(800) 853-2651
SHOP NOW

Hay mow or Hayloft???

F

FarmerZeb

Member
What do you call the part of the barn where you store hay???? I've lived all over and have heard both both terms. Is there any regional or other discriminator on the use of these terms.

just a random question..

paul
 
A loft is where "yuppies" like to live, they don't have a clue how to mow hay away, and their loft is more than likely far from rural America.
Loren, the Acg.
 
We had both. (central Michigan)
The hay mow was the upstairs part over the main cattle barn.
The hay loft was just that, a loft. Elevated above the floor
with open storage underneath it, only covered half the room.
I have no idea if those are "correct" terms, that's just what
my Dad called them when I was growing up.
 
Reminds me of when the kids were little and we had just built the new hay barn. The wife's seven year old niece was up from Kentucky. She told the boys "let's go play in the hi born".
 
We called it a hay mow growing up. We always referred being in the mow unloading those last bales with so little room to stack.

Larry
 

Thinking back I would have to say that it is a time thing. I remember Hay Mow from as a kid but hay loft from more recent.
 
I always referred to a mow as the area IN a loft that held a certain number of bales of hay. usually between four posts. Seems to me it was around 350 bales. Some old dairy barns around here have the lofts divided into mows.
 
May be a regional north/south thing, like ponds and tanks....we always called it a loft on the Texas ranch, and I never heard it called a mow until today. But I don"t get out much.........
 
Never heard the term "hay mow". We cut hay, mowed the yard and ditches. A barn was where we put it after it was baled. A loft was usually an elevated floor in a shop, but no hay there.
 
Around my area of Michigan everyone calls it a hay loft, even when loose hay was stored up there.

Also there is a bar in Mt. Clemens (Detroit) called the Hay Loft Liquor Stand, so I am sticking with my answer, its a loft.

Rick
 
paul, Here in Texas! It is a hayloft, the upper story of a Barn, Round bales are kept in a
Stack-Lot!
We Mow Down Hay! Never heard the term Hay mow here in Texas, Ever!
Later,
John A.
 
Here it's always been up in the mow, you want to stick forks or go up in the mow?? At our place it wasn't how tall is the hay, it was always how deep is the hay, should we cut or wait.
 
I have heard it both ways around here. I don't know how everyone else pronounces it, but we pronounced "mow" as "maow", or as the dictionary says, "mau".
I like it when questions like this come up, it always sends me to the dictionary.
 
I read some of the answers, and I wonder if those who have never heard it called a "hay mow" know the pronunciation. The word "mow", used in this manner, rhymes with "ow", like one of the words you might say if you smacked your thumb with a hammer. It does not rhyme with "mow", as in "I mowed the yard today".

When I think of a hay loft, I think of small square bale storage area in the top of an old barn. When I think of a hay mow, I think of loose hay storage area in the very same barn. The reason? The old timers talked of putting loose hay in the "hay mow", and us "younger" guys always put bales in the "loft".
 
Growing up in cow country of CNY it was called mowing hay in the hay loft. Now with horses we store hay in the hay shed since the horses are free range kept.
 
At my Uncle's farm in Northern Westmoreland County, Virginia , he had BOTH. The Loft was where the baled hay was stored & was loaded from outside the barn through the doorway in the peak, with the gin-pole. The Mow was under the Loft & was loaded from inside the barn, and was where the loose hay was piled.

Doc
 
Hey Jon F it must be a Minnesota thing, everybody around here calls them haybarn also. I'm in west central Mn
 
(quoted from post at 01:59:55 10/22/13) Older boys and girls played in the HAY LOFT
Click to expand...

According to James Whitcomb Riley, a Hoosier poet....Both "Mow"and "Loft" are referenced.




The Old Hay-Mow



The Old Hay-mow's the place to play
Fer boys, when it's a rainy day!
I good-'eal ruther be up there
Than down in town, er anywhere!

When I play in our stable-loft,
The good old hay's so dry an' soft,
An' feels so fine, an' smells so sweet,
I 'most ferget to go an' eat.

An' one time wunst I _did_ ferget
To go 'tel dinner was all et,--
An' they had short-cake--an'--Bud he
Hogged up the piece Ma saved fer me!

Nen I won't let him play no more
In our hay-mow where I keep store
An' got hen-eggs to sell,--an' shoo
The cackle-un old hen out, too!

An' nen, when Aunty she was here
A-visitun from Rensselaer,
An' bringed my little cousin,--_he_
Can come up there an' play with me.

But, after while--when Bud he bets
'At I can't turn no summersetts,--
I let him come up, ef he can
Ac' ha'f-way like a gentleman!


James Whitcomb Riley
 
Up here in NYs Canadian border it's mow, rhymes with "cow". You also mow the hay away when you're putting it in the barn. We do however "mow", rhymes with "low", the lawn and the hay.
 
(quoted from post at 03:49:54 10/22/13) Up here in NYs Canadian border it's mow, rhymes with "cow". You also mow the hay away when you're putting it in the barn. We do however "mow", rhymes with "low", the lawn and the hay.
Click to expand...

Same pronunciation here in central Indiana.
 
(quoted from post at 02:03:00 10/22/13) What do you call the part of the barn where you store hay???? I've lived all over and have heard both both terms. Is there any regional or other discriminator on the use of these terms.

just a random question..

paul
Click to expand...


Hmmmm... good question. I guess I always thought of a hay mow as where they used to pitch loose hay, and a hay loft being more modern where baled hay would go. No idea where I got that from though...
 
IF YOU COME TO Iowa , Heart of cow country in the Midwest, in the retired farmer groups, if its in the barn, its a hay mow. My brothers and I have mowed thousands of small round and square bales. The new sheds put up to store big round or square bales are hay sheds. The sheds put up in the 60,s to store square bales were also called hay sheds.
 

It must be "hay mow".We didn't "loft away" the hay,we mowed away the hay.Heard both terms used but mow far more often.
 
We even had a local TV show (country music) back in the late 50's and early 60's by the name of HAY LOFT HO DOWN. Growing up, I had a few other names for it, most of which won't sneek past the profanity filters.
 
Not a hard rule but here usually if you have a traditional dairy barn built for loose hay its the mow (mah-ow) and the bottom animal floor is slightly below grade, low ceiling with stone/masonry walls and not vehicle accessible. Usually had a hole in the mow floor to drop hay to the animals.

A newer horse stable or barn that the aisles are above grade built on a slab with high ceiling, people tend to call hay area above a loft and its usually open to the animal area somewhere such as along an aisle.
 
Loft means above.probably comes from sailing ships.You went aloft when you climbed the rigging.Lofty means high up.Ive heard the term sail loft.
 
We always called it a hay mow. So here is another question. Put the bales in the mow with the strings up, bale laying flat, or the strings on the side?
We always mowed the hay with the strings on the side, cut edge of bale up.
 
Here in So Central Mass, at our 240yr old family farm, the hay goes in the mow, rhymes with cow. Whether loose or baled. We still use the old hay fork sometimes for loose hay.
 
I grew up in KY and we always put our hay in the loft after it was mowed (or cut), then baled.
It took me a while to figure out what a "mow" was when I moved to Iowa a few years ago. Never heard that term down South -- always "loft" or "hay loft."
Good Luck and God Bless
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

B
Drum Mower and MF 135 or Ford 3000 Tractor?
Replies
4
Views
225
Texasmark1
T
N
3020 Gas or 3010 Diesel
Replies
17
Views
1K
620 John
620 John
K
Too late to mow hay
2
Replies
27
Views
673
Leroy
L
Horsez2
New to Hay Baling and need advice!
2
Replies
29
Views
2K
ajl
A
C
Red power hay making tractor?
Replies
7
Views
876
jwal10
J
Tractor Parts Tractor Manuals

We sell tractor parts! We have the parts you need to repair your tractor - the right parts. Our low prices and years of research make us your best choice when you need parts. Shop Online Today.

Copyright © 1997-2024 Yesterday's Tractor Co.

All Rights Reserved. Reproduction of any part of this website, including design and content, without written permission is strictly prohibited. Trade Marks and Trade Names contained and used in this Website are those of others, and are used in this Website in a descriptive sense to refer to the products of others. Use of this Web site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement and Privacy Policy TRADEMARK DISCLAIMER: Tradenames and Trademarks referred to within Yesterday's Tractor Co. products and within the Yesterday's Tractor Co. websites are the property of their respective trademark holders. None of these trademark holders are affiliated with Yesterday's Tractor Co., our products, or our website nor are we sponsored by them. John Deere and its logos are the registered trademarks of the John Deere Corporation. Agco, Agco Allis, White, Massey Ferguson and their logos are the registered trademarks of AGCO Corporation. Case, Case-IH, Farmall, International Harvester, New Holland and their logos are registered trademarks of CNH Global N.V.

Yesterday's Tractors - Antique Tractor Headquarters
Website Accessibility Policy

Back
Top