Are bags of commercial haylage getting smaller but more expensive?

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Marigold4

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Just picked up some Gelston haylage and the bags seem smaller and lighter. I use a variety of brands such as Country, Gelston and Baillies. I've been getting through noticeably more than last year and it just occurred to me that perhaps the bags are getting smaller as well as more expensive?
 
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Oh yeah, that’s a profit-driven tactic many smaller companies engage in. The bagging process can be set similar to hay baling machines with bagging pressure and weight. So they can easily change it from 20kg to 18kg for example.
I got a refund from an irish haylage bagged company who had listed the bags weight on their website as 20kg, (which i screenshot as evidence) and received bags that were between 12-14kg! I took pics of the bags received on my weigh scale, and asked for the difference in weight received than advertised to be refunded.

Some bedding companies use the same tactic too. Miscanthus bags 10kg here that used to be 18kg. Same cost charged per bag. Complete con.
I contact all companies about the weight change issue, and why im switching to another supplier due to this, so they know customers are aware and will stop using them.
 
Marksway horsehage went from 22kg down to 18kg, the price has gone up also. I use Country haylage sometimes now, the bag claims to be 18-20kg, it's £7.30 at mole so still good value if it's the minimum quantity. I guess the question is what do the bags actually weigh, if they meet the minimum stated quantity. I used to get efeed's own, this seemed to have a higher moisture content than country so probably the same weight but horses were eating more.

ETA weighed 2 bags of country and 2 bags of mole high fibre, all weigh 16kg :confused:.
 
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Yes, moisture content can drive weight up or down a couple of kg. I allow for that, and like to see the same compressed bales, regardless of moisture, so know volume is the same.
Some rebag their haylage really quite loose into smaller bags from larger bales. This can then cause a re-fermentation process to occur, and if there’s some air in there due to the loose bagging, that’s when we can see white patches of fungal growth.

The better quality tends to be the bags that are dense and hard, rather than loose and puffy.
 
See if you can get some round bales of wrapped hay much cheaper if you can source some locally and they don’t go off quickly like hayledge
 
I buy haylege from a next door farm, small bales I struggle to lift for £7.50. They do bigger bales too, think there's about 3 different sizes but no idea how much they are. I only have one horse and mix it with hay so only need small bales.
 
Think commercial haylage will always be expensive. I buy it just for competition travel in the summer when mine are out 24/7 so don't need to have much in stock. Always get HorseHage but know price went up halfway through the summer last year.

My local farmer does small bales as well as bigger ones. The big ones are 9 x small bale equivalent and £39 delivered. I use these in winter.
 
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