Hay Bale

"Spring is ruined, all thanks to hay. Hay, you traitorous snake. That's why we prefer hay bales in Minecraft, where instead of ruining our lives, they sometimes save them. Landing on a hay bale in the game reduces any fall damage by 80%. That means you could potentially fall from a hundred blocks high and survive. Just. Our legal team cannot stress enough that you should only try that in Minecraft."

- Tom Stone

Hay bales are decorative, flammable blocks that can also be fed to horses.

Obtaining
Hay bales can be mined using any tool, or without a tool.

Food item
While not edible by players, hay bales can be a useful compact food supply for long periods away from other food sources.

Horses
"Foals that eat hay bales will actually grow into horses faster. Because who needs a rich and fulfilling childhood when you can just eat your way to the responsibilities, disappointments and baldness of adult life early? Don't do it, foals! Embrace your youth!"

- Tom Stone

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. They also speed up the growth of foals by three minutes.

Breeding
Hay bales can be used to breed llamas.

Falling
Falling onto a hay bale reduces the fall damage by 80%, meaning whatever falls on a hay bale only takes 20% of the normal fall damage.

An unarmored player with full health and no effects can fall as far as 100.27 blocks onto a hay bale, and still survive with health remaining.

Placement
Hay bales can be placed pointing in all three spatial dimensions, in the same way as wood is placed. However, there is no fourth "bark block" variant.