Hay is a type of animal fodder that is made from grass, legumes, or other herbaceous plants that have been cut and dried. It is used to feed large grazing animals raised as livestock, such as cattle, horses, goats, and sheep, as well as smaller domesticated animals such as rabbits and guinea pigs. Hay can be used as animal fodder when there is not enough pasture or rangeland on which to graze an animal, when grazing is not feasible due to weather (such as during the winter), or when lush pasture by itself would be too rich for the health of the animal.
Hay production and harvest, commonly known as "making hay", "haymaking", "haying" or "doing hay", involves a multiple step process: cutting, drying or "curing", raking, processing, and storing. Hayfields do not have to be reseeded each year.
Hay is often a tall field grass, usually a variety called Timothy, and is cut at ground level when it is mature. The whole plant, including stalks, leaf blades, and seed heads, are left where they fall to dry in the summer sun. When dried, they are baled in rectangular-shaped bales to feed animals that range from domestic animals on farms to wild animals at zoos.
