Hay-making For Smallholders

FAO/Eran Raizman 1

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CONTENTS1. Introduction 72. Crops for hay-making 83. Harvesting 104. Drying, raking and collecting 125. Baling 166. Storing hay 177. Feeding hay 173

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1. INTRODUCTIONTo be prepared for long cold or dryperiods, livestock farmers can preparea sufficient amount of quality animalfeed in advance to last these periods.Hay-making is possible for smallholderlivestock farmers, with or without someform of mechanization. You could eitheruse the hay for your animals or sell it forprofit. Hay in the barn is like having moneyin the bank.Hay-making is one of several methods usedto conserve animal feed. Hay-making is theprocess of drying fodder so that it can bestored for a long time. The aim is to harvestthe crop at the time of its maximumnutrient content, early in the floweringstage. If the harvesting is done too late,the forage is classified as straw.Grass – both natural and planted – can beused for hay-making. Legumes can alsobe used for hay-making, and these can bemixed with grass.Hay can be stored in heaps or bales.Loose hay can be heaped into a domeshaped stack and covered with a plasticsheet. Hay can also be baled to reducestorage space. Baling can be done byhand or by mechanized balers.Hay can either be made manually, withsimple mechanization like draught animalpower or small tractors, or with fullymechanized systems.Hay that is made correctly will havesufficient nutrients. Good-quality haywill improve the health of your animalsand increase your productivity whencombining with other quality animalfeed ingredients. The critical steps in haymaking are the following:5

2. CROPS FOR HAY-MAKINGIn general, grass and legumes are used forhay-making. However, not all grasses andfodder are suitable for hay-making. You canmix legumes with grasses to make betterquality hay. It is essential to avoid forage towhich herbicides or pesticides have beenrecently applied. Some commonly usedcrops for hay-making are listed below: Natural pasture Planted grasses Alfalfa (Lucerne) Sweet clovers Clovers Vetches Cereals Mixed cropsTip:When you make hay from naturalpastureland, watch out for toxic plants. Rhodes grass is a perennial that isdrought-resistant and easy to establish.It is easy to make into hay. Bermuda/star grass is a perennial,makes reasonable hay and is easy todry. Bermuda grass is highly tolerant todrought and heavy grazing. Cocksfoot is a perennial, it canwithstand heavy grazing and is used forpasture, hay and silage. Cocksfoot has agreater forage production during summercompared to other forage grasses. Weeping lovegrass is a perennial, hasfine leaves, is easy to dry, and makesexcellent hay. Tall fescue, a perennial, combineswell with legumes and can producehigh-quality hay. Italian ryegrass, an annual or biennial,is very widely used for hay, but also forsilage and pasture.Natural pasture Perennial ryegrass, a perennial, is asignificant pasture and hay grass andfrequently mixed with clover species.Natural pasture in general meansvegetation that has not been sown, andcan be very diversified depending on theclimate, landscape, type of vegetation, etc. Reed canarygrass is a perennial up to2 m tall, which spreads vigorously. It is acoarse grass that needs to be cut early forhay and is not easy to dry.Sown grasses Timothy grass is a perennial and amajor hay grass but should be cut early.Some more commonly used grasses forhay are: Rescue grass is a perennial, mainly usedfor hay and with a production of two years. Buffelgrass is a perennial, is verypersistent,drought-resistantandwithstands grazing and mowing well.It makes reasonable hay and should becut at the early flowering stage.6 Other local grassesTip:If you want to find out more aboutcertain grasses or crops for animalfeed, checkwww.feedipedia.org

Lucerne (Alfalfa)CloversLucerne is a perennial legume, meaningit has a higher protein content than grass.It is the world’s most important cropfor forage and makes one of the bestquality feed ingredients. Lucerne growswell on sandy to loamy soils and needsgood drainage. For the best-quality hay,cut the crop early at 25 to 50 percentflowering/bloom. You should handle andbale carefully, as the shattering of leaveswill cause significant nutrient losses.To avoid this, you can roll Lucerne intosmall bundles.Clovers are legumes (higher proteincontent than grass). Many types of cloverscan be used for hay-making, includingEgyptian (Berseem), Crimson, Red, Whiteand Persian Clover. Clovers are lowergrowing than Lucerne and thereforeproduce less volume. If the conditionsallow, you can make several cuts of cloverper year, just before blooming. Clovers, ingeneral, are not easy to dry; drying canbe completed at the farm once the firstpart of the drying has been completedin the field. Clover hay is also prone tobecoming mouldy.LucerneSweet cloversSweet clovers are annual or bienniallegumes (legumes have a higher proteincontent than grass). In the first year,you should harvest sweet clovers in latesummer, just before blooming, and giveadequate time for re-growth beforewinter. In the second year, you can maketwo cuts.Red CloverVetchesVetches are legumes (higher proteincontent than grass). Several species of vetchare grown as fodders, often mixed withoats or other cereals. Harvesting shouldtake place when the lower vetch podsbegin to fill.7

CerealsSeveral cereal crops can be used for hay,although most species are used for strawand some for silage. If cereals are cutwhile they are still leafy, excellent hay canbe made. Oats and barley are commonlygrown for hay, with oats the better crop forhay-making. Wheat and rye are not thatsuitable for hay-making. Maize can be usedfor hay (or stover) but is generally usedmore for silage-making. Some sorghumspecies can be used for hay-making aswell, e.g. Sudan, Columbus grass.Mixed cropsLegumes and grasses in mixed pasturecan form very palatable and nutritious haythat dries fairly quickly.3. HARVESTINGCut the forage at the right timeHarvesting at the right time is crucialto make the best quality hay, and it isimportant to get this right. Choosing theright time to harvest is a balancing actbetween making sure there is sufficientforage growth, that you are not harvestingtoo late for best quality, and that theweather conditions are dry.Forage has the highest nutritional valuewhen all leaves are fully developed, andseed or flower heads are just a bit short offull maturity (the flowering stage between25 and 50%); this is when the forage needsto be cut. This period is usually a two-weekwindow, so it’s a challenge to get this right.123456Cut grass at stages 2-4 Cut too early, when the forage is notvery tall, and there will not be a lot ofmaterial for hay-making. Hay cut too soonhas high moisture content and will notdry quickly. Cut too late, and the quality of the haywill be much lower, and the taste will bereduced. The protein levels will be low, andas the leaves become brittle, there will bemore losses.81234Cut Lucerne at stages 1.5-2.55

WeatherSickle or scythe?As you need to dry the hay for severaldays (see below), the correct weatherconditions are essential. Make sure youfollow the weather forecast carefullybefore you decide on the day you want toharvest your hay crop. If it’s raining duringhay-making, the hay might develop rotand mould later, creating the potential fortoxins, which could make the animals sick.There are two basic hand tools: the sickleand the scythe. Sickles are designed forcutting cereals but are poorly adapted tomowing hay. They are very slow and requirea lot of work compared to the scythe.The scythe is a traditional grass-cuttingtool and can mow at about five times thespeed of the sickle. The scythe must besharpened regularly.Tip:If you use a scythe for mowing, it isbest to start early in the day whenthere is dew on the forage, as it makesit easier to mow. For hay-making bysickle, however, it is recommended thatyou wait until the dew has dried.A sickleCutting the forageThe forage can be cut either by hand orby machine. Make sure you can rake,collect and bale the amount of hay thatyou harvest.Cutting with a scytheThe minimum cutting height is 10 cm,but if you want to make sure that thehay dries, you can leave a higher stubbleduring cutting (e.g. 15 cm). This will ensurethat air can blow under the hay and thedrying process will be quicker.Several types of mowing equipmentexist that can be pulled behind a tractor.This includes the sickle-bar mower, thesickle-bar mower-conditioner (also calledhaybine), which has conditioning rollersthat help in the drying of the hay, the discmower and several other mowers.Mechanized cutting witha sickle-bar mower9

4. DRYING, RAKING AND COLLECTINGFresh grass, in general, contains around80 percent water. If you want to make hay,this has to be reduced to 15-20 percent.To achieve this reduction, about two tothree days of good weather are needed.Sunshine, wind and low humidity all helpwith the drying process.After cutting, place the material into smallheaps or rows about 20-30 cm high andturn the heap once or twice a day in thesun to encourage quick drying. Rows willassist with the hay-baling process lateron if the hay is baled by a mechanizedhay baler.Tip:Consider additional drying of the hayin the barn, stack or bale if the hay isnot yet dry enough in the field.The raking can be done by hand or bymachine. You should complete the rakingbefore the forage is completely dry toMechanized rotary rakeavoid excessive shattering of leaves andoverexposure to the sun. Mechanical rakingis better suited to grass than to legumeslike Lucerne, as there is a danger of losingleaves through shattering, especially inthe drier stages.Tips:Where possible, do the drying undershade so that the dried fodder retainsits green colour.If the rain has started unexpectedly,gather the hay in bigger rows or so thatless hay will get wet.Hay drying in rows10

When is the hay dry enough?Let the hay dry so that the moisturecontent is between 15 and 20 percent.The hay should dry as quickly as possible,and ideally it should keep its green colour.If the hay is not dry enough, the hay canheat up during storage, and this will lowerthe feeding value of the hay (or causefires). The table that follows is a guide tothe moisture content of the hay crop as itis drying.Guide to the moisture content of the hay cropMoisture %CharacteristicsConclusion30–40Leaves begin to rustle (a soft crackling sound), but do not appearmoist unless rubbed hard. If a stem is scratched with a fingernail,moisture shows easily. Twist the leaves and moisture will show, butnot easily.Too wet25–30The hay rustles; twist a bundle, and it will snap with difficulty butdoesn’t show surplus moisture. The thicker stems may show somemoisture when scraped with a fingernail.20–25The hay rustles readily; twist a bundle, and it will snap easily, leavesshatter, and there are few moist stems. Bark on the stems cannot belifted with a fingernail.15–20The hay fractures easily. Twist a bundle, and it will snap easily. Thereis almost no moisture anywhere, and the leaves shatter easily.Too wetReady to rakeSlightly too wetStop rakingReady for collectionTips:If you think the forage is too dry, e.g. 12 to 15 percent moisture content, you may have towait for the evening dew to bring the crop back up to 18 to 20 percent moisture content.If it has started to rain and you think the quality of the hay is compromised, considermaking silage, as you might still be able to make silage from some crops.Speeding up dryingTo increase the speed of drying, youcan consider: Raking the hay more often, e.g. when itis rained on Spreading the hay more by wideningthe rows Leaving a stubble of around 15 cm to liftthe hay from the ground, so that the windunderneath can dry the hay more quickly.Once the hay is dry, it should be collectedand not excessively exposed to the sunor rain.Loading hay onto a trailer11