K. Springer photos
by Ken Springer
What the Hay? A brief history of fodder
“So much depends on haymaking.” KLS
Many years ago, I took an evening writing class at Akron University in Ohio. The instructor had authored several books on various topics, most of which were well-received.
Now, I am not a stellar writer, which should be readily apparent to my readers. In the next-to-last class, the esteemed instructor gave us an assignment for the final class to write about a subject or topic of his choosing. The attractive woman sitting next to me, whom I noticed had caught the attention of the teacher, was assigned to write about black holes, an interesting subject to be sure. My assignment was to write about a brick. Yes, you read right, a regular mason’s brick.
A brick might be the least interesting thing one could write about, or so I thought. There was no internet or Google back then, so it was off to the library to research the history of masonry from the Egyptian masons forward to the ubiquitous one-story brick ranch houses of the 1950s and 1960s.
When it first crossed my mind to write about hay, I worried that this might trump the brick as the most boring topic to write about. But I was wrong.
From my perch on Droop Mountain, I can see the entirety of Hillsboro and most of Little Levels. The view is stunning, and what dominates the view are the many farms in this fertile river valley. Also visible, scattered about the verdant farmlands, are long white tubes resembling giant caterpillars.
These silage tubes or bags are a storage method for hay that includes some fermentation, which preserves the hay and prevents it from going bad or “spoiling.” Because the bags retard oxygen, the fermentation process also helps maintain the nutritional value of the feed. More on ag-bagging later.
Haymaking is not a new process; it is as old as the advent of the agricultural revolution, which began at the end of the last ice age, about 12,000 years ago. Agrarian societies did not happen simultaneously throughout the inhabited world. Agriculture spread from Asia and the Middle East to the New World about 9,000 years ago. Maize, beans and squash, known as the “Three Sisters,” were cultivated in Mesoamerica and spread to North America. The Eastern U.S. was a latecomer to agriculture, commencing just four to five thousand years ago.
Preserving fodder, or haymaking, for the winter months was concomitant with raising food crops for all agrarian groups.
So, what constitutes hay?
Those urbanites who decorate their front porches during the Halloween season with ghosts, spider webs, skeletons, vampires and shrieking-demon doorbells often place the jack-o-lanterns and pumpkins on a bale of plant material. Generally, these are not hay bales, but rather, bales of straw; they are not the same thing.
Hay is composed of various leafy plant material, such as legumes, grasses, and other types of forage plants, that is dried. Straw, on the other hand, is the dried stalks remaining after harvesting oats, wheat and other cereal grains. Straw does not have the nutritional value of hay, and is principally used as mulch or bedding.
Hay is rich in vitamins, minerals and fiber, and is a vital food source for sheep, goats, horses and cattle, of which we have in great numbers here in Pocahontas County.
Types of plants used for hay vary according to location, soil types, and individual preferences. Commonly, hay consists of legumes and grasses, such as alfalfa, clover, fescue, orchard grass and timothy.
It is the growth stage of the plant, its moisture content, and the storage method that determine the quality of hay. And that leads us to the haymaking process, where timing is so essential.
Early in the season, before the plants go to seed and the leaves dry up, the nutrient value reaches its peak, so now the weather becomes crucial. If we get a spell of unrelenting rain during the cutting period, it could result in moldy hay, posing a risk to the health of livestock.
If all goes well and the weather is right, the first operation in haymaking is the cutting. There are three main types of mowers for cutting hay: the sickle bar mower, the drum mower and the disc mower.
The sickle bar mower is relatively light and is often used with smaller tractors. The cutter has reciprocating blades and is subject to frequent clogging.
The drum mower is exceptionally durable, easy to maintain, and can easily handle thicker vegetation. The cutting is facilitated by bladed drums that rotate in opposite directions.
Disc mowers employ bladed rotating discs to cut the plant material but require a larger tractor to handle the hydraulics and the overall weight of the discs.
Once the hay is cut, it is allowed to dry, weather permitting. The key to good hay is a drying period that gets the hay down to 15% to 20% moisture to prevent spoilage.
Tedding is fluffing and spreading out the hay to speed up drying. This process allows more air and sunlight to reach the hay. The hay is then raked into windrows, enabling the baler to pick it up more easily.
Baling picks up the hay and compresses it into several forms before final storage. Nearly gone are the days when farmers used pitchforks to load hay onto wagons and take it from the field to where it is pitched into haymows. Modern baling machinery allows for square (rectangular) bales as well as large round bales.
Our local Amish farmers only make square bales because of the limitations of horse-drawn baling equipment.
If you drive around Pocahontas County, you can’t help but notice the proliferation of farmers using the bagging method of hay preservation and storage.
The specialized machine that packs hay or silage into the long, sometimes 500-feet-long, plastic bags uses a toothed roller. This bagging method, first developed and used in the U.K. in the 1980s, protects hay from moisture, which can cause spoilage. The advantage of this method of hay storage is an airtight environment that promotes fermentation, thereby preserving the hay’s nutritional value.
I have been asked by urban guests many times what the long plastic bags are, as they gaze down on Little Levels from my deck. Haymaking has come a long way from pitchforks to ag-bagging.
In discussing agricultural products, be it a beast or plant, I would be remiss if I did not emphasize the role of our sun and photosynthesis in agriculture and the food it puts on our table.
Visible light, an exceedingly small portion of the entire electromagnetic spectrum, about 0.0035%, is necessary for photosynthesis. Plants absorb the blue and red light and reflect the green light; hence, plants are primarily green to our eyes.
Livestock eat the plants that, through photosynthesis, are rich in vitamins, minerals and other nutrients. We eat the livestock that graze and, when that is not possible, consume hay. So, that hamburger on your plate or the milk you pour over your cereal, as well as the cereal itself, is entirely dependent upon our life-giving sun.
I’m about out of column space, but first, I want to introduce you to a small farmer that weighs less than one pound and lives in the high country of our western states. Yes, it’s true, humans were not the first mammal to practice haymaking.
The pika, a relative of rabbits, uses their chisel-like teeth to harvest grasses, flowers and other edible plants. They then place the vegetation on sun-splashed rocks to dry. Once dry, the pika secretes the hay in and among sheltered areas like overhanging rocks. Now, these cute little farmers can dine on their hay throughout the winter months.
Hats off to all of the hardworking farmers of Pocahontas County.
Ken Springer
ken1949bongo@gmail.com
