Silage is made by cutting the corn when green into small pieces. This is a very convenient arrangement for the dairyman who uses a feedlot instead of a pasture. In the winter when the pastures are covered with snow and ice dairymen use the feedlot procedure to feed the grain and hay they have stored during the summer. If the weather is very severe, the dairyman feeds the herd in the barn. To prepare hay or roughage for storage, the farmer and his crew cut the hay using a tractor and mower.
Most fields can produce three and sometimes four cuttings of hay.
Here we see the tractor fitted with a mower to cut the hay. Many different types of machinery are needed on a farm. After it is cut, the hay is allowed to dry in the field before it is baled. This machine gathers up the cut hay, packs it into bales, and binds the bales with wire or twine. The bales are then taken back to the farm and stored in the loft where they can be easily tossed down to the feedlot.