Hay (plants)

Hay (plants), term applied to forage plants that are used to make cured feed for livestock. Typically, grasses such as timothy, or legumes such as alfalfa or clover are used to make hay.

Hay is cured to prevent spoilage. Proper curing is necessary for efficient preservation of hay. Excessive drying, on the other hand, results in loss of protein. Curing may be done in the field, by barn finishing, or by artificial dehydration. Hay that is to be field cured is cut in the morning as soon as the dew has evaporated. The hay is raked into rows, called windrows, as soon as the leaves begin to wilt. Windrows are turned with pitchforks the following day to allow the hay to dry uniformly. When the weather is favorable, field-cured hay is ready for storage in the afternoon of the day following cutting. The hay is then stored indoors in a haymow or piled in a large outdoor heap, called a haystack. Properly cured hay contains about 20 percent of moisture. Barn-finished hay is partially dried in the field and then placed in a mow, where drying is completed by forcing natural or heated air through the hay. In artificial dehydration, hay is taken from the field as soon as it is cut or after it has wilted. The hay is then chopped to a suitable size and passed through a hot-air chamber that evaporates the moisture rapidly.