Is It Hay Or Straw?
If you fancy yourself a country girl, a farm girl, or a homesteader you’ve simply got to know the difference between hay and straw.
I have lived most of my life in the city and only recently discovered the important differences in hay and straw. I have, however, wasted no time in becoming pompously authoritative about the matter. Here are my findings.
Until recently I thought of hay as a greeting, as in “Hey there!” Or the necessary ingredient for a hay ride, or perhaps the decorative bale used as the backdrop to a display of pumpkins on the porch in fall. If any of these fallacies are expressed it will give you away as inauthentic in the above mentioned categories of country girl, farm girl or homesteader. So here's the scoop , ... uh, bale.
Hay
Hay has a green cast to it and is loaded with nutrition including protein. It is used to feed farm animals. Popularly, alfalfa, timothy, rye or clover which is cut and dried is hay. These grasses are cut toward the tops of the stocks when the grass is growing and before the seed matures.
Hay must be completely dry. Any remaining moisture can create a mold which is harmful to animals that feed on the hay. The popular quote ‘Make hay while the sun shines’ is founded on this principle.
Straw
On the other hand straw is golden in color. It is the hollow, lower stems of grain that is used for animal bedding, weaving baskets, scarecrows, straw hats etc. Because of the hollow stems a straw bale is lighter than a hay bale. With less nutritional value, straw is not fed to animals very often. Hay rides should more properly be called straw rides, and the bale sitting on your porch with the pumpkins and corn stalks is most likely a straw bale. Straw bales have also been used to build houses. The California Straw Builders Association says, ‘Hay is for horses, straw is for houses’.
So there you have it. You may now call yourself anything you’d like since you now know your hay from your straw.
