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Hay
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Straw
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| Hay (noun) 1. grass, alfalfa, clover, etc. cut and dried for use as fodder |
Straw (noun) 1. hollow stalks of grain after threshing, used for bedding, for weaving hats, baskets, etc. |
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| This farmer feeds hay to his cows when fresh green grass isn’t available. |
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| These cows in a barn, are made more comfortable with straw covering the ground. |
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| Clover is a very high quality hay made from a clover field. Yes, you may find a 4-leaf clover in this field. |
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| This is a Orchard grass field. Not as high quality as the clover, but great to munch on (for livestock). |
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| This wheat field is ready to harvest. First, the machine called a Combine drives through and harvests the grain (the “head" or top of the stalks.) |
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| When the hay is ripe and ready, he cuts the hay using a long bar with moving "teeth" on it. |
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| Here comes the HUGE Combine to harvest the grain. Lots of noise and dust! |
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| This is an old-timer photo of the hot job of baling hay - using horses to pull the wagons! |
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| Today, farmers either use a baler (above) or use another machine that rolls the straw into HUGE round bales that you see in some fields. |
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| The big round bales in fields can be either hay OR straw. Farmer Ben uses large straw bales, for mulch. |
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| Individual bales of straw and hay can be stacked high inside barns. Straw bales are MUCH lighter than Hay bales. The straw and hay should be as dry as possible when baled or rolled, so that mold won't begin to grow inside the bale while in the barn.. |
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| Yum! This Timothy hay is a delicous mouthful! That is another high quality hay. Really fills up that livestock (horses, cows, sheep, goats, llamas, etc.) all winter. |
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| Straw isn't quite THIS yellow, but compared to bales of hay, (which is greener, usually) it is. |
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