The Prairie Agricultural Machinery Institute is studying hay maceration with a prototype machine.
Maceration shreds stems of forage crops and presses the material into a thin mat, PAMI says.
The mat is placed onto the cut stubble for natural air drying. It differs from traditional crop condition in several ways:
- The windrow is wider and thinner, allowing crop to dry more quickly.
- Livestock perform better when fed macerated hay.
- It exposes more plant sugars to the air and silage ferments faster and more completely.
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University of Saskatchewan researchers found macerated hay dried twice as fast as traditionally crimped forage.
The power requirement is expected to be 25-30 hp, about double a traditional mower conditioner.
Wet macerated crop tends to spoil faster than conditioned forage in a windrow. It is lighter green than normally conditioned crop. but when cubed and pelleted, the change is almost unnoticeable.
Feed value of macerated hay is virtually identical to mowed crop.
PAMI believes a commercially produced machine would cost about 10 percent more than traditional conditioners.
Manufacturers are interested, but PAMI can’t predict when commercial models will be available.
For more information write PAMI at Box 1900, Humboldt, Sask., S0K 2A0 and ask for engineering report RP0195.
