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  Discussion on Haylage
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Member:
imogen

Posted on Friday, Aug 3, 2007 - 2:16 pm:

Due to the terrible weather, we are in trouble with the hay this year like a lot of people. It was mown last Sunday, got 2 good days of sun, turned Tuesday, bit of a shower Wednesday... but now it has gone good and misty and the weather forecast is pretty bad.

We are going to probably try and make haylage of it but have not done this before. (Haylage is like silage except that you let the grass dry quite a bit more than for silage though not as much as for hay. It can go mouldy if the wrapped bales get attacked by crows etc.)

Does anyone have experience of making haylage and how dry does it need to be before you bale for haylage? I have been told a couple of hours of good drying is sufficient before raking and baling but this is new territory...

Thanks for any advice.

Imogen
Member:
paardex

Posted on Saturday, Aug 4, 2007 - 3:11 am:

Hi Imogen, As the Dutch make almost always haylage they even have percentages for the right use!
60% dry matter[?] haylage for cows smells and be a bit careful with horses[feed within a week]
70% dry perfect for horses[feed when opened within 10 days!]
80% dry almost hay holds a little bit longer
90% hay
Still if it isn't good enough anymore to make hay I doubt the quality will be good enough for haylage it is just sooner baled all the quality recommendations for hay are the same.
The danger of haylage in Holland was not the product[which I prefer even over hay as it saves the trouble of making it wet for horses who need that]but the richness.It is often very short cut grass way to rich for our 'fatties', if it grows longer and is made in haylage I never had a problem.
Hope this helps
Jos
Member:
imogen

Posted on Saturday, Aug 4, 2007 - 4:36 pm:

We raked it today ready for baling but the contractor did not turn up. The weather is continuing foul until Tuesday so I have rather lost hope...

Imogen
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Monday, Aug 6, 2007 - 7:02 am:

And I thought putting hay up in NC USA was tough. Here we have unpredictable afternoon thundershowers in the hot months. The only good word I have is that the extra rain will usually accelerate the growing season so perhaps an extra cutting is coming your way.
DrO
Member:
imogen

Posted on Friday, Aug 10, 2007 - 5:11 pm:

Unfortunately, at this latitude the days are getting too short and are even surprisingly autumnal already so I don't think there is much hope of a further cutting....

Anyway, the stuff got baled finally but I think it will be useless. At least it is off the field...

I have managed to secure 25 round bales of good quality hay from a neighbour which is great. One slight problem - we have nowhere to store round bales so I am going to have to transport them over the winter from the neighbour's farm a couple of miles away.

Small tractors and round bales - anyone any experience? I think I am going to collect 2 of the bales each weekend in my horse trailer (I will be back working 9-5 in the city so I am planning now for those short January days...). The horses will likely get through one round bale every 4-5 days.

When I get the bales back in the horse trailer then I have to get one into the round feeder and the other into the only shed that will take a round bale. My tractor is small (Massey Ferguson 135). I do have loader arms and I am going to try to get one of those spikey things that goes on the three point hitch for carrying bales behind.

I think the tractor will lift a round bale high enough to go into the round feeder but I would not like to transport one on an uneven road because of the instability. Any suggestions gratefully received...

They are talking about importing hay from Canada to Ireland!!! Apparently the cost will be about twice what we usually pay or around 5 euros per small bale.

Imogen
Member:
paardex

Posted on Saturday, Aug 11, 2007 - 7:42 am:

Imogen, are you sure you cant try for a second crop?
The short days are much less important for silage or haylage then for hay. It looks like you are in for a winter with a lot of work!
It would almost be easier to send a few for the winter to Normandie then the food to you!
Jos
Member:
hwood

Posted on Saturday, Aug 11, 2007 - 8:00 am:

Imogen,
I feel your disappointment, and if it were me, I would probably be in a bit of a panic, especially since it seems the entire area is going to suffer from lack of hay.
Can you get beet pulp and bags of cut hay/alfalfa mix? Do you have access to alfalfa or hay cubes?
I have fed them out to horses that cannot chew hay, and the inconvenience is having to go and buy more every week and have extra cans in which to store it, and I always soak beet pulp pellets (which are incredibly dry and hard) and the cubes.

My horses have always loved the cubes, but it does limit their "chew time" during the long winter months. Sometimes, we used to throw pumpkins in the pasture or some poplar branches so the horses would have something to chew instead of the fence or one another's tails and manes.
Member:
imogen

Posted on Monday, Aug 13, 2007 - 3:26 am:

We worked out how to make a cradle of poles and chains with a quick release to lift the bales on the loader arms and then DrOp them into the round feeder. I am going to find out about rear bale transport spikes today. I have always been against them from a road safety point of view (I do not like going on the road with a 3 ft spike pointing backwards from the tractor in case a car might have an accident and run into it).

I love the idea of sending my horses to Normandy but I would miss them too much, Jos! The beet cubes have been in short supply here Holly since the sugar beet plant closed last year but I will keep an eye out for them again.

Best wishes

Imogen
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Monday, Aug 13, 2007 - 7:03 am:

I think your 135 (I have owned a 35, which your 135 replaced, and a 65 MF in the past) will have no trouble with even large round bales if you are carrying it behind you off the three point but I would be careful carrying off the front. What is the weight of the round bales and what is your loader rated to raise?
DrO
Member:
imogen

Posted on Monday, Aug 13, 2007 - 5:13 pm:

Thanks Dr O. Our round bales are 4 ft here. The loader arms are the old-style Quicke but we cannot find out what model and thus what they are rated to raise. They will happily lift our Dutch Perfect grass topper (that's how we get it into the shed for storage) so I will find out the weight of that.

It continues to monsoon here. At least we have the roof back on our house as of today... I would not like to be a tillage farmer, the cereal crops are going grey with mould in the fields and heavy rain tomorrow is likely to knock much of it down. A hard winter for horses is forecast as oats are also likely to be in short supply.

My idea is to transport the bales on the back and just lift them into the round feeder from the front. There are now rear bale transporters with soft round arms, not spikes, designed for wrapped bales, so we would only need the spikes on the front to DrOp it into the feeder.

We have a bucket with cable release for the Quicke loader, but it is very heavy and old and corroded, so we might get a neighbour to build a bale spike with a release based on the bucket design, to tip the bale into the feeder.

Probably seems like a lot of worry but I like to know how I'm going to keep the animals fed on those dark winter days... At this stage we have renovated/repaired nearly everything on the 135 except the fuel filter and air filter - it is a reliable chirpy little tractor but not very powerful and only has limited hydraulics. It is fantastic that you can still get almost every part for a 135 direct from the MF dealers nearly 35 years after it was made...

Imogen
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Tuesday, Aug 14, 2007 - 6:46 am:

Two years ago I was still able to buy a voltage regulator for the MF 65, a early 70's model I believe. It still runs like a champ for a friend that I sold it to. Though I really like my New Holland 55 I miss the MF's diesel conserving ways.
DrO
Member:
imogen

Posted on Sunday, Aug 19, 2007 - 12:35 pm:

I finally got a chance to go out and paint "noughts and crosses" in white emulsion on the black haylage bales today. I have no idea if this is done in other areas of the world, it is supposed to dissuade crows from pecking holes in the haylage wrap.

It has been known for children to paint "Feck off crows!" and other such exciting phrases in big letters on them especially if you are under a flight path to an airport which we are but I resisted the temptation.

I have been delayed in doing this because we have been reroofing our house and I have been very busy. Needless to say the crows have already pecked nearly every bale.

Does anyone know, is there any point in sealing the crow peck holes in the bales with silage tape or is it much too late/pointless waste of time and effort?

Thanks

Imogen
Member:
paardex

Posted on Sunday, Aug 19, 2007 - 1:27 pm:

I've seen loads of 'repaired' silage or haylage crops, so I suppose it does help. If the farmers do it it will be useful won't it?
Never heard about painting the plastic before! Seems like a good idea!
Jos
Member:
ekaufman

Posted on Sunday, Aug 19, 2007 - 2:27 pm:

Hi Imogen,

I'm jealous. I wish our crows in Colorado could read!

Repairing the holes seems somewhat useful. Out here the general wisdom seems to be that bird deterrence requires unpredictable movement and noise. One of those kids with a tactical shotgun, perhaps!
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