Chapter 5

He climbed the ladder in about three fast steps. “Stand clear,” he yelled and then shoved two bales of hay off to the floor below. While the cowboy climbed back down, Lou bent to study one of the bales. The stuff was green, some kind of plant as far as he could tell, cut, dried and packed very densely into a big bundle.

“What is this stuff? It isn’t grass. I thought they made hay out of grass.”

Spark chuckled. “Back east they mostly do. Like in Kentucky it’s kinda traditional for the racehorses, but out here we feed mostly alfalfa. It’s related to clover, high in nutrition and actually replenishes the soil where they grow it. My brother learned all that at Texas A&M studying animal husbandry. If I hadn’t been so dumb, I could’ve gone, too, but I was having too much fun riding rough stock and partying.”