I heard the phrase, ‘make hay while the sun shines’ yesterday. I hadn’t heard it in a long time. I think its been around forever and it may even be considered a proverb. It probably originated with Medieval English farmers. Before they had machinery, it would take farmers many days to cut, dry and gather hay and since hay can be ruined easily if it gets too wet, the farmers had to take advantage of hot, dry, sunny weather to cut and gather their hay. The phrase generally came to mean take advantage of circumstances before the chance slips away.
Speaking of hay, when I was growing up the farmers around Maysville grew a lot of hay. All the hay was cut and stored for use in rectangular bales. I never saw rolls or “round bales” of hay when I was living in Oklahoma. I helped with the hay baling operation a few times in high school — all the farmers had hay-baling machines that formed, and tied, the hay into those rectangular shapes. I remember that machinery being noisy, hard to maintain and vibrating a lot. The newer machines that roll the hay seem to be a little less complex and more reliable.
The round bales seem to be the choice of most farmers today. The round bales don’t cut the hay as much and therefore reduce waste — fewer cut ends soak up less water. Water can get into a rectangular bale of hay from the top (rain) or from soaking it up from the ground. The round shape reduces the ground exposure — less amount of the hay is sitting in direct contact with the ground. The round shape also allows a lot of the rain to run off instead of soaking in. Round bales are easier to feed out, you can just roll them along and the hay unravels.
So I guess that’s progress — rectangular bales of hay haven’t quite gone the way of the dial telephone or typewriters yet, but take note next time you see one — it might be your last….
— 30 —