Best branded haylage - good doers

[Polos Mum]

Morning knowledgeable people

After another winter of variable quality local "wrapped hay" that is sometimes silage, sometimes covered in mould, sometimes reedy, sometimes rocket fuel etc. I'm going to stick to my guns and buy top end branded haylage this year and mix with oat straw.

Who is recommended for consistency, low energy but quality haylage ?

We're in Yorkshire but I think most of the big brands ship on pallets nationally.

I've 4 porkers so low energy is key. Will be buying in summer a full winters amount (plenty of storage)

 

[Birker2020]

I put my new horse on Marksway last winter when he first came to me. The first two or three bales of the blue high fibre bales were really good and the horse was eating them fine. The plan was to transition over to just hay so I started mixing some hay in with the haylage. Then I bought a couple more bales of the Marksway and found to my dismay that it was quite 'wet' and the previous bales hadn't had this moisture content.

The horse didn't like the new bales despite the fact they'd come from the same feed merchant (they may have been a different batch) and went of the haylage in favour of the hay. So it was quite easy after that to transition him over to hay all the time.

When I commented on this on this forum I had a reply from someone who had discovered the same variables in the Marksway haylage I'd been feeding and had contacted the company for advice.

https://forums.horseandhound.co.uk/...ask-to-do-their-haynets.816104/#post-14858253 (see reply 13 - it was Purbee)

 

[ycbm]

Check out Baileys, they pallet deliver with a forklift country wide. Its expensive but beautifully made and if you order now you could have your pick of two kinds of longstanding low calorie meadow grass. I had it for last winter and it was good.
.

 

[Birker2020]

Check out Baileys, they pallet deliver with a forklift country wide. Its expensive but beautifully made and if you order now you could have your pick of two kinds of longstanding low calorie meadow grass. I had it for last winter and it was good.
.

The trouble is how to you ensure consistency? You buy a pallet of haylage and the first few are okay but then you stumble across rubbish. Marksway obviously were failing with their consistency based on the experiences that both Purbee and I had with them.

 

[spotty_pony]

I’ve always found Horsehage to be very good.

 

[Polos Mum]

Check out Baileys, they pallet deliver with a forklift country wide. Its expensive but beautifully made and if you order now you could have your pick of two kinds of longstanding low calorie meadow grass. I had it for last winter and it was good.
.

I had looked at them because they do big bales which are more economic. Small bails would be £££ and very wasteful on plastic.

Which one did you use? - there are three that all look low cal from the description.

 

[Highmileagecob]

Another vote for Horsehage in the blue bag. The consistency does sometimes change as the season progresses. I put that down to cutting it at a different time of year, as in first cut and second cut forage.

 

[NinjaPony]

I used the marksway Timothy (purple) bagged haylage for my Connemara. He would heat up on ryegrass so Timothy was perfect; low sugar and palatable.

 

[ycbm]

The trouble is how to you ensure consistency? You buy a pallet of haylage and the first few are okay but then you stumble across rubbish. Marksway obviously were failing with their consistency based on the experiences that both Purbee and I had with them.

Baileys don't sell rubbish.
.

 

[ycbm]

I had looked at them because they do big bales which are more economic. Small bails would be £££ and very wasteful on plastic.

Which one did you use? - there are three that all look low cal from the description.

I had the permanent meadow stuff. It's all sorts of mixed species and judging how the guys did on it, very low energy. I really could have done with a bit more oomph in it for a youngster and a TB type, I think it would be great for fatties. They will send you a decent sample of you ask. I have found them really good to deal with and the pallet delivery with a forklift truck on the wagon is brilliant. They aren't the biggest bales in the world, I would say the biggest bale is probably 150kg.

ETA minimum order is 4 pallets.
.

 

[Connemara24]

Silvermoore haylage looks good they do lots of different types of haylage. I haven't personally used it as mind are on soaked hay.

 

[Birker2020]

Baileys don't sell rubbish.
.

No neither to Marksway but you know what I mean. What I meant was what if you've bought a pallet and the bales are inconsistent?

 

[chaps89]

I did a bit of a comparison of the main good doer brands, hope the screenshot works (the stats are in the last month)

A couple of summers ago I tried madam on different haylages, horsehage was too tasty, she wouldn’t touch the easypack, and the Devon was about the right balance. It does occasionally have white powder on it but on their faq’s they say this is ok and she didn’t suffer any ill effects

 

[ycbm]

No neither to Marksway but you know what I mean. What I meant was what if you've bought a pallet and the bales are inconsistent?

I believe Baileys would come and fetch them back or refund if they weren't palatable and of equal quality.
.

 

[Polos Mum]

Silvermoore haylage looks good they do lots of different types of haylage. I haven't personally used it as mind are on soaked hay.

Thanks - I think they only do tiny bales - I'm hoping buying larger bales will be more economic and less waste

 

[Polos Mum]

I did a bit of a comparison of the main good doer brands, hope the screenshot works (the stats are in the last month)

A couple of summers ago I tried madam on different haylages, horsehage was too tasty, she wouldn’t touch the easypack, and the Devon was about the right balance. It does occasionally have white powder on it but on their faq’s they say this is ok and she didn’t suffer any ill effects

Brilliant thanks - Devon looks good but small bales only I think

 

[ycbm]

Beware some of the smaller suppliers of palletted small bale like Colehay, the bale size can be 15kg, making it phenomenally expensive.
.

 

[Polos Mum]

Beware some of the smaller suppliers of palletted small bale like Colehay, the bale size can be 15kg, making it phenomenally expensive.
.

Thanks - I'm happy to pay a bit more to avoid the hassle of returning bales or soaking hay and to help with waist lines / avoid loopiness ! but trying to balance with buying at £12 a sack which would last mine not much more than a day in winter per horse.

 

[chaps89]

Brilliant thanks - Devon looks good but small bales only I think

Ah, I missed that you didn’t want small bales. They were very helpful so maybe worth asking them the question.
Easypack do mid-sized bales if it helps