Scythes & Scything

["Botan Anderson" <mysticprairie AT wwt.net>]

On 5/31/2011 1:09 PM, Fay Cotton wrote:
> Hello Scythers,
> After some research, beginner that I am, I have still not found how to
>
>    1. build a frame to stack hay onto,
>    2. actually pile the hay onto it
>
> These steps seem to be skipped over, or I have not been able to really
> "get it"
> Please, can you let me know if there are videos or photos that can help me?
> Thanks ever so much!
>
> Fay Cotton

 

Fay,

 

I've experimented with two types of haystacks on my farm. One is the Romanian-style haystack, and the other is my Pyramid-frame haystack. I wrote about them at http://www.onescytherevolution.com/1/post/2010/02/haystacks.html

 

The article has links for more info on the Romanian haystacks, and lots of photos of my pyramid haystacks.

 

I was researching haystacks years ago, and couldn't find anything on the internet, either. So I started researching references to haystacks on art and photography sites. Bingo! Artists rule! The best link that I've found for the Romanian Haystack is at http://www.hayinart.com/003028.html 

 

You need hay that is mostly grass to make a Romanian haystack, with a weatherproof outer shell. But even then, high winds can rip off the tops of these stacks, making the insides vunerable to weather and rot.

 

Warning: the hay must be properly dried and cured, before it can be stacked and packed down for storage. Wet or green hay will quickly mold!  Sure that seems obvious, but I've been surprised by how many people don't get that.

 

 Haystacks are for the outdoor storage of finished hay, and are not to be confused with the hay drying racks used to cure hay, before it's stored in a barn, or big outdoor haystack. The Vido family uses a type of these hay drying racks on their farm. See http://scytheconnection.com/adp/hay/makeHay/makingHay.html 

Once dry, they store their hay loosely in a barn, until they are absolutely certain that it is completely dry. Then they pack it down. If hay that is not quite dry enough is packed down in large volume in a barn, not only can it mold, but it can also heat up to a point where it catches fire!

 

Romanian haystacks, and also the drying racks don't work for the heavy red clover hay that I have here. The clover stems just keep conducting rain into the stacks and hold the moisture there. Drying the clover hay on the ground in the sun, and storing it in a barn, or my pyramid-frame haystack system is the only thing that I have found that works. I imagine that thesame would be true for alfalfa.

 

Botan Anderson