THE COSTS AND WAYS OF MAKING HAY

Albert P. Brodell, Martin R. Cooper

AMERICAN farmers used about 970 million man-hours in 1945 to harvest the hay crop from more than 70 million acres. That was slightly less than 10 percent of all the labor spent directly on crop production and nearly 5 percent of all farm labor in agriculture. The acreage in hay is larger than the acreage usually used to produce any other single crop, except corn, and is about 20 percent of the harvested crop acreage of the United States. Corn and cotton were the only single crops that required more man-hours than hay. Furthermore, much of the haying is still hard hand work and most of it comes in June, July, and August, when other crop work is heavy and time, tide, and weather wait on no man. All those facts are reasons why farmers and economists are so keenly interested in machines and methods that will cut the costs, labor, and uncertainties involved in making good hay.

New methods of haymaking that reduce labor requirements and improve the quality of the hay have come into use in the past several decades. The most important changes have been the substitution of mechanical power for animal power and the increased use of power equipment.

Nation-wide studies of the 1939 and 1944 hay harvests gave us a general view of haymaking methods and the changes that occurred in the 5 years. Only 15 percent of the hay in 1938 was cut with tractor mowers; 42 percent of the crop was cut with tractor mowers in 1944. Since 1944 many farmers have bought tractor mowers because, for one reason, they had a large crop to harvest but little help.

The use of tractor power for operating rakes has increased also; 30 percent of the crop in 1944 was raked with tractor-drawn rakes. Raking is relatively light work, and the rate of performance often is about the same with tractor-drawn and animal-drawn rakes. The use of side-delivery rakes has tended to increase.

Hauling hay to barns and stacks has been mechanized considerably since the 1930's, when rubber-tired tractors began to come into general use. Nearly one-half of all hay harvested in 1944 was hauled with mechanical power; in 1939 the figure was 15 percent. The increasing use of tractors and motor trucks for transporting hay at harvest-time is continuing.

More than three-fourths of the hay in 1944 was stored or sold at haying time as loose long hay. In New England, the Lake States, and the Northern Great Plains, more than 90 percent of the hay usually is so stored.

1. Includes depreciation, repair costs (including labor, housing, taxes, and insurance), and an interest charge on the average investment in mower or rake.

2. These data are for ordinary side-delivery rakes. Some of the newer types, operated with tractor power take-off, are operated at higher speeds and do more work per hour.

Baling has long been the practice when the hay was to be shipped to market, but because of savings in storage space and advantages in feeding, more and more farmers are baling hay from the windrow for use on their own farms. Less than 15 percent of the 1939 hay crop was baled, but about 27 percent of the 1944 crop was baled. In 1944, about a fifth of all hay was baled at haying time and 6 percent was baled from barns and stacks. Although windrow pick-up balers were used for only slightly more than half of the total baling, almost two-thirds of the baling at haying time was with these balers.

Only 2 percent of the 1944 crop was stored as chopped hay, and some hay was stored as loose long hay and then chopped. Chopping hay is of greatest importance in the Pacific Coast States and in Idaho, where from 7 to 12 percent of the 1944 crop was chopped at haying time.

About 62 percent of the total 1944 hay crop was stored in barns or sheds at harvest time. In the humid areas of the Pacific Coast States and in all States east of the Mississippi River, large quantities of hay are stored under cover. In the New England States, and in New York, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin more than 90 percent was so stored in 1944.

About 32 percent of the hay crop of 1944 was stored in stacks and ricks at harvest time, a method that predominates in the drier areas of the Mountain and Plains States, and is fairly important in some localities of the Appalachian States. About 6 percent of the hay in 1944 was not stored on farms but was sold and delivered at haying time.

Although the use of grass silage is increasing, only about 0.5 percent of the production of the hay crop of 1944 was used for grass silage. Small quantities are produced in most States but grass silage is of greatest importance in the Northeastern States (where 75 to 80 percent of all farmers grow hay) and in the humid hay areas along the Pacific coast where it is often difficult to cure hay in the field.

Losses in quality and quantity of hay are pronounced in humid areas, and are usually heavier for early and late cuttings than for midseason cuttings, chiefly because more time is required for curing early and late crops.

Of all hay produced in 1944, more than 99 percent was cured naturally, or by sun-drying. Barn curing of hay is creating much interest in some areas, but only about 125,000 tons were so cured in 1944. Use of barn driers was most important in the Northeast and Pacific Coast States. About three times as much hay was handled in 1944 by industrial dehydrating plants as was barn-cured. The industrial plants are widely scattered, but are located principally in important alfalfa areas of the Great Plains, the West, and the Corn Belt States.

Fairly standard equipment and power units are used in cutting and raking hay. According to a study made by the Bureau of Agricultural Economics in 1942, about 60 percent of the horse-drawn mowers had 5-foot cutter bars, and more than 65 percent of the tractor mowers had 7-foot cutter bars. The 7-foot tractor mower will cut an average of about 2.1 acres of hay in t hour, which is usually more than double the amount cut with a 5-foot horse-drawn mower.

The initial cost and yearly operating cost of tractor mowers is higher than for horse-drawn mowers, but in actual farm practice tractor mowers are used to cut more acres and the cost per acre of mower use is often less than with horse-drawn mowers. For example, a 7-foot tractor mower attachment cost about $160 in 1945 compared with around $120 for a 5-foot horse-drawn mower, but because of greater use per year the tractor-mower cost per acre was only about 60 percent as much as the acre cost of the horse-drawn mower. Furthermore, the 1945 acre cost of use for each mower that was used to cut 200 acres was only about two-thirds as much as the cost per acre of mowers that were used to cut 100 acres.

Side-delivery rakes drawn with tractors travel at a somewhat higher rate of speed and will rake about a third more hay in an hour than if drawn by horses. When dump rakes are tractor-drawn the labor required per acre is sometimes higher than if they are horse-drawn, as two men are needed to operate the tractor and rake unless the rake has been converted for one-man operation.

Cost of use for the dump rakes is less than for side-delivery rakes because of their lower initial cost and longer life, but the side-delivery rake is better adapted to tractor power and produces a more uniform windrow, and its use is increasing rapidly.

Selecting the proper method, machines, and equipment for putting up hay is not always easy. The kind and amount of bay, climate, topography, available farm labor force, whether the hay is to be fed on the farm where produced or sold, the amount of available storage space, feeding situations, and other factors influence farmers in their selection of haymaking methods.

About 80 percent of the hay in 1944 was stored as long loose hay, principally because the cost of machines and equipment for hauling long loose hay is relatively low and because long loose hay can be successfully stored with a higher moisture content than chopped and baled hay, so that less time is needed for field curing and there is less risk of weather damage during the field curing.

In the humid areas much long loose hay is hauled and stored in barns or sheds with simple, inexpensive equipment. On some farms that produce small amounts of hay, ordinary farm wagons and racks are used for hauling and the loading and unloading is done by hand pitching. With this method an average of about a quarter ton is hauled and stored per hour of labor. 'The cost of the hauling and storing equipment is small, as the wagons and racks are extensively used for farm work other than haymaking.

On many other farms with moderate amounts of hay, the hay is pitched onto the wagons by hand but unloaded with power forks or slings. The initial cost and the cost of use of power forks or slings are small. This equipment, which speeds up the haymaking, can be used to advantage on farms where the mows in the barns and sheds are fairly large and where the crop is too small to justify the purchase of a loader.