Hay Bale

Hay bales are decorative blocks that can also be fed to horses. They can be used as a compact storage for wheat, taking 9 wheat to craft, similar to mineral blocks. They are able to be placed facing all directions, similar to the way that wood and pillar quartz blocks are placed. They can be fed to horses by using them on one, in a similar manner to breeding mobs although horses will not be put in to "love mode". Horses will not eat nearby hay bale blocks. Hay bales are flammable blocks and can be burned easily. Its burning speed is similar to the speed of a coal block.

As a food item
While not edible by players, hay bales can be a useful compact food supply for long periods away from other food sources. One stack of hay bales can be crafted into 192 pieces of bread and only takes up one inventory space (two if you count the crafting table necessary to make bread). This makes carrying hay bales a very good source of food for long journeys or mining trips.

Hay bales can also be fed to horses, donkeys or mules to heal up to 10 hearts. They are an effective method to heal horses if the player wants to heal them in a short period of time. Hay bales also speed up the growth of foals by real life 3 minutes, decreasing the time required for them to grow into adult horses. Note, however, that the speedup is inefficient, being less than the nine minutes you would get for the nine wheat the bale is composed of.

A more efficient way to use hay bales to feed horses is to separate it into wheat and craft it into 3 pieces of bread. This will heal by 21 half-hearts and each piece will speed up the growth of foals by real life 3 minutes, leading to a 9 minute boost. (Although the speed up is not efficient, if you are planning to leave and do another job, then the hay bale is useful in that situation.) Starting in snapshot 14w26c for an upcoming 1.8 release, horses no longer eat bread.

Trivia

 * Hay bales burn in the world for just as long as the coal blocks do.
 * Hay bales are the first craftable blocks that can be used to feed an actual mob.
 * A screenshot of hay blocks was first found in the files of the Mojam game Nuke the Dinosaurs.
 * In real life, hay is usually made of green-cut long grass, not wheat.
 * However, as minecraft Grass sometimes drops wheat seeds, this is redundant.
 * Despite their yellow color, Hay Bales appear green on Maps.

Gallery
Strohballen Bala de heno Balle de foin Balla di Fieno 干草の俵 Strobaal Snop siana pt-br:Fardo de Feno Сноп сена 干草块