July 2009 Weddings
Dear Community,
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Please pardon my ignorance...
I didn't want to hijack Cristin's post, but it got me thinking about hay. Since we have some many here with knowledge about farming, I'm curious to know why one would grow hay. What is it used for? My only experience with hay is going on a hayride out to the pumpkin patch to pick pumpkins (although here in NJ, most of the pumpkins are just strategically placed around the field). Oh, and my mom likes to buy hay and cornstalks to put by her front door as decoration in the fall.
Warning
No formatter is installed for the format bbhtml
Re: Please pardon my ignorance...
I'm pretty sure it's grown largely for food. Hay is different from straw, which isn't edible. It's been a while since I've been in 4-H, though, so I'm sure our actual farmers could weigh in with more specifics.
Side Note: I did do hay judging in 4-H! You go by CARP (or CRAP, as us middle schoolers so fondly renamed it): Color (want it to be more green than brown), Aroma (should smell sweet, not stale), Ratio (of stems to leaves, want more leaves than stems), and P..... I can't for the life of me remember what P stands for, and it bothers me on a regular basis. I can also tell you about judging swine, sheep, and cattle for meat, as well as actual cuts of meat, if you'd like to know!
My grandpa used it to feed animals, but a lot of the hay he grew went on the floors of the stalls so that their leavings were easier to clean up.
Mucking a stall that has a layer of hay on the floor is way easier than mucking a stall with nothing!
the wedding | the blog
Where are you going that you're not picking your own pumpkins?! There's so many great pick your own farms in NJ!
Kate's Recipe Box || Relatively Bookish
First of all, I read the subject as "Please pardon my arrogance" and I'm like wth? Rachel is so not arrogant..lol
We used hay for our pigs we raised and to line the dog houses.
Jenny McCarthy = Former Playmate and MTV host
Pediatrician = Doctor with extensive experience and education on children.
Bumpies = Don't get me started!
I know who I get my health advice from!
What are you looking at?
Thanks for all of this insight. I had no clue that hay was different from straw, but it makes sense. Now that it has been mentioned, I guess I have seen animals eating it before, but never really thought about it.
Kate- I agree that there are good places to pick pumpkins, but all the farms I've ever been to add extra pumpkins to the patch or else there would be none left by the 2nd week of october.
BTW...I'm not this dumb in everyday life. lol!
Kids here think pumpkins just come from Walmart or Target...kind of like how Christmas trees come from the Home Depot or Lowe's parking lots.
not true. Straw is edible. Its just the left over material from harvesting corn. A lot of time straw will be put down in the winter for cows and they will eat it. It is not as good as hay nor as nutritional.
We do hay because our cows eat it and we also sell it to other farmers. Hay is actually expensive to buy.
This made me lol
A Brief Explanation of the Difference Between Hay and Straw:
-
-
ETA: Good link with info in pictures...I'm learning a lot tonight! Thanks!Hay: Any of several nutritional grasses and legumes, such as alfalfa or clover, that is cut, dried, and then used as fodder for farm animals.
Straw: Hollow stalks of grain (such as wheat), used mostly as bedding and garden mulch, but which is also used as feed. Straw has less nutritional value than hay. And if you ask a cow, she'll say that it doesn't taste as good, either.
Jenny McCarthy = Former Playmate and MTV host
Pediatrician = Doctor with extensive experience and education on children.
Bumpies = Don't get me started!
I know who I get my health advice from!
What are you looking at?
I agree with everyone else. I raised sheep/market lambs growing up. We used hay as food in the winter (along with grain). We used straw as bedding (cheaper).
I don't think you have any reason to be embarrassed. If you've never raised animals, how would you know?
Farmers feed hay to feed their cattle. My dad is a dairy farmer and he "green chops" his first cutting of hay for silage, as well as a good chunk of his second cutting. The third cutting gets baled for alfalfa bales, that gets mixed in with the silage when you feed it.
Silage is pretty much firmented alfalfa/barley/corn.
Alfalfa bales get used to feed lots of other animals as well, like I saw some of the other girls mention.
#1-BFP 08-22-09 ~ M/C 08-31-09 at 5 weeks 6 days
#2-BFP 08-6-11 ~ Due 04/18 ~ born via c-section April 22, 2012
My Blog
Is it bad that I read this as "... hay juggling..."
I was picturing you tossing little bundles of hay in the air... it wasn't until I read,"I can also tell you about judging swine..." That it clicked. So much for my awesome juggling mental image.