Frosted Grain For Hay
Categories:
Grains and Forage Crops
The freeze struck us pretty severely. I had 125 acres of summer-fallowed
wheat which I had estimated to make 20 sacks to the acre of grain. It
was breast high in places already, and was just heading out. The frost
pinched the stalks of this grain in several places and the heads are now
turning white. It is ruined for grain. There is lots of fodder in it,
and it should be made into hay. If so, should it not be cut and cured at
once? What is the relative worth of such hay as compared with more
matured hay? Would the fact that it is frozen make it injurious to feed?
If the whole plant seems to be getting white, the sooner it is cut the
better. If the head is affected and the leaf growth continued, cutting
might be deferred for the purpose of getting more of it. Hay made from
such material will not be in any way dangerous, although it would be
inferior as containing less nutritive and more non-nutritive matter.
Such hay would seem to be most serviceable as roughage for cows or
steers in connection with alfalfa hay or some other feed which would
supply this deficiency.