5 Things you should know about farming and hay/ straw production...
1. Hay and straw are two different types of farm products, both harvested during the summer months in the Chicagoland area.
2. Hay is a livestock feed that is made when live plants (alfalfa, red clover, and a mixture of grasses) are cut, dried, and baled. Hay is green in color and contains nutritional needs, carbohydrates, and proteins for cattle, horses, sheep, and goats.
3. Straw is a byproduct that comes from the harvest of grains, usually wheat or oats. Straw is yellow or golden in color and for decades, and is purely a bedding crop for livestock. Today, straw is also used provide fiber within livestock diets, erosion control, cover for turf, industrial building materials, and even used by gardeners as a soil medium.
4. Usually, around Halloween, when one goes on a “hayride” is most likely a “hayrack using straw bales ride”.
5. Both hay and straw are “packaged” in smaller rectangular bales, large round bales, or large rectangular bales depending on if the end use is by the homeowner, livestock owner, or business.