Menu
Forums
New posts
Search forums
What's new
New posts
New media
New media comments
New profile posts
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Members
Current visitors
New profile posts
Search profile posts
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles and first posts only
Search titles only
By:
New posts
Search forums
Menu
Log in
Register
Forums
Cattle Boards
Grasses, Pastures & Hay
Baling Green Hay
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Help Support CattleToday:
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Stickney94" data-source="post: 1579448" data-attributes="member: 37941"><p>We run a small operation with full-time off the farm jobs and so we purchased a single bale wrapper to provide us another tool to put up quality hay. Time and Weather are the two factors that make our decision on whether to put the hay up dry or as baylage. If we have a window that looks dry we will put up dry hay. But, having the option to essentially cut one day, rake, bale, wrap the next can really provide some peace of mind.</p><p></p><p>The feeding ratio of 2:1 seems about accurate in my experience (1 dry bale last twice as long). The bales ARE heavy. So be careful moving them (speaking from experience). </p><p></p><p>As far as moisture when we wrap -- I've yet to figure that out. Superficial surface mold is pretty common. If the bale smells like silage I don't worry about it. If the bale smells sour I will strip the outer layers. I do know that the cows don't seem to mind either way. </p><p></p><p>We've had mold free and mold covered bales in the same batch wrapped within minutes of one another. Ideally for us, right around 50% moisture seems to provide the best results.</p><p></p><p>Last summer we did a batch that was wetter, probably 60%+, and the main issue was that upon placing in the bale feeder this winter, these wetter bales would freeze hard and be essentially a silage ice cube the cattle couldn't bite off. The baylage we did at say 40% was dry enough that the issue wasn't as severe. But that was a new one.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Stickney94, post: 1579448, member: 37941"] We run a small operation with full-time off the farm jobs and so we purchased a single bale wrapper to provide us another tool to put up quality hay. Time and Weather are the two factors that make our decision on whether to put the hay up dry or as baylage. If we have a window that looks dry we will put up dry hay. But, having the option to essentially cut one day, rake, bale, wrap the next can really provide some peace of mind. The feeding ratio of 2:1 seems about accurate in my experience (1 dry bale last twice as long). The bales ARE heavy. So be careful moving them (speaking from experience). As far as moisture when we wrap -- I've yet to figure that out. Superficial surface mold is pretty common. If the bale smells like silage I don't worry about it. If the bale smells sour I will strip the outer layers. I do know that the cows don't seem to mind either way. We've had mold free and mold covered bales in the same batch wrapped within minutes of one another. Ideally for us, right around 50% moisture seems to provide the best results. Last summer we did a batch that was wetter, probably 60%+, and the main issue was that upon placing in the bale feeder this winter, these wetter bales would freeze hard and be essentially a silage ice cube the cattle couldn't bite off. The baylage we did at say 40% was dry enough that the issue wasn't as severe. But that was a new one. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Forums
Cattle Boards
Grasses, Pastures & Hay
Baling Green Hay
Top