Hay

Hay (a word common in various forms to Teutonic languages; cf. Ger. Heu, Dutch hooi; the root from which it is derived, meaning “to cut,” is also seen in “to hew”; cf. “hoe”), 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. (See Haymaking below). 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, &c. to take wood to repair fences, hedges, &c. (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.

Haymaking.—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. As a regular part of farm work it was unknown in ancient times. Before 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 winter they had gained the previous summer. The introduction of haymaking gave unlimited scope for the production of winter food, and improved treatment of live stock became possible.

Though every country has its own methods of haymaking, the principal stages in the process everywhere are: (1) 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 often spoiled, while much labour has to be spent in cocking up, turning over, ricking, &c., before it is fit to be stacked up. On the other hand, in the dry districts of south-eastern England it is often 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 the expenditure of 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 implements 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 a large proportion of water, and after cutting must be left to dry in the sun and wind, a process which may at times be assisted by turning over or shaking 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 Scotland or other districts where the rainfall is heavy and the air moist, it is first put into small field-ricks or “pykes” of from 10 to 20 cwt. each. In the drying process the 75% of water usually present in grass should be reduced to approximately 15% in the hay, and in wet or broken weather it is exceedingly difficult to secure this reduction. 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 “quiles,” i.e. round beehive-like heaps, before it can be “carried.” A properly 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.

In the last quarter of the 19th century the methods of haymaking were completely changed, and even some of the principles underlying its practice were revised. Generally speaking, before that time the only implements used were the scythe, the rake and the pitchfork; nowadays—with the exception of the pitchfork—these implements are seldom used, except where the work is carried on in a small way. Instead of the scythe, for instance, the mowing machine is employed for cutting the crop, and with a modern improved machine taking a swathe as wide as 5 or 6 ft. some 10 acres per day can easily be mown by one man and a pair of horses (figs. 1 and 2).

Fig. 1.—Mower (viewed from above) with enlarged detail of Blade. (Harrison, M‘Gregor & Co.)

Fig. 2.—Mower (side view).

After the grass has lain in the swathe a day or two till it is partly dried, it is necessary to turn it over to dry the other side. This used to be done with the hand rake, and a band of men or women would advance in échelon across a field, each turning the swathe of hay by regular strokes of the rake at each step: “driving the dusky wave along the mead” as described in Thomson’s Seasons. This part of the work was the act of “haymaking” proper, and the subject of much sentiment in both prose and poetry. The swathes as laid by the mowing machine lent themselves to this treatment in the old days when the swathe was only some 3 to 4 ft. wide, but with the wide cut of the present day it becomes impracticable. 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. The one illustrated in fig. 3 is the first prize winner at the Royal Agricultural Society’s trials (1907). It takes two swathes at a time, and it will be seen that the working part consists of a wheel or circle of prongs or tines, which revolves across the line of the swathe. Each prong in turn catches the edge of the swathe of grass and kicks it up and over, thus turning it and leaving it loose for the wind to blow through.

Fig. 3.—Swathe-turner. (Blackstone & Co., Ltd.).

The “kicker” is mounted on two wheels, and carries in bearings at the rear of the frame a multiple-cranked shaft, provided with a series of forks sleeved on the cranks and having their upper ends connected by links to the frame. As the crankshaft is driven from the wheels by proper gearing the forks move upward and forward, then downward and rearward, in an elliptical path, and kick the hay sharply to the rear, thus scattering and turning it.

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.

In northern 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 10 to 15 cwt. These are 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 putting 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.

Fig. 6.—Hay Elevator. (Maldon Iron Works Co.).

When put into a stack the next stage in curing the hay begins—the heating or sweating. In the growing plants the tissues are composed of living cells containing protoplasm. This continues its life action as long as it gets sufficient moisture and air. As life action involves the development of heat, the temperature in a confined space like a stack where the heat is not dissipated may rise to such a point that spontaneous combustion occurs. The chemical or physical reasons for this are not very well understood. The starch and sugar contents of the tissues are changed in part into alcohol. In the analogous process of making silage (i.e. stacking wet green grass in a closed building) the alcohol develops into acetic acid, thus making “sour” silage. In a haystack the intermediate body, acetaldehyde, which is both inflammable and suffocating, is produced—men having been suffocated when sleeping on the top of a heating stack. The production of this gas leads to slow combustion and ignition. One explanation of the process is that the protoplasm of the cells acts as a fermenting agent (like yeast) until a temperature sufficient to kill germ life, say 150° F., is reached, beyond which the action which leads up to the temperature of ignition must be purely chemical. If the stack contains no air at all it does not heat, or if it has excess of air it is safe. The danger-point in a stack is the centre at about 6 ft. from the ground; below this the weight of the hay itself squeezes out the air, and at the sides and top the heat is dissipated outwards. If a stack shows signs of overheating (a process that may take weeks or even months to develop) it can be saved by cutting a gap in the side of it with the hay knife, thus letting out the heat and fumes, and admitting fresh air to the centre. The essential point in haymaking is that the hay should be dried sufficiently to ensure the sweating process in the stack reaching no further than the stage of the formation of sugar. Good hay should come out green and with the odour of coumarin—to which is due the scent of new-mown hay. Only part of a stack can ever attain to a perfect state: the tops, bottom and outsides are generally wasted by the weather after stacking, while there may be three or four intermediate qualities present. In some markets hay that has been sweated till it is brown in colour is desired, but for general purposes green hay is the best.

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, &c.) 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 proportion 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 experienced haymakers regard a moderate crop as the more profitable 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 expenses involved in securing it.

---