Hay question.

[dcfirefighter]

OK, some people, who have nothing to do with trains, like learning about trains. I'm the same way with farming. I've probably been on a farm twice in my life, but I just got back from a camping trip in VA, and drove by many farms, which always brings up questions. Luckily, many of which were answered by a 'Day at the Farm' type website I found directed at kids. I'm hoping you guys can answer a few more.

#1. After learning about farm implements, I looked at the John Deere site, and now have more questions.
windrower, tedder, rake, silage harvester, etc. What the heck do they do? & how do they differ? What would a 'start-up' hay operation buy? (no, i'm not considering this, it's just me feeding my pseudo-OCD)

#2 I saw giant bags of what looked like hay, maybe 12' across and 50-100' long. What's that all about?

[HereSince1628]

1. Hay gets cut and dried, silage is fermented

a rake is used to turn over the hay in the field to promote drying.

A silage cutter throws the green forage into a wagon.


Hay and Silage
Harvested forage is usually stored as hay or silage. Hay is stored at a moisture level below 20 percent. When farmers store hay at moisture levels higher than 20 percent, the forage becomes moldy and may spontaneously catch on fire. For best long-term storage, hay should be sheltered from rain or snow.

Silage is forage preserved in an anaerobic (without air) environment with a pH of 3.6 to 5.0. Specialized storage structures or wrappings meet these conditions. Silage is made by fermentation at moisture levels between 40 and 85 percent. Silage stored at a 40 to 60 percent moisture level is called haylage. Wilted silage has a moisture level of 60 to 75 percent. Direct cut, unwilted silage has a moisture level of 70 to 85 percent.

[HereSince1628]

2. The "wrappings" mentioned above are those long tubes you see

in the farmyards