News Release

Draft Horses Make Hay While the Sun Shines at Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve

Draft horses pulling a sickle bar mower demonstrating the hay making process.

NPS

News Release Date: June 17, 2024

Contact: Heather Brown, 620-273-6034

STRONG CITY, Kansas: Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve is pleased to announce the upcoming historic horse-drawn mowing and raking demonstrations with a team of draft horses on Saturday, June 22nd from 10 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. weather permitting. Living historians share their knowledge of the past as they go about their daily lives on a working ranch.

Step back over 100 years as living history interpreters demonstrate the process of making hay using 19^th century machinery propelled by real horsepower. Having enough hay to last through the winter months was a necessity. Prairie hay was cut, cured, raked, and made into haystacks. It was also stored loosely in the loft of the large 1882 limestone barn. Interpreters will be on site to talk about the cultural history of making hay on the property when it was the Spring Hill Farm and Stock Ranch and Benninghoven Ranches. Haying will take place in the field south of the large barn. There is no admission charge to enter and all programs and activities are free at the preserve. Come see where history is being preserved.

Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve is located two miles north of Strong City on Kansas State Highway 177 (the Flint Hills National Scenic Byway) and is a unique public/private partnership between the National Park Service and The Nature Conservancy. For more information, visit the preserve’s Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/NPS.TallgrassPrairie , website at www.nps.gov/tapr, email e-mail us, or call the preserve at [phone]. To learn more about The Nature Conservancy in Kansas, visit the Conservancy’s website at www.nature.org/Kansas or Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/TNCKansas .