Editing Hay (section)

== Stacking ==
{{See also|Bale wrapper}}
[[file:Romanian hay.jpg|thumb|Loose stacked hay built around a central pole, supported by side poles, in [[Romania]]]]
[[file:Hayrack full.jpg|thumb|[[Kozolec]], a traditional [[Slovenia]]n hayrack]]

Hay requires protection from the weather, and is optimally stored inside buildings,<ref name="Yost-2006">{{Citation | last = Yost | first = Spencer | year = 2006 | title = Small-Scale Haymaking | publisher = Voyageur Press | location = St. Paul, MN, USA | isbn = 9780760320969 |postscript=.}}</ref>{{rp|89}} but weather protection is also provided in other ways involving outdoor storage, either in haystacks or in large tight bales (round or rectangular); these methods all depend on the surface of an outdoor mass of hay (stack or bale) taking the hit of the weather and thereby preserving the main body of hay underneath.

Traditionally, outdoor hay storage was done with haystacks of loose hay, where most of the hay was sufficiently preserved to last through the winter, and the top surface of the stack (being weathered) was consigned to become compost the next summer. The term "loose" means not pressed or baled but does not necessarily mean a light, fluffy lay of randomly oriented stems. Especially in wet climates, such as those of Britain, the degree of shedding of rainwater by the stack's outer surface is an important factor, and the stacking of loose hay was developed into a skilled-labor task that in its more advanced forms even involved [[thatching]] the top. In many stacking methods (with or without thatched tops), stems were oriented in sheaves, which were laid in oriented sequence.

With the advent of large bales since the 1960s, today hay is often stored outdoors because the outer surface of the large bale performs the weather-shedding function. The large bales can also be stacked, which allows a given degree of exposed [[surface area]] to count for a larger volume of protected interior hay. Plastic [[tarpaulin]]s are sometimes used to shed the rain, with the goal of reduced hay wastage, but the cost of the tarpaulins must be weighed against the cost of the hay spoilage percentage difference; it may not be worth the cost, or the plastic's environmental footprint.

After [[World War II]], British farmers found that the [[supply and demand|demand outstripped supply]] for skilled farm laborers experienced in the thatching of haystacks.<ref name="Henderson-1944">{{Citation |last=Henderson |first=George |year=2013 |orig-year=1944 |title=The Farming Ladder |edition=Kindle |asin=B0090KZEA2 |postscript=.}}</ref> This no doubt contributed to the pressure for baling in large bales to increasingly replace stacking, which was happening anyway as haymaking technology (like other farm technology) continued toward extensive mechanization with one-person operation of many tasks. Today tons of hay can be cut, conditioned, dried, raked, and baled by one person, as long as the right equipment is at hand (although that equipment is expensive). These tons of hay can also be moved by one person, again with the right (expensive) equipment, as loaders with long spikes run by [[hydraulic circuit]]s pick up each large bale and move it to its feeding location.

A fence may be built to enclose a haystack and prevent roaming animals from eating it,<ref name="Hoffbeck2000"/><ref name="Singleton1985">{{cite journal|last1=Singleton| first1=GR|title=A Demographic and Gentic Study of House Mice, Mus musulus, Colonizing Pasture Haystacks on a Cereal Farm|journal=Australian Journal of Zoology | volume=33 | issue=4|year=1985 |pages=437|issn=0004-959X| doi=10.1071/ZO9850437}}</ref> or animals may feed directly from a field-constructed stack as part of their winter feeding.<ref name="Ruechel2012">{{cite book|last=Ruechel|first=Julius|title=Grass-Fed Cattle: How to Produce and Market Natural Beef|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YVds1Il4SvcC&pg=PT174|year=2012|publisher=Storey Publishing, LLC|isbn=978-1-60342-587-2|chapter=7: Planning for Winter Grazing}}</ref>

Haystacks are also sometimes called haycocks; among some users this term refers more specifically to small piles of cut-and-gathered hay awaiting stacking into larger stacks.<ref name="Collins">{{Citation |last=HarperCollins |year=2018 |title=headword 'haycock' |work=Collins English Dictionary |url=https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/haycock |access-date=2018-09-08 |postscript=.}}</ref> The words (''haystack, haycock'') are usually styled as [[compound (linguistics)|solid compounds]], but not always. Haystacks are also sometimes called [[stook]]s, [[wikt:shock#Etymology 2|shocks]], or [[wikt:rick#Etymology 1|ricks]].

Loose stacks are built to prevent the accumulation of moisture and promote drying or curing. In some places, this is accomplished by constructing stacks with a conical or ridged top.<ref name="Hoffbeck2000">{{cite book|author=Steven R. Hoffbeck |title=The Haymakers: A Chronicle of Five Farm Families| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xq0p5e5GlG0C&pg=PA29|year=2000|publisher=Minnesota Historical Society Press| isbn=978-0-87351-395-1| pages=29–32}}</ref><ref name=dictionary/> The exterior may look gray on the surface after weathering, but the inner hay retains traces of its fresh-cut aroma and maintains a faded green tint.<ref name="Hoffbeck2000"/> They can be covered with [[thatch]],<ref name=dictionary>{{cite web | title=Haystack | work=Dictionary.com | publisher=Dictionary.com, LLC | url=http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/haystack | date=26 December 2013}}</ref><ref name="Falk2012">{{cite book|last=Falk|first=Cynthia|title=Barns of New York: Rural Architecture of the Empire State|url=https://archive.org/details/barnsofnewyorkru00falk|url-access=registration|date=1 May 2012|publisher=Cornell University Press|isbn=978-0-8014-6445-4|pages=[https://archive.org/details/barnsofnewyorkru00falk/page/108 108]–109}}</ref> or kept within a protective structure. One such structure is a moveable roof supported by four posts, historically called a Dutch roof, hay barrack, or hay cap.<ref name="Falk2012"/><ref>{{cite book|title=The Farmer's Magazine: A periodical work, exclusively devoted to agriculture and rural affairs|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1uAIAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA344|volume=3| year=1802| publisher=Archibald Constable|location=Edinburgh|pages=344–345}}</ref> Haystacks may also be built on top of a foundation laid on the ground to reduce spoilage, in some places made of wood or brush.<ref name="Hoffbeck2000"/> In other areas, hay is stacked loose, built around a central pole, a tree, or within an area of three or four poles to add stability to the stack.<ref name="Francis2005">{{cite book|last=Francis|first=Irv E. |title=About Dreams and Memories on the Old Farm|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0qFj8_bYiF0C&pg=PA71|date=4 August 2005|publisher=AuthorHouse|isbn=978-1-4634-4959-9|page=71}}</ref><ref name="Jackson2011">{{cite book|last=Jackson|first=Mark|title=An Intrepid Traveller: Breaking China with the Idiots Abroad|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4yhtdPEpnfEC&pg=PA230|date=10 October 2011|publisher=Trafford Publishing|isbn=978-1-4269-9488-3|pages=230–231}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Southern Crops as Grown and Described by Successful Farmers|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=A6m3AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA205|year=1911|publisher=Cultivator Publishing Company|pages=205–206}}</ref>

One loose hay stacking technique seen in the British Isles is to initially stack freshly cut hay into smaller mounds called foot cocks, hay coles, kyles, hayshocks or haycocks, to facilitate initial curing.<ref name="Hoffbeck2000"/><ref>{{cite book|title=Scottish Literary Journal: Supplement No. 4, Issues 6–11|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mh-oAAAAIAAJ|year=1978|publisher=Association for Scottish Literary Studies|page=24}}</ref> These are sometimes built atop platforms or tripods formed of three poles, used to keep hay off the ground and let air into the center for better drying.<ref name="Tresemer1996">{{cite book|last=Tresemer|first=David Ward|title=The Scythe Book: Mowing Hay, Cutting Weeds, and Harvesting Small Grains, with Hand Tools|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DwZIAAAAYAAJ|year=1996|publisher=Alan C. Hood|isbn=978-0-911469-14-1|page=53}}</ref> The shape causes dew and rainwater to roll down the sides, allowing the hay within to cure.<ref name="Hoffbeck2000"/> People who handle the hay may use hayforks or pitchforks to move or pitch the hay in building haycocks and haystacks.<ref name="Hoffbeck2000"/><ref name="Websters2">{{cite book|title=Webster's II New College Dictionary|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OL60E3r2yiYC&pg=PA521|year=2005|publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt|isbn=0-618-39601-2|page=521}}</ref> Construction of tall haystacks is sometimes aided with a ramp, ranging from simple poles to a device for building large loose stacks called a [[beaverslide]].<ref name="Hoffbeck2000"/><ref>{{cite web  | last1 = Ernst  | first1 = Lisa  | last2 = Swaney  | first2 = Alexandra  | title = The Beaverslide: Homegrown Haying Technology  | publisher = Montana Arts Council  | work = Folklife  | url = http://art.mt.gov/folklife/folklife_beaverslide.asp  | access-date = September 28, 2012  | ref = {{sfnRef|Ernst & Swaney}}  | archive-date = October 1, 2012  | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20121001164528/http://art.mt.gov/folklife/folklife_beaverslide.asp  | url-status = dead  }}</ref>

{| style="margin: auto"
|-
| [[file:A traditional method of storing wheat hay in Punjab.jpg|thumb|A traditional method of storing wheat hay in [[Punjab]]]]
| [[file:Hay cocks - geograph.org.uk - 1439469.jpg|thumb|Hay cocks in a field in [[Ireland]]]]
| [[file:Beaverslide.jpg|thumb|A [[beaverslide]] with a full stack of hay in [[Montana]], [[United States|USA]]]]
|}