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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.



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