OCR Text |
Show Feeding Value of Standardized Hay Grade or Quality of Product Prod-uct Is of More Importance Impor-tance Than Kind. (Prepared by the United States Department of Agriculture.) Prejudice against certain kinds of hay on the claim of Inferior feeding value is often due to a difference in quality rather than to the kind of hay, according to E. C. Parker, hay standardization stand-ardization specialist, bureau of agricultural agri-cultural economics, United States Department De-partment of Agriculture. Many horse, mule and cattle feeders, feed-ers, Mr. Parker says, are of the opinion opin-ion that hay made from either prairie grass or other ' grasses is of inferior value to either timothy or Johnson hay. This prejudice is . usually justified justi-fied where bluestem, bluegress, red-top, red-top, or other kind of grass hay Is overripe, bleached and fibrous when harvested, because all kinds of prairie or other "grass hays," when overripe, are comparatively low in feed value and palatability. Feed Value of Timothy. The same Is true, however, of overripe over-ripe timothy or Johnson hay. Analyses of timothy cut at various stages of maturity show that timothy cut not later than full bloom has a higher feed value than timothy cut at the ripe seed stage. Variations in feed value of all hay are caused by time of cutting, weather damage, and fermentation. fer-mentation. The United States standards stand-ards for timothy, Johnson, prairie, and grass hay reflect approximately these variations, so that usually the grade or quality of any of these hays Is of more importance than the kind as a guide to feed value. Hay, to meet the requirements of the United States No. 1 grade, must be cut early, cured with little or no damage dam-age from rain or sweating, and must not contain over 10 per cent of foreign material. Hay which meets the requirements re-quirements of the United States No. 2 grade consists, usually, of either (a) early cut hay which received an appreciable ap-preciable though not severe degree of weather damage, or (h) late cut, though not fully ripe, hay which was cured with little or no weather damage, dam-age, and in either case the hay must not contain over 15 per cent foreign material. No. 3 Grade Requirements. Hay which meets the requirements of the United States No. 3 grade consists, con-sists, usually, of either (a) early cut hay which was severely weather damaged, dam-aged, or (b) distinctly overripe hay, and in either case the hay must not contain over 20 per cent foreign material. ma-terial. United States sample grade is either (a) hay that is unsound he-cause he-cause of wetness, rust, or mold, (b) hay which contains over 20 per cent foreign material, or (c) badly overripe over-ripe hay. These brief descriptions of the various va-rious United States grades of prairie hay, grass hay, timothy hay, and Johnson John-son hay, Mr. Parker says, show that the bay of each grade has a somewhat different quality or feed value. There is no material difference, however, in the feed value of timothy and upland prairie hay if the two kinds of hay are of the same grade. |