Quite a lot of you wondered why there were so many snowballs in the field on my last post. Well they are not snowballs, but silage. That is grass that is wrapped in plastic to ferment to make food for animals like cows and sheep. As you probably have found out, we have a very long winter with a lot of snow. So from September till about May-June there is no food to find outside for our livestocks. All winterfood has to be prepared during summer and stored.
Farmers used to dry grass to make hay. Now this is rare, and that is why we got these “snowballs” all over the country. We call them roundballs (rundballer) or tractor-eggs, and we even have roundball-festivals. More roundball photos.
Bente Haarstad Photography 
OK. They didn’t seem that big!
LikeLike
That’s right, not from the distance. But they are very big. Thanks Lagotto.
LikeLike
I grew up around farms, so knew what the snowballs were. Loving your captures:) Happy Thursday!
LikeLike
Thanks for your comment, Cravesadventure.
LikeLike
Huh! Mystery solved! lol
LikeLike
Absolutely: solved!
LikeLike
Another lovely set of images Bente. The silage bales look rather better covered in snow than the black balls that are littered around the fields here. 🙂
LikeLike
We have snow for so many months, I guess that is why they are white. They have also tried with green of different shades. But mainly white. Thanks, Chillbrook.
LikeLike
Jeg må si du er en fremragende formidler av norsk natur og kultur, Bente. Rett og slett imponerende!
LikeLike
Tusen takk, Kjersti. Du er jo en super natur & turformidler selv!
LikeLike
Nice!!
LikeLike
Thanks, Klaas.
LikeLike
Very interesting post, Bente. Great pictures, as usual.
LikeLike
Thanks, Anneli.
LikeLike
Ha! I agree with lagottocattleya that they didn’t seem that big, but looking at them compared to the people, they are quite large!
LikeLike
Large and heavy, Jackie.
LikeLike
Good idea!
LikeLike
Glad you liked the idea, Allen.
LikeLike
Thank you for the explanation and the wonderful photos.
LikeLike
And thanks to you for your comment, Tuxedo.
LikeLike
Rolling rundballs, a new Olympic event! Although, I prefer tractor eggs.
LikeLike
Haha, tractor eggs is cool. And since Norway is hoping for another OL (winter) maybe they should try for another sort of olympics.
LikeLike
I shall try out for the American Tractor Egg Rolling Team!
LikeLike
Wonderful photos, these “snowballs” are known in Denmark too – and like you norwegians we danes have a lot of fun too… 🙂 😉
LikeLike
I know, Drake. Danish are both funny, and not the least: nice.
LikeLike
Wonderful! Just love that idea as I’m sure the animals do! My first job was with Sperry Corp, the company that introduced the first round hay bailer here in the US.
LikeLike
I am impressed, you have worked with hay bailers. 🙂 And I agree with you, I am sure the animals like the nice winter food.
LikeLike
LOL. Actually I was on the computer side of Sperry’s business but they were very proud if their hay bailers in their heavy equipment division 🙂
LikeLike
We have them here, too. I once teased a city person visiting that we were growing marshmallows. The certainly look like giant marshmallows to me. I think she believed me!
LikeLike
Marshmallows, I’ll think of that the next time I see some of them. 😉 Thanks, Gunta.
LikeLike
Simples…when you know what is what!
LikeLike
Yes, Isn’t it. Thanks, David.
LikeLike
I missed the first post but I love the mystery look of the giant snow balls with virgin snow and no foot prints!
LikeLike
Rolled by a fairy probably. Thanks, Curious.
LikeLike
Thats exactly what I thought!!!! >I<
LikeLike
Awesome photos and idea for the post. The scale of the first photo looks very odd! Love the idea of silage rolling! : )
LikeLike
Wonderful and interesting photographs… I loved them dear Bente, Thank you, love, nia
LikeLike
Thank you Bente for the interesting story about the thikngs i tought it were snowballs..
LikeLike
Lovely photos and thanks for the explanation.
LikeLike
Those ‘snowballs’ are insane! Great shots, Bente.
LikeLike
Funny effect, indeed! 🙂 Ha en finfin dag! 🙂
LikeLike
Goodness gracious, great balls of… hay! 😉
LikeLike
Exactly, great, great balls…of hay.
LikeLike
Thanks for the explanation! They did look smaller to me in the original post.
LikeLike
I know, they looked very small. But they actually are something around 300-500 kg if I am not mistaken.
LikeLike
Fascinating shapes of the grass feed incased in plastic. I assumed they were bales of hay in the fields, left over from summer haymaking – never realised they would be encased in plastic to ferment. Thanks for sharing Bente. I learn something new about Norway every time I read your blog.
LikeLike
The plastic and fermentation is to keep the hay “fresh” and edible. Thanks a lot, Victoria.
LikeLike
Thought this might have been a take-off on crop circles… snow circles. LOL
LikeLike
Amazing!
LikeLike
Very interesting explication of the mysterious balls !! And beautiful images of the snowfields.
LikeLike
That third picture looks like a Musk Ox . . . a very long Musk Ox.
LikeLike
Now I see the musk ox too, Disperser. I grew uo around these things, but with a fresh look I learned to see something new.
LikeLike
I have seen the tractor eggs in places without snow, but did not realize that they could look like large rocks under the snowcover. And that there are competitions with them! You can always learn something from a photograph. Lovely photographs.
LikeLike
Very interesting! We use round bales here, but not wrapped in plastic, just stacked.
LikeLike
Fina bilder! Roligt att se.
LikeLike
Due to the weather we have here, especially in my area, they are not stored in plastic, because the snow is rarely and in the mountains.
They are a truly beautiful images.
LikeLike
! They really did look like snow balls oddly plotted about. I enjoyed your post – wonderful pictures 🙂
LikeLike
¡Muy interesante y bello!
LikeLike
So that is what they were! I had difficulty working out how big they were too. Thanks for the information, Bente
LikeLike
Wow, the really are big! Thanks for the explanation. 🙂
LikeLike
I remember these “snowballs” from England, where they were typically wrapped in black plastic. They always looked funny scattered around the green hills….
LikeLike
nice one tryed pushing those balls couple of years back hard going
LikeLike
Curiosa combinación de fotos y texto y muy intersante. Un placer saber de todo eso.
Saludos.
LikeLike
Such beautiful lighting, contrasts and amazing photography ! xo
LikeLike
Beautiful pictures. Thanks.
LikeLike
They look so pretty, whatever they are!
LikeLike
I’m surprised to see that roundballs are not sheltered winter.
LikeLike
Wonderful Sseason !
LikeLike
This is really interesting, and I love how the community pulls together to make it an event. So I imagine they open one up at a time for the livestock right?
LikeLike
¡Qué curioso! ¡Me gusta!
LikeLike
Så grafiskt vackert med snöbollarna som visar sig vara större än man tror. I vår familj kallar vi dem för dinosaurieägg. Här en bild där barnbarnen använder dem till att njuta en stund: http://baraenbildavmig.wordpress.com/2011/07/16/livsnjutarna/
LikeLike
What a fun post. It is HOT in New York and I can only wistfully dream of a beautiful field of snow.
LikeLike