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This page provides information about hay making, including information about machinery. Maintaining the tradition of hay-making and aftermath grazing is vital for the continued survival of many WIld Meadows, and their wildlife, which have been managed this way for many centuries. The UK-wide shift from hay-making to taking silage has been greatly detrimental to Wild Meadows, causing widespread declines in characteristic hay-meadow birds, flowers, butterflies and other buglife. Before the combustion engine, hay was cut by hand with scythes, and later by horse teams. A good spell of dry weather was needed - usually at least 5 days, often more then a week. Hay was often cut late in the summer for this reason. Recent research has shown that plots containing a variety of wild flowers produced 40% more dry forage than plots sown with grasses only (see link below). Worryingly, the disappearing tradition of haymaking means that isolated wild flower hay meadows in lowland Britain are threatened because there are few farmers willing or able to cut the hay and aftermath graze.
  About hay-making
Link to UK Agriculture website information.
Haymaking - old photosLink to Ceredigion County Council website
Web page on Flora locale's main website
Research shows that hay yields are boosted when hayfields include wild flowers. Link to NERC website.
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Wild Meadow key