As a city girl growing up in Milwaukee in the 1980's I never really thought about where my food came from.

Now that I've lived in Wyoming for almost 21 years (wow has it been that long) I have realized how connected we are to where our food comes from.

We have chickens and have raised our own pigs and cows to provide meat for our family. And, we purchase hay from local hay farmers to feed our horses (and Poncho the Christmas Mule) all year long.

When I came across this retro video of horses helping ranchers hay I was fascinated.

Honestly, even now, I've never seen horses used for anything other than riding or packing.

I have to say, I have a whole new level of respect for working horses (and their owners) after seeing this.

The man narrating the video does a pretty good job explaining what is happening but I still found myself with quite a few questions.

I started with the explanation under the video.

This is a video recorded on the Stephens Ranch near Rand Colorado in 1998. Horses collect loose hay with "Sweep or Buck Rakes" and deliver it in front of the "Beaver Slide". The "Slide Stacker" then pushes the hay up into the cage.

And then, I hit google to see if I could learn more.

This article from FarmcCollector.com went into some more detail about the machinery used, and also had a few helpful pictures as well.

This article from RuralHeritage.com talks about the process one family goes through that involves horsedrawn mowers and a horsedrawn bale hauler. But, they used a motor-powered baler and tractors to rake the hay. Even with the mechanical help, it took them three days to cut and bale 10 acres of hay.

I've heard that there is a rancher outside of Jackson that uses horsepower to hay, so if you have any pictures send them to us through the My Country Mobile App.

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