{{Short description|Row of cut hay}} {{confused|winnowing|windbreaks|Windrow Formation{{!}}the Windrow Formation}}{{See Wiktionary}} {{For|people with this name|Windrow (surname)}} {{refimprove|date=May 2016}} thumb|Windrows of straw, along with stubble. [[Image:Kuilvoerwinning (grass silage).jpg|thumb|right|Grass for silage in a windrow awaiting collection.]] A '''windrow''' is a row of cut (mown) hay or small grain crop.<ref name=AHDict/> It is allowed to dry before being baled, combined, or rolled. For hay, the windrow is often formed by a hay rake, which rakes hay that has been cut by a mowing machine or by scythe into a row, or it may naturally form as the hay is mown. For small grain crops which are to be harvested, the windrow is formed by a swather which both cuts the crop and forms the windrow.
By analogy, the term may also be applied to a row of any other material such as snow, earth or materials for collection.<ref name=AHDict>{{Cite American Heritage Dictionary|windrow}}</ref>
* Snow windrows are created by snow plows when clearing roads of snow; where this blocks driveways the windrow may require removal. Snow windrowed to the centre of the street can be removed by a snow blower and truck. In preparing a pond or lake for ice cutting, the snow on top of the ice, which slows freezing, might be scraped off and windrowed.<ref>{{Cite journal | pages = 6–8 | last = Bowen | first = John T. | title = Harvesting and Storing Ice on the Farm | journal = Farmer's Bulletin | access-date = 2014-05-25 | date = 1928 | url = http://www.iceharvestingusa.com/farmbulletin3.html }}</ref> * Earth windrows may be formed by graders when grading earthworks or dirt roads * Leaf windrows may be required for municipal collection. * Fossil windrows are a grouping of fossils that have been deposited together as a result of turbulence or wave action in a marine or freshwater environment. Fossils of similar shape and size are commonly found grouped or sorted together as a result of separation based on weight and shape. * Seaweed windrows form on sea or lake surfaces because of cylindrical Langmuir circulation just under the surface caused by wind action.
Windrow composting is a large scale vermicomposting system where garden and other biodegradable waste is shredded, mixed and windrowed for composting.
==See also== * Windrow composting * Windrow Formation * {{Wiktionary-inline}}
==References== {{Wiktionary}} {{Commons category|Windrows}} {{reflist}}
Category:Agricultural terminology Category:Snow removal
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