Actual weight vs reality on wrapped haylage?

[Melandmary]

Is it just me or are others finding big discrepancies in what they are supposed to be getting weight wise with their wrapped haylage? I recently swapped to horsehage blue from moles own brand high fibre haylage. There is supposed to be 20kg in them but I am struggling to make 3x 5kg nets up out of mine. I think i have o ly twice managed it, last week I only managed 2 nets. All my nets are weighed with an accurate scale so I know it is not my measuring device. Some bales even feel remarkably light. Is it just me with this brand? I have wondered whether it was worth complaining to my supplier about or do I just keep getting unlucky? I have been using them for about 6 weeks now and they are never consistent despite the higher price?

 

[Melandmary]

Actually I have just googled and the actual weight should be 23.8kg. So I am definitely not getting value for money. Just to add, I make all my nets up as I open the bag, so it is not due to it drying out/loss of moisture content

 

[PurBee]

Marksway are ‘ generally’ consistent - but ive had pallets where the whole batch was 60%+ moisture, and the bags were ridiculously heavy, vinegary over-fermented with plenty of white yeast growth. I’ve also had the lighter bales, of drier stuff 40% moisture, that range from 15-18kg per bag.
On average most pallets are around 50% moisture - i have a moisture tester so test all forage constantly with it.

So basically some of their farms are less consistent with making the stuff than other farms they use.
Their blurb on their website says:

”HorseHage is produced with the optimum moisture content for horses of between 35 and 45 percent through strict quality control throughout the production process.”
https://www.horsehage.co.uk/about-us/

After using 10+ pallets from them i can say, on average i get 20kg bales at 50% moisture.

You’ll find that heavier haylage brands, are rarely 40% moisture with 20kg packed into the bag. The weight is more indicative of higher moisture content.

It ends up being not much difference between most brands regarding £ per kilo. I’ve gone through loads of brands and settled on marksway when i used haylage.
I prefer Devon haylage due to their variety of haylage but international haulage makes each pallet way more expensive than haulage of marksway.
My preferred supplier is local but its not well made haylage - its organic though, and its only 15kg per bag, but costs 750 for a tonne….crazy prices!

 

[PurBee]

Is it just me or are others finding big discrepancies in what they are supposed to be getting weight wise with their wrapped haylage? I recently swapped to horsehage blue from moles own brand high fibre haylage. There is supposed to be 20kg in them but I am struggling to make 3x 5kg nets up out of mine. I think i have o ly twice managed it, last week I only managed 2 nets. All my nets are weighed with an accurate scale so I know it is not my measuring device. Some bales even feel remarkably light. Is it just me with this brand? I have wondered whether it was worth complaining to my supplier about or do I just keep getting unlucky? I have been using them for about 6 weeks now and they are never consistent despite the higher price?

contact marksway themselves with the code on the back of the bags your using - their rep will be able to trace farm location your bags are from and check whats going on.

Is the haylage in those bags youre using fairly dry? If so, tell them.

Their packaging system is very consistent as its all machine - so theyre packaged based on volume than weight -theyre basically a normal small square bale compressed really tight as they still have the string on from baling - the lighter bales ive had were much drier than their ‘normal’ crop - probably from the middle of the field more sun exposure, than the edge of the fields.

 

[Birker2020]

We had something similar a couple of years before lockdown when we found that with our shavings that had gone from 22.5kg to at least 20Kg or less and suddenly delivered in clear polythene wrap instead of the normal branding polythene. We ordered about 100 bales at a times between the liveries from the company I had sourced who provided 22.5Kg bales for £7.44 a bale including the delivery which were marvellous value for money.

When I complained to the supplier they said that they had made enquiries with the manufacturer who denied any wrong doing and said that their supplier had ran out of the normal white polythene they used to wrap their bales but the manufacturer denied that the weight/type/spreadable volume had changed. It was quite farcical really as photos of the old bales against the 'new' showed a difference in size which was obviously due to the weight difference.

As we lacked scales that would weigh that much weight we could not prove otherwise.

It was clear that the manufacturer was trying to pull the wool over either the suppliers eyes, or the supplier was trying to pull the wool over our eyes (they hadn't changed their price even though there was an obvious discrepancy but then to be fair we don't know for certain if the manufacturer had amended their price accordingly)

This went on for two deliveries worth (probably six months) but then the supplier resorted back to using the old style packaging as the group of us on the yard had got deliveries from elsewhere and we feel that other yards had gone to a different manufacturer in the interim, so voting with your feet really worked on this ocassion.

They are crafty!

 

[Melandmary]

Thanks purbee, yes I reckon 15-18kg is right, occasionally less. Just seems that I am a haynet down from what I assumed I would be getting. It is the same as I got out of a mole valley bag which is 4kg lighter and cheaper. I don't want to swap back though because the sugar content is lower in the horsehage. I think i will pick my own bags in future instead of letting someone else load my car up ?

 

[ycbm]

Yep, same problem with Marksway. It also irritates the hell out of me that some are 5 sections and some 6, on the same pallet, why can't they just all be the same!