Hay Quality: Relation to Production and Feed Value

Report Introduction: A liberal supply of the highest quality of hay obtainable can generally be used to good advantage in the efficient production of livestock and livestock products. The hay crop of the United States has an estimated farm value of some $700,000,000 a year. There seems to be no doubt that millions of dollars are lost each year through unfamiliarity with certain important principles involved in the making of high-grade hay. The opinion appears justified that the feed value of the hay crop could be improved fully 25 percent by cutting at the right stage and by proper curing, handling, and storage to preserve the quality without materially increasing cost of production. In many instances the most economical way to increase the farm feed supply from hay would be to improve the quality rather than to increase the acreage. Hay probably varies more in quality than any other harvested feed crop grown on American farms. In the same locality and under almost identical conditions, there is a wide difference in the quality of hay, due largely to lack of understanding of the fundamentals of good haymaking and to the tendency among farmers to give less attention to the hay crop than to cash crops like cotton, corn, wheat, and tobacco. Barring bad weather at haying time, the quality of a hay crop is largely dependent upon the farmer's knowledge of haymaking practices and the care he exercises in curing, handling, and storing the crop.