| OCR Text |
Show MUCH ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT IMPROVE-MENT IN HAY-HARVESTING METHODS Some farmers in the United States store an acre of hay with four hours of labor. Other farmers use more than eight hours of labor for the same job. Such variations of efficiency effici-ency in hay production indicate, says the United States Department of Agriculture, that much room exists for improvement. An example is the fact that many farmers are still using small, one-horse rakes, which re economical ec-onomical only on small acreages. hay should use 10-foot or 12-foot rakes. Investigations made by the department depart-ment have shown that the use of a side-delivery rake and a hay loader t commonly effects a saving of about 1 1-2 hours per acre of man labor and a half hour per acre of horse labor, as compared with the cost in human and - animal labor when the dump rake and hand loading from the windrows are employed. This saving, with wages and 40 cents an hour, represents a saving of 60 per acre in man labor alone. That would amount on 80, acres of hay to more than 18 or the interest on approximately $375 at 5 per cent, a sum more than sufficient suf-ficient to pay the interest and depreciation depre-ciation on the necessary investment in a side-delivery rake and hay loader. When a loader is used a hay-making crew can handle considerably more hay in an easier manner than they can do so by hand. Slings will unload un-load hay in aobut two-thirds the time required by the use of the double harpoon har-poon or the grapple fork. It saves labor to take two or more wagons to the field, especially when the haul is long. It is economical to use large-sized mowers on farms where a sufficient acreage is to be cut. In the East the Farmers growing 40 or more acres of in 10 hours, is the size most common- 5-foot mower, which will cut 10 acres ly in use. But a C-foot mower will cut 12 acres in 10 hours and a 7-foot mower will cut 14. Usually the additional addi-tional power required for the larger implements is available on farms where the acreage to be cut justifies j the use of such machines. |
