Thomas County cat. [volume] (Colby, Kan.) 1885-1891, 1888-07-19
HARVESTING HAY.
4 Kansas Farmer Gives His Method and
Explains It's Economy.

Explains Its Economy.
J.F. True, of Newman, Kan, in q
paper on Economy in Raising, Saw
ing and Feeding Hay" read before an
annual meeting of the State Board Of
Agriculture and incorporated in its re-
port. made the following statements:
While timothy is the best hay grass
known to the farmers of Eastern Kan
sas if we were confined to one grass,
yet mixture of red clover causes q
much greater yield of any desirable
hay, especially for cattle or stock
horses. This increased yield is espe-
cially noticeable when the season is
very dry.
Harvesting the hay should begin
when the timothy is in early bloom and
the clover heads are more than half
dry. A little earlier would be better
for the clover, and little later for the
timothy if they were separate. Cut not
lower than three and half inches, as
the portion thus left is worth much
more as mulch for your meadow than
for hay, it being the most woody part.
This protection to your land during
hot, dry weather, will insure you q
much better aftergrowth. Though tim
othy and clover meadows will make q
second crop worth cutting, we think it
more profitable to pasture as a rule.
Hay should lie where the mower
drops it until sufficiently cured to 60 in
stack, barn or hay-shed. l have seen
more hay blacksned and damaged in
shock than in the swath, as in the lat
ter it dries quickly after a rain.
OF all the machines made for raising
hay on stack in the field or on the
wagon, there is nothing, in my opin-
ion, equal to two stout, willing Dutch
men. For putting in barn or large
hay-shed use horse fork. Such por-
ton of the crop as is designed for feed
ing in fall and early winter, when it is
not necessary to shelter stock, should
be stacked on parts of the meadow
where the soil is poorest, in ricks not
less than fourteen feet wide, around
poles set three feet in the ground and
extending above the top of the rick,
one pole for twenty-four foot rick, two
or more for larger one. This is
much the most economical way for
feeding all hay that is fed out of doors,
for three reasons, viz: first, there is
less waste; second, there is less work;
third, the manure is left on the high,
thin spots of your meadow where it is
easily spread. BY this process of feed
ing part of my hay crop annually I
have brought my meadows to very
productive condition.
But as there is economy in shelter
ing both livestock and hay, we will
submit our plan for housing hay and
stock when feeding under shelter. To
cover forty tons of hay, and say
fifty grown cattle Cif dehorned), or
fifty head of horses, or a larger num-
Der of young animals, I would build as
follows: Set ten posts p feet long in q
square 20x32 feet, 8 feet in the ground,
Is feet above the ground, 8 feet apart
on the sides and 10 feet at the ends.
This would cover with good 12-foot
and strips-boards hav-
ing water-grooves. This building
should be sided only on one end, and
shielded on all other sides. / would
then build shed 20 feet wide, with D.
foot walls, sided closely and covered
with grooved and stripped yellow-pine
stock boards "a feet long, all the roof
ing to run up and down, and with the
shed rafters supported in the center by
posts set in the ground every feet.
If desired to feed hay only in this shed,
we can add 20 per cent. to hay capaci-
ty, making fifty-two tons under cover,
by stacking out to the middle of
the shed all around. Mind you, there
has been nothing attached to the posts
of the main bulldog but the roof and
siding on one end, thus leaving only q
ten-foot space in the shed for stock at
the commencement of feeding. When
the hay has been fed three or four feet
OAO POSVS VI VIC IuStlu
all around, should then attach strong
boards or scantling to these posts in
such a manner as to form a manager
between them and the main body of
the hay. cutting down the hay with
hay-knife above until it is in proper
shape to feed from the top of the pile.
If desired to feed grain or ground
feed under sheds, 1 would attach hay
racks and managers to the outside of
the posts of the main building all
utilizing the space in the shed
over the stock for said grain or feed,
which should be carried to the manager
below by chutes. l would also make
troughs for feed, if desired, against the
outer wall all around. The space
under the managers we find an excel
lent place for hogs to bed. Such
building as l have described, a COM
Portable, safe shelter for from fifty to
head of horses or cattle,
and hundred or more hogs, and from
forty to fifty tons of hay, can be built