How To Build A Traditional Hay Stack?

[Localmotion]

It may have been prionic acid but that is the limit of knowledge.

I think there is no limit to your knowledge Egon... it's definitely a lot better than mine..!
I remember being taught something about Propionic acid when I studied for my agricultural degree many years ago - is Prionic acid the same (Ammonium Salt)?
If so I seem to remember it is a natural preservative so could definitely work....

[Egon]

My spelling as well as my limited knowledge is always in doubt.

[Localmotion]

so it is the same?

[mojoinco]

I don't know about everyone else, but this has been very educational.
Silage Additives, AGF-018-92

[IgroRockwell]

We built lots of haystacks on the farm when I was a kid. The technique we used was quite simple and I'll try to explain it to you. When you pick up a forkfull of loose hay and hold it above your head it kind of resembles a jellyfish, if you will, with the top part rounded and the loose hay ends hanging down. The secret to building a stack is to position each forkfull of hay so that the rounded part is toward the outside of the stack and the loose ends stream inward. The man unloading the wagon pitches to the stacker and the stacker regathers each forkful, picks it up and pushes it toward the outside leaving loose ends trailing inward. The stacker must work from the middle of the stack and rise with the stack. The loose hay ends work like tie stones in a stone wall, holding the stack together. I preferred building square stacks rather than round, but either type works as well. We commonly built stacks 15 feet square and 15 to 20 feet tall this way, and the sides were often nearly vertical.

[vtsnowedin]

When you pick up a forkfull of loose hay and hold it above your head it kind of resembles a jellyfish, if you will, with the top part rounded and the loose hay ends hanging down. The secret to building a stack is to position each forkfull of hay so that the rounded part is toward the outside of the stack and the loose ends stream inward.

Very good description,. I was looking for a way to explain that to people who had never touched a pitch fork and that is much better then any I could bring to mind.

[IgroRockwell]

Thanks. When I re-read the original post I realized that he was looking for a waterproof stacking method. We always covered our stacks, at least the tops of them, with some canvas or plastic. When the cheap tarps began to arrive from Asia we used a lot of those. I don't know how to waterproof a stack other than maybe binding all of the hay into sheaves and stacking them like thatch. The Amish around here still make sheaves with their grains and arrange them into stooks or shocks (not sure which word other areas use) like a teepee. Then when it rains the water tends to run down the outside of the standing sheaves. There is still some loss, but not much.

The other thing that I want to point out is that when a stack is built the way we used to do it the stack ended up having rather dense walls. You couldn't just drive a pitchfork into it and pull out a forkfull, you had to pitch it down from the top. There was usually a ladder handy the haystacks.

[Egon]

Thanks. When I re-read the original post I realized that he was looking for a waterproof stacking method. We always covered our stacks, at least the tops of them, with some canvas or plastic. When the cheap tarps began to arrive from Asia we used a lot of those. I don't know how to waterproof a stack other than maybe binding all of the hay into sheaves and stacking them like thatch. The Amish around here still make sheaves with their grains and arrange them into stooks or shocks (not sure which word other areas use) like a teepee. Then when it rains the water tends to run down the outside of the standing sheaves. There is still some loss, but not much.

The other thing that I want to point out is that when a stack is built the way we used to do it the stack ended up having rather dense walls. You couldn't just drive a pitchfork into it and pull out a forkfull, you had to pitch it down from the top. There was usually a ladder handy the haystacks.

There was also a knife one stepped on to cut the hay in the stack. Made the fork work much simpler and left a clean cut edge to the stack
.

[mojoinco]

Does that cutter have a large saw tooth edge (like the blades on a sickle bar mower)?
Do you step on it like you would with a shovel or dirt fork?

I have something like that my wife bought me somewhere. I'll have to go take a picture and post it. I thought it was a corn stock cutter (I can't remember why I thought that -- probably due to the large teeth).

Ok, Googled 'antique hay cutter': I found the tool I have.
reclaimed items such as lighting fixtures, fenders, pulleys, hardware
Hay Cutter

I might have used this a few months ago, if I had known what it was for. Some large bales got wet, needed to trim off the wet part.

[vtsnowedin]

The old hay knives I have seen are different from that shown. They are curved blade about two and a half feet long and taper from six inches wide to three inches in about four steps evenly spaced along the blade, thick at the heel narrow at the tip. There is a foot peg at the heel and a three foot handle that comes up and Ts like a garden spade. You would look like you were trying to ride a pogo stick using it.