced into it, a horse pulls at the other end of the rope, and the prongs close and "grab" several hundredweight of hay which are swung up and dropped on the stack. In this way a large cart or wagon load is hoisted on to the stack in three or four "forkfuls." The horse fork is not suited for use with the sweep rake, however, because the hay is brought up to the stack in a loose flat heap without sufficient body for the fork to get hold of.
In Scotland and wet districts of England it is customary to "make" the hay as in the south, but it is then built up into little stacks in the field where it grew (ricks, pykes or tramp-cocks are names used for these in different districts), each containing about in to 15 hundredweight. These a-e made in the same way as the ordinary stack—one person on top building, another on the ground pitching up the hay—and are carefully roped and raked down. In these the hay gets a preliminary sweating or tempering while at the same time it is rendered safe from the weather, and, thus stored, it may remain for weeks before being carried to the big stacks at the homestead. The practice of put ting up the hay into little ricks in the field has brought about the introduction of another set of implements for carrying these to the stackyard.
Various forms of rick-lifters are in use, the characteristic feature of which is a tipping platform on wheels to which a horse is attached between the shafts. The vehicle is backed against a rick, and a chain passed round the bottom of the latter, which is then pulled up the slant of the tipped platform by means of a small windlass. When the centre of the balance is passed, the platform carrying the rick tips back to the level, and the whole is thus loaded ready to move. Another variety of loader is formed of three shear-legs with block and tackle. These are placed over a rick, under which the grab-irons are passed, and the whole hauled up by a horse. When high enough a cart is backed in below, the rick lowered, and the load is ready to carry away.
Hay often becomes musty when the weather during "making" has been too wet to allow of its getting sufficiently dry for stacking. Mustiness is caused by the growth of various moulds (Penicillium Aspergillus, etc.) on the damp stems, with the result that the hay when cut out for use is dusty and shows white streaks and spots. Such hay is inferior to that which has been overheated, and in practice it is found that a strong heating will prevent mouldiness by killing the fungi.
Heavy lush crops—especially those containing a large pro portion of clover or other leguminous plants—are proportionately more difficult to "make" than light grassy ones. Thus, if one ton is taken as a fair yield off one acre, a two-ton crop will probably require four times as much work in curing as the smaller crop. In the treacherous climate of Great Britain hay is frequently spoiled because the weather does not hold good long enough to permit of its being properly "made." Consequently many ex perienced haymakers regard a moderate crop as the more profit able because it can be stacked in first-class condition, whereas a heavy crop forced by "high farming" is grown at a loss, owing to the weather waste and the heavier expense involved in secur ing it.
The making of the hay by drying out the grass is thus the most critical part of the work, and as far back as the 'dos of last century trials were made in Essex of machinery whereby a blast of air heated in a furnace was blown through the stuff so as to dry it artificially. At the present time similar work is being done at Oxford, whereby, by building the stacks of half-dried hay with a hollow boss inside and an arrangement of pipes, hot air is forced through the material and thus the moisture is driven out in a cloud of vapour.
In handling or marketing out of the stack hay may be trans ported loose on a cart or wagon, but it is more usual to truss or bale it. A truss is a rectangular block cut out of the solid stack, usually about aft. long and aft. wide, and of a thickness sufficient to give a weight of 56 lb.; 36 of these constitute a "load" of 18 cwt.—the unit of sale in many markets. A truss is generally bound with two bands of twisted straw, but if it has to undergo much handling it is compressed in a hay-press and tied with two string bands. In some districts a baler is used : a square box with a compressible lid. The hay is tumbled in loose ; the lid forced down by a leverage arrangement and the bale tied by three strings. It is usually made to weigh from i to s hundredweight. The customs of different markets vary very much in their methods of handling hay, and in the overseas hay trade the size and style of the trusses or bales are adapted for packing on ship-board.
(P. McC.) The United States.—Hay is one of the four major field crops of the United States. In value it is usually outranked only by corn (maize) and cotton and in some years only by corn. In 1926 and 1927 it was the leading crop in total farm value in 16 impor tant States. Hay is fundamental to the live stock industries of the entire country and is the chief feed when pasture grasses are not available. In the western States, alfalfa hay assumes the same relative importance in agriculture that corn possesses in the Mis sissippi valley States. In the United States, approximately 85% of all hay produced is fed to live stock in the counties where it is produced, while the remaining 15% is marketed, mostly as baled hay.
The principal kinds of hay grown in the United States, in the order of importance, are: timothy and its mixtures; alfalfa; wild hay ; clover ; miscellaneous cultivated grasses, such as bluegrass, redtop, and Johnson grass; annual legumes, such as soy beans, cowpeas, and vetches ; and grains, such as oats and wheat, cut prior to maturity. Timothy and its mixtures, including clover, are of chief importance in the north Atlantic and east north central States, where the relatively cool, humid climates are most favour able for their growth. Alfalfa ranks first in the western, south western, and west north central States, where porous soils and relatively dry climates favour it. Wild hays grow in greatest quantity in the north central and south central prairie States, usually on stony, wet, slightly alkaline, sandy or gumbo soils unsuitable for cultivated crops. Annual legume hays are supreme in the east south central and south Atlantic States, where the soil and climatic conditions are generally not favourable for perennial hay crops such as timothy or alfalfa. Grain hay is produced in greatest quantity in the Pacific coast States, where, without irriga tion, the foothill areas are too dry in the summer to support perennial hay crops.
The acreage of legume hays, principally alfalfa, clover and soy beans, has increased rapidly in the United States since 1 goo, wherever soil and climate are favourable. Legume hay has sup planted much grass hay characteristic of the early period of American agriculture. The rapidly increasing popularity of legume hays is due to the following facts: (I) They yield a greater ton nage of hay per acre than grass hays ; (2) they improve the fer tility of the soil because of their ability to assimilate atmospheric nitrogen and fix it in the soil in forms available to plant life, whereas grass hays deplete nitrogen in the soil ; and (3) they have a much higher feed value than grass hays. Alfalfa is a more nearly perfect forage for animals than any other crop. Its protein content is two to three times higher than timothy; it contains other nutri ents of great importance in the feeding of all forms of live stock; and it yields two to three times more hay per acre than timothy.
Hay-making in the United States is accomplished largely by machinery that has been designed to cut, rake, load, haul and store the hay with a minimum of hand labour. Mowers, drawn by two horses, and having sickle-bars 5 to 8ft. in length, will cut down to 'sac. of standing hay in a working day of Io hours. After cutting, the hay is allowed to wilt in the swath until the moisture has been reduced by evaporation from 7o% or more to from 4o to 5o%. It is then raked into windrows with either sulky or side delivery rakes, drawn by two horses and having a capacity of 2oac. per day. In very humid or very hot climates the windrowed hay is sometimes put up in cocks by hand labour and the curing completed in the cocks. On most hay farms no cocking is done, however, because of the expense of hand labour, and curing is accomplished in the windrows to that point at which the hay con tains 25 to 3o% of moisture and though still slightly tough is yet sufficiently dry to go into storage where the final curing and sweat ing processes take place. In making legume hays, the most prac tical method of curing is the use of the side-delivery rake that rolls the hay into loose cylindrical windrows through which winds pass easily to hasten drying and in which the majority of the leaves are preserved from bleaching and shattering. In humid climates the common practice is to load the cured hay on wagons from the windrows by means of a hay-loader which picks up the hay and elevates it on an endless track to the wagon-rack where usually two men fork and tramp the hay into a compact load. The loads are then hauled to barns or sheds, where, by means of nets or a large fork, the hay is lifted with tackle, pulleys and horse-power into the mow. In arid and semi-arid climates the common practice is to move the cured hay from the windrows with sweep-rakes or low-built sleds to central knolls in the fields, where stacks of 15 to ma tons are built. Stacking is accomplished by derricks or other stacking devices which utilize tackle, pulleys and horse-power to lift 40o to 800lb. of hay at a time on to the stacks, where men with forks spread and tramp the hay into a symmetri cal, sloping-sided stack that will shed light rains or snows.
Hay is commonly allowed to sweat and ferment slightly in the stacks or mows prior to feeding or shipping to market. Well-cured and sweated hay contains io to 14% of moisture, and in this con dition can be shipped long distances without damage unless it becomes wet in loading or transit. Hay for market shipment is compressed into bales of various kinds and sizes weighing from 6o to 3oolb. each, and tied with from two to five wires to hold the compressed hay in a compact mass. The presses which make the bales are usually operated by engine power and are portable, so that they may be transported from one field or one farm to another. In the most common type of press, loose hay is pitched into a hopper, whence it is drawn into a chamber in which a plunger is forced back and forth to pack the hay into "flakes" within the four walls of the chamber. When a sufficient number of these flakes have been pressed together to form a bale of standard size, several wires are passed around the compressed mass of hay and the ends tied. The bale is then released from the press and the process of compressing and tying is repeated. The capacity of hay presses ranges from 15 to 6o tons per day of io working hours according to the size and power of the press, the size of the crew and the availability of the loose hay. In some regions hay baling is done in the fields, the hay being fed into the press directly from the windrows or smaller presses drawn by horses from one haycock to another. In other regions the presses are placed in barn driveways or beside stacks and the loose hay is pitched into the press from its place of storage.
The marketing and distribution of baled hay in the United States is a large business. From 1921 to 1927, nearly 600,000 car lots of baled hay were loaded annually. Other large but undeter mined quantities are transported by trucks directly from producer to consumer. The chief hay markets in the United States are Kansas City, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, Omaha, St. Louis, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, New York, Boston, Seattle, St. Paul and Minneapolis, Denver, Memphis, New Orleans, Houston, Fort Worth, Atlanta, Birmingham and Jacksonville. Before 1910 the most important market demand for baled hay arose from the feeders of horses and mules in the cities, mines, logging and con struction camps. With the advent of automobiles, motor trucks and tractors the horses in cities decreased approximately 7o% from 191 o to 1925, and the market demand, therefore, for timothy and other grass hays has been greatly curtailed. The reduction in the demand for baled timothy and other grass hays for horse feeding has been offset, however, by the increased demand from the expanding dairy industry of the country for baled legume hays, especially alfalfa and clover. Specialized dairy management depends on specialized hay production for large quantities of legume forage, and thus the hay marketing business has become one largely associated with dairying. Other important sources of regular demand are the stock-yards at meat-packing plants and railway division points, the U.S. Army, and the specialized agricultural industries, such as cotton and fruit farming.
Standards of quality for hay have been formulated by the U.S. department of agriculture. These standards provide three numeri cal grades for all kinds of hay based on definite colour and foreign material requirements. The grades for alfalfa hay also have a leafiness requirement. The grade or quality of hay varies largely according to the varying amounts of these factors. In addition to the numerical grades a sample grade is provided for hay that is unsound, badly weathered, badly overripe or badly stained, and that contains excessive amounts of foreign material or otherwise fails to meet the requirements of the numerical grades. Some of the complete grade designations in these standards are as follows: U.S. No. 2 Timothy, U.S. No. 1 Alfalfa, U.S. No. 3 Timothy Light Clover Mixed, U.S. No. 2 Alfalfa Light Grass Mixed, U.S. No. i Upland Prairie, U.S. Sample Grade Clover (musty), and U.S. Sample Grade Timothy (badly overripe). By means of these standards quality specifications may be written into a hay con tract as well as specifications of weight, price, time and place of delivery, etc. Official inspectors are maintained at important ship ping points and receiving markets to inspect lots of hay and to issue certificates of quality and condition, which may be used by shippers, dealers and others in marketing hay to evidence the ful filment of hay contracts as to quality. (E. C. P.)