Farming in the Past

Illustration of a Loy

A hand-drawn picture of a loy. A loy is a long, narrow shovel used on hard and stoney land.

Illustration of a Loy

Illustration of a Loy

A hand-drawn picture of a loy. A loy is a long, narrow shovel used on hard and stoney land.

Enlarge image

In the past, farmers did not have all the machinery that now exists on farms. This means that many words once used to describe ways of working on the farm are not common today.

A loy is a narrow shovel, used for digging stony areas. It was a word used widely in Ireland. This picture shows you what a loy looks like.

A scythe is a tool with a long, curved blade, which was used for centuries for cutting hay. It has now been largely replaced by the combine harvester.

Ricks, or hayricks, are stacks of hay shaped like cones, usually left in fields before being removed. The cone shape helps rainwater slide off, rather than soak in, so that the stacks stay quite dry. A haycock is also a cone-shaped heap of hay left in a field to dry.