Hay Making

Good Profits in the Business – Native Grass the Best

Dallas Morning News
6 June 1890

Forney, Tex. – It affords me pleasure to comply with request contained in your favor of May 24 and tell what I know about the profits of the hay business, the management of the crop and the best grasses for this climate.

During the six years I have been in the business the average opportunity for profit would compare favorably with other agricultural pursuits, although the two years just past have hardly realized for the average hay farmer the cost of production. This condition was brought about by the high prices of the two preceding years, the two last winters being mild, and also by the ignorance of many of the producers as to the proper manner of making hay and disposing of the same.

Hay made on a blackland meadow, not pasture, properly cured and baled, stored in a good floored barn, and placed on the market with reasonable regard for the laws of business, can always be relied on to yield a fair, and sometimes, a handsome profit.

The storage capacity of all hay-makers should be at least one-half of their annual product, and it is equally necessary that all machinery, except possibly the heavy part of mowers, should be housed when not in use.

Our best grass for hay is unquestionably our native blackland grass. No cultivated grass, taking the labor into consideration, can equal it, and it is a close race, admitting the cost of production to the same.

In preparing ground for a meadow stock should be removed about Jan. 1, and the grass and weeds allowed to grow undisturbed about fifteen months, until about April 1 the following year, when it should be burned “with the (brisk) wind.” The blaze should sweep across the grass as near in a line as possible in order to insure burning all the old weeds. It is a mistake to think that ground should be mowed over the first year in order to get rid of weeds. The heavy covering of grass during summer and winter causes the grass to continue to spread until the following spring, some of the grass being green the entire winter. This would not be the case if the ground was exposed.

An old meadow can, without injury, pasture a few stock during the dry fall months, but after Jan. 1 it is best to remove everything. From the 1st of March to April 1 is the time to burn, which should be done when the ground is moist. June 1 to 15 haying should commence, unless only a small amount is to be saved in which case no loss will be sustained by waiting until July 1. At this time grass is ripe and haymaking should be in full blast.

About one month before haymaking commences all the machinery should be overhauled and every preparation made to avoid having to stop the whole outfit in the midst of work and rush off to get something that could have been secured in advance.

The leader of the mowers should before staring place an elevated object one-quarter to one-half mile distant, if practicable, and another say forty steps in the meadow. When the first object is reached he should go forty steps to get in line with the second object, and drive as in the first case in a straight line to it. In this way the land can be finished without numerous short turns. Each mower should have two sickles per day and the driver should not be required to do the grinding. I have tried many patent sickle-grinders, but always have to come back to the grindstone.

Generally when the grass is dry enough to rattle and break promptly when bent it is dry enough to bale. Immature, unripe grass requires more min(?), and cannot with safety be baled as right as ripe grass. June cut grass generally requires about two days’ exposure to the sun, while in the latter part of July and the month of August one day and sometimes less is sufficient. The second cutting requires as much or more sun than June cutting.

The sulky rakes should always be required to go over the ground the second time to gather all bunches of hay dropped by the drags, thereby clearing the field, preventing weedy spots and keeping the ground ready for the second cutting should it prove to be profitable. The drag men should be active, patient and careful drivers and should have strong mules. These intelligent animals soon become familiar with their difficult work.

Sufficient hay should always be bunched around the presses during the day to give the press hands steady work until the dew goes off the following morning. I have tried covering these bunches with tarpaulins, but have recently come to the conclusion that it is better to use nothing, as the winds which nearly always accompany rain, will either blow the tarpualins off or tear the cloth in various places. The tarpaulins are very expensive and rot fast. Heavy rains will run under and wet the bunches to some extent, no matter how well covered. The dew that falls on the exposed bunches can be raked off with forks and dried.

Baling should be pushed to the capacity of the presses. No less than two strong and skillful feeders should be with each press, and one should be made foreman. Only young white men make satisfactory press hands. The black man lacks the courage, the ambition and the sense of responsibility necessary to get the best results. The baled hay should be moved promptly to cars or barn. It is important that each hauler should be furnished with a tarpaulin to cover the bales during rain.

Care should be taken to grade the hay when it is stored, because of the darkness in the barn and the immense amount of labor necessary it cannot well be done when shipments are made. No man can establish a good reputation for his hay if he neglects this important part of the business.

It is best to build barns at the place of shipment; at present the roads are too uncertain for it to pay to do otherwise. Usually when a man orders a carload of hay he is in a hurry for it, and cannot wait for it to be hauled in from the country.

Such care should be taken in the weighing of the hay – good scales, often tested, careful weigher, etc. – that you will have the utmost faith in all weights sent out, and have strong position to prove any man wrong who questions your figures.

My parting injunction will be to always sell your hay before shipping it.

William Bondies