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Haymaking

Bradford on Avon, Wiltshire

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Haymaking in a field next to Trowbridge Road in Bradford on Avon; two men are holding wooden rakes and another two have pitchforks.

Hay is fodder for animals that has been cut from meadows or fields of grass and stored for use in the winter months when the growth of grass is reduced. In the past, hay was the main way of getting animals through from one year to the next, so hay meadows were a very valuable resource.

Cutting, or mowing, hay when it was largely done by hand was a communal activity, with family, friends and neighbours taking part. Schools were often closed, or suffered a good deal of absenteeism. In larger fields it was possible to use machinery, drawn by horse or tractor, to cut the grass, turn it to dry it out and even to lift it on to wagons. Small plots, like this field just off the Trowbridge Road, might involve using a scythe, rakes and pitchforks. At the end of the effort there was usually a well-deserved jug of cider or beer.

Once sufficiently dried so that it would not spoil, the hay was stored on the upper floor of buildings -the hayloft- in sheds or barns. Anywhere that would protect it from damp. Often it was built up into haystacks with a thatched roof that would throw off rain.

In the top photograph are members of the Uncles family at the end of the 19th century, who as agricultural engineers, would have had access to machines, but seem not to have used them. The field is now part of the grounds of the Fitzmaurice Junior School.

haymaking in Holt -hay was being passed up from the wagon to men who were building a haystack, like the finished one on the left. On the right, the hay has been protected by a roof.

Today fields are harvested, turned, baled and stored by machines, frequently by just one man handling tons. In a good year several cuts may be made. Often, however, grass and other crops, such as maize that is cut green, are gathered into a silage pit, covered and allowed to ferment.