It took a team and a vintage engine to chop dry stalks of oats and barley into chaff, (which is a finely cut feed, that’s easier for horses to chew and digest). I’d heard that a lot of farmland used to be dedicated to growing horse feed, but I hadn’t realised how much prep went into making it edible.
Fun Fact for the day... Chaff is the husk surrounding a seed, which is generally thrown away. horses have a clever trick... they can blow through their nostrils to puff away the lighter husks so they can reach the nutritious seeds.
The group worked together loading the sheafed oats into the machine which cut it into short lengths before it was dropped into sacks. Once the bags were full they were hand sewn shut and loaded into a truck where it was stored for six weeks. The chaff supplements the horses yearly feed.
It was dusty, noisy, and a real window into past farming. With the arrival of engines, I image the need forse literal horse power declined. I wonder how much efficiency farmers have gained thanks to the engine.
In the photos, they work as a team with a old chaff cutter, turning dry stalks into chopped horse feed... typical of the regular work done on farm for the working horses all over the country...
Chaff is the husk surrounding a seed, which is generally thrown away.