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Agriculture for Secondary Schools

(a) Harvesting of the forage
Before harvesting or cutting the grass for hay making, make a quick assessment of
available grass and legume species in your field. Both legumes and grasses may be
used for hay making. Leafy grasses are normally easier to dry than legumes. Thus,
when there are a large proportion of legumes in the mixture, more time should be
given for proper drying. Ensure that the field to be harvested has not been sprayed
with herbicides or pesticides in recent time. Also, toxic plants should be avoided.
Some grass and legume species commonly used for hay making include: Maasai
love grass, Buffel grass, Rhodes grass and Lucerne (refer to Figures 5.10 (a) to (d)).
Others include star grass, tropical kudzu, vetch grass and lablab.

Figure 5.10 (a): Maasai love grass Figure 5.10 (b): Buffel grass

Figure 5.10 (c): Rhodes grass Figure 5.10 (d): Lucerne

It is important to note that cutting forage for hay at their tender stage results into
lowering their volume while increasing their nutritive value. Also, leaves tend to be
more nutritious than stems, therefore forages for hay making have to be cut with as
much leaf and as little stem as possible. However, during drying, the leaf being more

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