Hay question

[Bob Peters]

When people say hay, do they always mean alfalfa?

 

[Matt D]

No. Typically alfalfa, clover or mixed. I would say this year anything that can get cut and baled will be called hay. As a matter of fact I saw an add for baled cattails and reeds the other day.

 

[McFarmer]

Grass hay, oat hay, wheat hay, alfalfa hay, alfalfa/grass hay, brome hay, mixed hay..you get the idea.

 

[Wolfchief]

There are various kinds of hay--grass hay which can be orchard grass, brome grass, etc. and then the legume hays such as alfalfa and red clover. In the summer after I graduated from HS, I worked on a hay crew in the Wabash River bottoms between Indiana and Illinois. Our employer owned a cow-calf operation and also worked as a toolmaker at J.I.Case in Terre Haute. He brokered hay to dairymen and horse aficionados in the two-state area. We handled 70 lb. bales of alfalfa and red clover, wire-tied. We worked on "piece work", you might say---2 cents a bale for hay, 1.5 cents for straw. Most of the grass hay went to the horse folks; I remember the orchard grass bales were so light we could toss them around with one hand. (Couldn't do it now!) We put up some mixed alfalfa grass hay too. The red clover hay was particularly itchy, chaffy and heavy. The chaff coated our arms like breading on a chicken drumstick.....We followed the baler all summer at by the end of August, its counter recorded 67,000+ bales. I started my freshman year at Purdue in pretty good shape.