Lisa Timms, age 11, of McAllen, Texas, for her question:
HOW IS HAY HARVESTED?
Hay is a cattle and horse feed that is made up of dried stems and leaves of plants. Harvesting usually takes a number of weeks and involves a number of different procedures.
First the farmer cuts the hay. He allows it to lie on the ground where it falls from the cutter and it remains on the ground until it is partially dry.
Next the farmer rakes the hay into long rows, called windrows, and it is allowed to dry still further. To speed drying, some farmers use a hay conditioner, which cuts and crushes the hay and rakes it into windrows in one continuous operation.
When the hay is dry enough, the farmer either bales, stacks or chops it.
Bailing machines tie the bales with string or wire. Conventional baling machines press the hay into rectangular bales that weigh from 50 to 100 pounds.
Round balers roll hay into round bales weighing as much as one and a half tons.
Some bailing machines drop the bales on the ground to be picked up later. Others load the bales directly on a wagon that trails behind the baler.
Rectangular bales must be covered with loose hay or canvas for protection from the rain when stacked outside. Round bales shed water because of their shape and so they may be kept uncovered.
Machines called hay stackers compress or pile hay into large mounds.
If a farmer chooses to chop his hay before storing it, he uses a forage harvester. This machine cuts the hay into short pieces and blows it onto a wagon or truck. Some machines form the hay into wafers or pellets.
Finally, a farmer hauls the hay to the barn. A conveyor moves the hay from the wagon into another blower, which blows it into the barn's haymow.
The use of hay or dried plant food dates as far back as the taming of the horse.
Many farmers use artificial means for curing hay to speed up the harvest and to decrease the hazard of getting the hay wet with rain. After cutting the hay, the farmer allows it to lie in the field until it is about half dry. Then he harvests the hay and hauls it to a drier in which large fans blow air though the hay.
This process continues until the moisture in the hay has been reduced to about 20 percent.
Hay that contains too much moisture will spoil. Hay will sweat or heat after it is stored in the barn. Sometimes it creates so much heat that it sets itself on fire. For this reason, farmers take great care to dry their hay adequately before they store it.
Hay may be made from cultivated grasses such as timothy, bluegrass and redtop. Or it may be made from some of the wild, or prairie, grasses. Alfalfa, clover, velvet beans, rye, barley and oats are also used.
The principal hay producing states are Minnesota, New York, Wisconsin, California, Iowa, Nebraska and Illinois.