Many city dwellers who have rarely been to the village do not know how hay differs from straw. Of course, there is a similarity between them: both of them are the aerial parts of herbaceous plants that go to feed animals. But on this all the similarities between them, perhaps, end. We will try to explain in an accessible way how hay differs from straw. Let's start with the main difference.
How hay differs from straw
Straw is the stalks of cereals and legumes after they have been harvested. It has a tubular structure and is characterized by rigidity and brittleness. Straw is, rather, waste from the harvest of various crops: wheat, oats, barley, etc. It is not grown purposefully for food. Many modern harvesters have cutting machines that chop straw. But farmers use it both for animal feed, and as bedding material.
Hay is a grass mown and dried under the sun, which preserves the nutritional properties of plants in the cold season. It is purposefully harvested as animal feed. Hay is intended for rabbits, cattle and small cattle, horses, that is, for those animals that graze in the meadows and fields in the summer. In winter, of course, mowing grass is not possible, so farmers harvest hay.
Color difference
Differences can be seen in color. Rye straw is grayish yellow, wheat - golden honey, barley - a darker shade. But it is never green, since chlorophyll is not stored in stems dried on the root, and it is he who is responsible for this color.
Nutritional Difference
Dry straw is used mainly as a litter layer for animals and does not have nutritional value. In order to preserve it for longer, it is scattered, giving the compressed mass an elongated rectangle shape. But many farmers harvest it in round bales, wrapping it with waterproof material.
In hay, on the contrary, all the nutritional properties of plants are preserved. You need to mow the grass in the summer, when it is in optimal condition - it has grown to the maximum and has not turned yellow. An example of this effect is known by many housewives in the kitchen, when they buy dried herbs or condiments, dill, onions, etc. at a store or pharmacy. By their properties, they have all the nutrients that are in living plants, if you follow a simple technology.
Straw nutrients
Straw, as mentioned above, is formed by threshing cereals and legumes. It has a lot of fiber (up to 45%), low protein and fat, and no vitamins at all. Nutrients are contained in a strong lignocellulose complex, which is poorly digested in the intestines of animals. Horses, for example, digest the organic matter of this feed by only 20-30 percent. But a good variety of spring straw is approaching nutritionally to poor quality hay.
The richest in nutrients is fodder from legumes. Of course, it all depends on weather and human factors during harvesting. But subject to all technological requirements, legume straw can be nutritious for good meadow hay. It has a high protein content. Of the minuses - such food is not stored for a long time and is susceptible to damage by various fungi, and this will lead to digestion in animals.
Features of feeding straw
However, some farmers use straw in the diet of ruminants. But for this it is necessary to observe several conditions:
- It is necessary to feed mainly oat, barley and millet straw. Food from these crops can reach half the total diet, but before feeding it must be steamed and mixed with juicy herbs, oilcakes, bran, etc.
- Winter straw is completely unsuitable for animal feed.
- Bean food can be given to animals without prior preparation. It is believed that straw from these crops is more nutritious than other species. However, you can’t feed animals only with such food, as it lacks vitamins and minerals.
The role of hay for animals
Unlike straw, which can be given as additional food, hay is mandatory for some species of animals in the winter. The best food is prepared from clover, sainfoin, alfalfa. Hay is recommended to be stored under a canopy in the attic or in the barn. With open storage, it is covered with plastic wrap. In addition, hay can not be overdried, the optimum humidity should be 15 percent.
The high quality of hay can be indicated by its color - green, both in the stems and in the leaves. The mass of the mop in 1 cubic meter of meadow herbs is about 50 kg, of legumes and cereal grasses - a little more, about 66 kg.
conclusions
So, to summarize, how hay differs from straw:
- The objectives of the workpiece. Straw is, rather, a waste material after harvesting, which is used for various purposes, mainly as a bedding layer, but is sometimes added to the diet of animals. Hay - purposefully harvested in the summer as feed for cows, horses, small cattle, rabbits and so on.
- Nutrients. Straw does not contain all the necessary elements that are in the hay.
- By color. Good hay should be green due to chlorophyll. The straw is dried on the stem, it has a yellow color with various shades, depending on the crop.
- In shape. Straw consists of round stems from various spring, bean and winter crops that break easily. Hay contains dry grass.