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Macerated (shredded) forage has been shown to have two important properties: drying rates several times those of conventional forage and dry matter digestibilities 10–15% higher than conventional forage. A field-drying process was developed which consists of mowing, macerating, pressing the forage into thin cohesive mats, and placing these on the stubble. A small prototype machine was constructed to carry out these processes concurrently. Equipment was also developed to harvest the forage mats either for dry hay or for silage. Ensiled macerated lucerne fermented twice as fast as conventional lucerne. Feeding trials with sheep, goats, and dairy cattle verified the higher digestibility of macerated as compared with unmacerated lucerne. Heat treatment of hay increased the “escape” or “bypass” protein of lucerne, which is expected to improve efficiency of protein utilization by ruminants. The increase in escape protein due to heat treatment was approximately 50% greater for macerated lucerne than for conventional lucerne.