In
the same meadows, in 2002, the craft lives on. |
Every
summer for a hundred years we have harvested hay from our meadows
in the Severn Vale, North of Gloucester. Generations of hay making
experience and centuries of careful grassland management, together
with a refusal to use artificial fertilisers, have developed superb
hay meadows from which some of the finest hay is made.
We
used to feed our own family’s wintering cattle and sheep,
with the excess sold to Welsh farmers. Now it provides a sought
feed for the discerning horse yard wanting a dust free hay rich
in homeopathic qualities.
The rarity of such quality hay is illustrated by the fact that
some merchants are now importing similar hay from the hay fields
of Provence!
A
hay rick with a 'human elevator' - taken on our farm in
August 1916! |
"Become
a hay Connoisseur - learn the secrets here"
as published in Central Horse News
Oct/Nov 2002
“So that’s what hay looks like”
said Queen Mary when evacuated to Badminton House during the
Second World War. At the time, her comment shocked the nation.
Even then, the summers of millions of her rural subjects were
dictated by and paid for by the making of hay.
Come summer shine, a remote hay field would transform in to
a thriving community of 20 or more workers. Farm girls would
be using long wooden handled hay rakes to collect the new hay
into heaps ready for collection. Men would unload laden wagons
to build huge hay ricks where the hay would remain until needed.
Today, hay making has become a distracting sideline for just
a few farmers, as farms have turned to faster and more machine
friendly means of conserving grass. The making and storing of
quality hay is becoming a forgotten craft and therein lies the
problem and the challenge for the horse owner: identifying quality
hay that is right for your horse.
For the stabled horse, hay has always been the most popular
form of roughage. Good quality hay contains nearly all the nutritional
requirements for a horse on a maintenance diet and allows for
concentrate feeds to be considerably reduced.
The digestive system of a horse is evolved to the grazing of
grasses and herbs. In effect, this amounts to frequent small
amounts of high fibrous food, trickle fed. This element of roughage,
then, is its most natural daily food and is oft neglected. Even
when the poorest quality, it is the bulk of its daily food.
Poor quality hay will not only result in feeding more concentrate
feeds, but can also damage a horse’s health.
The turn to haylage, itself a highly variable feed, is not so
much progress but a symptom of the difficulty a horse owner
now endures in finding and recognising quality hay.
How could anyone who has been a farmer’s child in the hay
field ever forget the aroma of wilting grass; the blinding heat
and dry of baling days; working against the distant thunder
of an approaching storm; and the thrill of seeing the first
load home? The making of hay is the capture of summer essence,
to be unlocked, rediscovered and feasted upon in the coldest
of winters.
Intensive hay making practices, of loading short term lays with
fertilisers and conditioning grass for fast drying (making for
a deceptively good looking but bland feed), are becoming a real
threat to the diminishing craft that can make hay arguably the
best value feed after grass itself.
the secrets of hay making success
The actual making, drying and storing of hay is just as important
as the grasses it includes. Poorly made seed hay is far less
nutritious than well made meadow hay.
1. Weather
Rain on cut grass washes out the nutrients, as does too much
sun, which bleaches out the delicate nutrients.
2. Turning
Insufficient turning will yield inconsistent hay. Overworking
with machinery will lead to bleaching of the hay.
3. Harvesting
Too high a moisture when baled and stored will cause the stack
to overheat and sweat heavily, causing it to mow burnt.
4. Storage
Storage is often overlooked by farmers (and horse owners who
choose to buy off the field). However, it is critically important.
Straw should be used between layers to absorb excess moisture
and prevent dusty bales. Hay must sweat to enable the dust spores
to be carried up and out of the stack. Hay that is too dry to
sweat properly will be dusty.
This process takes place best in large stacks in open built
barns, where the air circulates and carries away the warm moist
air rising out of the stack. Damp heavy weather at this crucial
stage will hold the moisture in the stack, causing the top bales
to retain the moisure and so spoil at least half way into them.
A layer of straw on top prevents this loss.
choosing the hay for your horse
“If only the horses could choose their hay” mourns
Mr Cockford, Managing Director of Abbott & Co (Wessex) Ltd.,
a national feed merchant (started 130 years ago to take coal
from South Wales to Ireland and returning with lorry loads of
hay to feed pit ponies). He explains: “Lots of horses cough
and suffer respiratory problems because of owners buying hay
on price when in fact if they bought the best hay they could
more than save the difference on reducing hard feed.”
Whatever your requirement or preference, be it a ‘belly
feeder’ hay that is not too rich; a soft meadow hay; a
seed hay born of short term leys; or even a lucerne hay imported
from Canada, quality and consistency is all important.
a return to traditional meadow hay
Many horse owners are returning to traditional and fertiliser
free meadow hay, packed with indigenous grasses in the sward
and grown from rich river silts and traditional autumn grazing
with spring manure spreads.
John Rymer is one such farmer who helps to meet this demand.
Every summer for sixty years he has harvested hay from his meadows
in the Severn Vale, North of Gloucester. Generations of hay
making experience and centuries of careful grassland management,
together with a refusal to use artificial fertilisers, have
developed superb hay meadows from which some of the finest hay
is made.
For centuries, this would feed his own family’s wintering
cattle and sheep, with the excess sold to Welsh farmers. Now
it provides a sought feed for the discerning horse yard wanting
a dust free hay rich in homeopathic qualities. The rarity of
such quality hay is illustrated by the fact that some merchants
are now importing similar hay from the hay fields of Provence!
good prices but watch the quality!
This year, more farmers have turned to making some hay. With
a plentiful grass crop and so much hay left from last year,
you will find prices very keen and bargains aplenty. But, as
always, finding quality is as difficult as it is essential.
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