Hay and crop residues are discussed in the context of small-scale farming systems. Haymaking is an ancient and simple agricultural operation. Availability of fresh fodder varies throughout the year, but livestock must eat every day; fodder conservation is therefore desirable in most mixed farming systems. The inedible parts of cereals and pulses - straw, stover and haulm - comprise about half the above-ground biomass of these crops, and much of this can be converted by ruminants into economic products.
Crop residues are very important and widely used as lean-season feed, especially in small-scale production systems, but their harvest, storage and use could be improved. Dry residues are often complementary to hay in feeding systems, and the equipment and techniques used for harvesting and handling are similar, so the subjects have been combined.
While the main aim of haymaking is to store feed for later on-farm use, hay is also a sellable commodity, as it is easy to transport and store. In some countries, urban dairies and draught or riding animals provide a large market, and some small-scale producers make hay for such markets. Others have to sell for ready cash, and feed straw to their own stock. Large arable farms may grow hay as a cash crop, while not keeping livestock themselves.
Techniques and equipment are described at three levels: manual; using animal draught; and mechanized, with the emphasis on the first two. Fully mechanized haymaking is now very sophisticated and developing rapidly, so a detailed discussion is outside the scope of this book.
Hay is made from both natural herbage and sown fodder, either artificial pasture (which may serve for both grazing and conservation) or specialized hay crops. Hay is not a worldwide crop and has, as a part of traditional farming, been localized. Sown hay was a key factor in the intensification of western farming, and has spread to large-scale mixed farming in many parts of the world.
Small-scale production of sown hay is widespread in the drier parts of Asia, especially in semi-arid or irrigated zones, and where grazing is snow covered in winter. Haymaking from natural pasture produces a much poorer product than from sown crops since it is of poor specific composition and from marginal lands of low fertility.
In tropical and subtropical countries, natural hay can often only be made after the rains, by which time the herbage is over-mature and its feeding quality is no better than straw. Tropical grasses mature more rapidly and have a much lower feeding value than those of temperate zones, but such herbage is extensively made into hay where roughage is very scarce, notably in India.
There is a wide range of forage crops suited to haymaking, with species and ecotypes adapted to all agricultural zones. Hay is not easily made in the humid tropics, and year-round green forage may therefore be used by farmers.
The main hay crops, their cultivation and harvest are described. Selection of crops according to agro-ecological zone, farming system and proposed use is discussed, and other lean-season feeding strategies outlined briefly, since hay is only part of a farm's year-round feeding programme.
Hay and residues should be used in a rational feeding system, and with minimum waste; wherever possible, they should be fed from racks or troughs to avoid spoilage. Coarse hays and residues are more efficiently used if chopped; simple chopping machines are widespread in Punjab and surrounding areas, but rare elsewhere in small-scale farming. The feeding value of straws and stovers can be improved by increased care in harvesting and storage. The palatability and digestibility of crop residues and poor hay can be improved by simple treatment with urea or ammonia, but the feasibility of such treatment has to be decided in the light of local costs and prices.
Thirteen case studies provide a wide overview of current practices and problems with natural and sown hay.
Hay from natural pasture is often of poor quality and from unimproved vegetation, and lack of clear land tenure or long-term rights to cutting and grazing is a major and widespread constraint to improvement. Sown hay is widespread and traditional in semi-arid countries, especially in northern and western Asia, where the crops are almost entirely legumes. Sown grasses are not used by small-scale producers, but coarse cereals - millets, maize and sorghum - are grown and dried as hay, especially in Asia and South America. Small-scale farmers rarely sow for hay in the sub-humid tropics, although it is sometimes done by large mechanized enterprises in such climates.
There is considerable scope for improving small-scale haymaking through better standards of cultivation, use of proven cultivars, better seed supply and higher quality tools and implements.
Crop residues have always been a major feed source in most areas, and in general are becoming increasingly important as forage, as the availability of natural grazing decreases and livestock numbers grow. Harvesting and storage methods could be improved. Straw treatment with urea or ammonia to improve feeding value is now a well understood technique, and its economics should be studied wherever it might be introduced.
Available, improved and adapted technology is often not taken up by farmers, largely because they are unaware of it, even if local research units have the knowledge. Training will be required at all levels to make such information available to the farming public: initially to up-date the skills of advisers and technicians, whose education rarely deals with hay, fodder and hay crops in depth; and then on-farm demonstrations can be undertaken, with extension to farming communities where hay might be economically viable. All training must be in the context of livestock production within the existing farming system.
