Hayfields are common where corn is being temporarily rotated out of production or where heavy soils make tilling impractical. Hayfields dominate the farm scenery of the Finger Lakes, covering more than 350,000 acres. Hay is a combination of grasses like timothy and orchardgrass and legumes like alfalfa and clover. It is meant as a feed for livestock. Hayfields stay in place for a number of years, occasionally requiring rejuvenation and overseeding. After hay is mown, it is usually raked and turned in long windrows to dry as quickly as possible. Then the hay is baled into square, round or wrapped bales. A hay bale acts as a container for all those stems, preserving the nutritional quality and making hay easier to handle and store.
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