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Hay Production Notes

Hay production involves drying grass and legumes quickly after cutting to prevent decomposition. This is best achieved over several sunny days, which can be predicted using apps or websites. Materials that are conserved as hay include pastures, alfalfa, rhodes grass, and legume-grass mixtures. Hay can be planted through direct sowing, undersowing, or oversowing and is harvested in the early afternoon when sugar levels are high. It is then left to dry in the field before being gathered and baled. Good hay has a high leaf-to-stem ratio and is green in color without mold or foreign materials.

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Jackson Muchiri Mwangi
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66 views24 pages

Hay Production Notes

Hay production involves drying grass and legumes quickly after cutting to prevent decomposition. This is best achieved over several sunny days, which can be predicted using apps or websites. Materials that are conserved as hay include pastures, alfalfa, rhodes grass, and legume-grass mixtures. Hay can be planted through direct sowing, undersowing, or oversowing and is harvested in the early afternoon when sugar levels are high. It is then left to dry in the field before being gathered and baled. Good hay has a high leaf-to-stem ratio and is green in color without mold or foreign materials.

Uploaded by

Jackson Muchiri Mwangi
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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HAY PRODUCTION

• Concept: dry the material as fast as possible to stop enzyme action


(plant respiration), microbial breakdown/ metabolism, and
oxidation.
• This can be achieved by making hay over several sunny days. Sunny
days can be predicted by:
– Google play store apps e.g. Kenya Agricultural Observatory Platform
(KAOP)
– Websites e.g. www.metoffice.gov.uk
• Materials conserved:
– Natural pastures
– Fodder Legumes e.g. alfalfa/ lucerne
– Fodder grass e.g. rhodes grass, sudan grass
– Fodder Legume-grass mixture
HAY PLANTING METHODS
• Direct sowing
• Fine tilth (primary cultivation and harrow)
• Sow at start of short rains
• Broadcast seeds (mix with carriers such as soil or
manure or sawdust?) or plant shallowly in rows
30-40cm apart
• Improve contact of seeds with soil by foot
trampling, using trees branches or a roller (large
scale)
HAY PLANTING METHODS
• Undersowing
• Planting under a nurse or cover crop for
economical land use
• Wheat: Plant 3 days after planting wheat
• Maize: plant grass when maize is knee high
(after second weeding)
HAY PLANTING METHODS
• Oversowing
• Use pasture species improved through
selective breeding
• Introduce improved pasture species on
natural pastures
• Legumes more successful in establishment
• Low use of seed, labour and capital
• Example: pasture reseeding program in ASALs
HAY HARVESTING
• Cut in the early afternoon when sugar and starch
accumulation is high (from photosynthesis)
• Leave in the field to dry
• Turn after one day for even drying. Keep turning
for several days until sufficiently dry
• When the grass has dried (brittle stalks), use a
rake to gather the grass in windrows
• Bale the grass
SMALL SCALE HAY PRODUCTION
SICKLE
BRUSH CUTTER
BALING
• Baling box: 85cm X 55cm X 45cm
MANUAL HAY BALERS
LARGE SCALE HAY PRODUCTION
GRASS MOWER
DRUM MOWER
DRUM MOWER PARTIALLY COVERED
HAY TEDDER
HAY RAKER
HAY RAKER
SQUARE BALER
ROUND BALER
Square Vs Round bales
Square (rectangular) bales Round bales
• Up to 27kg • Up to 680kg
• High density • Low density
• Long period between cutting • Short period between cutting
and baling and baling
• Requires time and labour for • Can be left in the field and
transport and storage moved using a tractor when
needed
• Prone to weather damage • Less weather damage

• Requires little space and is • Requires more space and is


stable during transport and unstable during transport and
storage storage
• Less ventilated storage • Requires ventilated storage
STORAGE (especially square bales)
• No direct sunshine
• No rainfall (side wall, dripping roof): moisture
causes decomposition (microbial metabolism)
leading to heat production that can cause a
spontaneous combustion fire
• Rodent proof
• Away from contaminants e.g. pesticides,
herbicides, acaricides, fertilizers
Hay-making losses

• Average losses 20-40% DM .


• Avenues of these losses are:
 Respiration/ enzyme activity,
 Leaf shattering- too much drying
 Leaching- nutrients washed away by rain
 Microbial action
 Oxidation
 Mechanical losses: uneven ground,
demoralized/insufficiently trained workers, too short
plants, faulty equipment.
Important observations on forage
conservation as hay
• Why does hay have lower nutritional
value and lower intake compared to
fresh forage?
• Results in lower animal performance
• Final quality dependent on success of
conservation and quality of original crop.
QUALITIES OF GOOD HAY
• High leaf: stem ratio
• Green in colour
• No harmful foreign material: thorns, poisonous
plants
• No mouldy smell
• Kenya standards:
– Grass hay, minimum 14kg bales
– Legume hay, minimum 18kg bales

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