Just been looking at the definition of "stook" in a dictionary:

a number of sheaves set upright in a field to dry with their heads together

These would be your "hay-cocks", I guess. The stooks were tied in the middle, and the men would catch them up with their forks and toss them up to the wagon. All things change - the stooks were replaced with square bales, and now it's large circles like Shredded Wheat! These look quite surreal when standing in rows in a field after the combine's done its job. In recent years, I've seen the circular bales covered in a jacket of black plastic - presumably to rot down into silage.

My favourite job was feeding the hens which, of course, in those days ran freely in the field. The tractor had an open-backed trailer partially filled with feed, and us kids would perch on the trailer, scooping out handfuls while the hens scuttled after us like mad things! Even now, the smell of a farmyard brings all this back to me instantly.