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An Experiment in Chopping Alfalfa Hay at the Time of Storage

Effect upon Space Required, Temperatures Attained, Color, Feeding Value, and Losses of Feed Constituents

Bureau of Dairy Industry, U. S. Department of Agriculture, Washington, D. C.

ABSTRACT

Running the hay through a cutter and blowing it into the mow was easier than storing it in a long condition, mainly because the hand work in the mow was saved.

Two or three times as much hay could be put in a given space in the chopped form as in the natural long form.

The chopped hay heated more than the long hay, and the finely chopped hay heated more than the coarsely chopped hay.

Neither the carotene nor the green color was so well preserved in the chopped hay as in the long hay.

The loss of dry matter during storage was higher in the finely chopped hay than in the coarsely chopped hay or in the long hay, but the greatest loss observed in this experiment was still quite moderate.

The black chopped hay was not so palatable as the long hay, but the brown chopped hay was fully as palatable as the long hay.

The quantities of milk produced and the maintenance of the milk flow were in favor of the cows fed the long hay, and this was the case in spite of their slightly lower consumption of nutrients as estimated from actual analyses and the coefficients of digestion given by Henry and Morrison.

This investigation was with hay containing 25 to 27 per cent of moisture at time of storage, or a little higher than is usually considered desirable. The results with hay containing more moisture or less moisture might be somewhat different from those reported.