flake

n. a (packed, firm, or cohesive) portion of animal fodder such as hay or straw, smaller than a bale and larger than a handful. Subjects: English, Agriculture, Plant-life

Editorial Note: The size of a flake is not fixed, as you can see in the citations where it is variously explained as weighing 20 pounds, equaling one-twentieth of a bale, measuring two to three inches wide, or approximating the width of an encyclopedia.

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Citations: 1835 Stephen Burroughs Memoirs of the Notorious Stephen Burroughs (Boston) p. 291: I took a large flake of hay and laid it on some rails which I had fixed for that purpose, and creeped under it, to shelter myself, in some small measure, from the rain. 1886 Robert Holland A Glossary of Words Used in the County of Chester (London, United Kingdom) p. 126: FLEAK, s. a small bundle of hay; not a truss. 1899 Hamlin Garland Boy Life on the Prairie (New York) p. 60: One of the shrewd ways in which the boys made concealment was by lifting a flake of hay from the stack and making a hole beneath it. Upon letting the flake of weather-beaten thatch fall back into place, all signs of the nest disappeared. 1988 Peter Anderson Boston Globe (Massachusetts) (Nov. 13) “Statistical Abstract” p. 29: If you can stick your nose into a flake of hay and take a deep breath without coughing, your horse will too. 1991 Donna Jean MacKinnon Toronto Star (Canada) (Oct. 13) “ These downtown professionals have made rural dreams a reality” p. E1: The donkeys are inexpensive to keep. They eat a flake of hay a day and a Campbell’s soup tin of grain. 1993 Harold Hawk Parkersburg News (West Virginia) (Aug. 29) “Small horses a big part of Sandyville family’s life”: The average backyard can provide sufficient pasture for a miniature horse. In winter, a flake of hay and a pint of grain a day will keep the little animal sleek, healthy and content. 1995 Thoroughbred Times (Dec. 23) “The Christmas foundling”: Chris placed him in a stall and told Billy to toss him a flake of hay. The horse dived into it.…His hay was gone and Billy was tossing him another flake when Roger drove up. 1998 M.H. Salmon Mother Earth News (Apr. 14) “Starting right with homestead goats” p. 68: Pregnant or milking does need the extra protein and nutrition of alfalfa hay, or a grass/alfalfa mix. One flake of hay per adult goat, fed morning and evening, is about right. 1999 Slim Randles Albuquerque Journal (New Mexico) (Jan. 5) “Little Goats Delight Breeder in Big Way” p. 7: After goat-proofing the yard with a substantial fence, all it requires is letting them mow the lawn and eat up to one flake of hay a day each. Connie feeds half a flake in summer and a full flake in winter. There are about 20 flakes in each bale, and a bale of good alfalfa runs something around $5. 2001 Sean Clancy Bloodhorse.com (Aug. 7) “A Cup of Coffee”: I want nothing except for this flake of alfalfa hay in the back corner. *2003 North American Limousin Foundation Feed a Winner (May 22) p. 4: A flake of hay refers to as section approximately 2 to 3 inches wide. 2003 School of Veterinary Medicine @ University of Wisconsin-Madison SVM Dairy Teaching Herd—Employee Training (Sept. 18) “Feeding”: A flake of hay is about 20 lbs so each cow would get about a 1⁄4 of a flake. 2004 Barbara Damrosch Washington Post (May 6) “Green Thumbs Value a Good Mulch” p. H08: I prefer mulches that break down readily in the soil and are easy to lay down. I used to buy salt hay, which grows in coastal marshes, because the seeds it contains don’t germinate in gardens. But it’s less available now, so I use straw or hay. These come off the bale in flakes, like the volumes in an encyclopedia. 2006 Hay & Forage Grower (Feb. 1) “Hay Tools For 2006” vol. 21, no. 2, p. 30: Krone’s BP-12130 4 × 4 big square baler has standard features found on other models in the company’s Big Pack line. Its V.F.S. prechamber reduces stress loads and improves bale flake density. 2006 Karen Martin Arkansas Democrat Gazette (Oct. 14) “Good horsekeeping Tips for building a barn to house your horses” p. 43: Other useful options include automatic waterers (indoor and outdoor), rubber flooring, automatic flake hay dispensers.

Posted 21 Aug 07 | Permalink | Tell a Friend

Reader comments:

The word is actually “fleak”. People have misused the word flake so much it has become the flavor of the day, as it were. It is from Old English, or very early American English i think. I googled it and found the term used properly in a few cited articles way down the hit list.

by Mike Wasson 24 Aug 07, 0404 GMT

“Fleak” is an alternate spelling (I’ll add a citation or two for it shortly) but “flake” is still far and away the most common spelling now and historically.

by Grant Barrett 24 Aug 07, 0411 GMT